What a song! This lied must be counted as one of the most exceptional pieces by Schubert. The composer seems to have gone far beyond his time for the sake of musically defining a very special sentiment - that feeling of having a lot of energy lying dormant within oneself, but at the same time, being unable to release it. That energy is powerful enough to incapacitate one's action or thoughts. Tormenting as this state of being is, one may also feel heavenly from the rapturous emotions brought about by this saved up power:
From every recess of my soul
Gentle powers well up
And envelop me
With celestial song.
The opening of this piece settles on the tonic for quite a few measures. Our natural expectation that the chord must change, at some time, imparts to the listener an anxious feeling that something dramatic is about to happen (the same method of psychological manipulation would later be employed by Wagner in the Prelude to
Das Rheingold). The rapid ascending arpeggios floating on top of a pedal-point sustained by repeated low octaves in the piano part are so amazing, and almost expressionistic - they are ecstatic, exciting, but under moderation. The harmony changes at a very slow pace until the words
Dissolve, world (Geh unter, Welt)
at which the chords change twice as fast all of a sudden. By this point, the inner energy circulating within one is intense enough to render any sensory perception impossible. One is, by the end of the lied, totally burnt out, albeit in a blissful state, as expressed by the last repeated cry:
Geh unter, Welt, Geh unter, Welt, Geh unter, Welt!
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