Mein!

Franz Schubert's song cycle Die schone Mullerin ("The Lovely Maid of the Mill") was completed in 1823. All 20 songs in the cycle are based on texts by German lyric poet Wilhelm Muller, who would also provide the inspiration for Schubert's later Winterreise cycle in 1828. The cycle follows the journey of a young wandering miller who falls in love with another miller's daughter, but his love is ultimately unrequited. In this the eleventh song of the cycle, the young man's obsession has reached a point of delusion as he brazenly declares to himself that the maiden is "his," though she has given him almost no reason to feel such confidence in his romantic prospects. He begins lashing out at everything around him for its apparent failure to match or understand his dubious enthusiasm. This arrangement preserves Schubert's original piano part as well as places the melody prominently in the top soprano voice. The lower voices provide supporting harmonies informed by the accompaniment, moving largely in parallel motion, but with their own counter-melodic value. The arrangement is also available in a version for SSA voices.