LEARNING MORE ABOUT THE MUSIC WE SING Lesson 4, for April 1 Things you probably didn’t know about Die Forelle (“The Trout”): The poem Schubert set is by Friedrich Daniel Schubart, and it originally contained four stanzas. The fourth stanza drew a moral from the first three, which of course are about a lively trout being tricked and caught by a fisherman. The fourth stanza, which Schubert did not set, warned young girls to beware of seducers, who will pose a danger by tricking them, taking advantage of their “lack of cleverness” ( Mangel der Klugheit). In 1928, the Musical Times referred to Schubart as one of Schubert’s “feeblest poets.” After writing the song, Schubert made six autographs, evidently from memory. The first version did not include the introductory measures for piano. The third version was written in 1818, a year after the original. Schubert was drinking with his friend Anselm Hüttenbrenner and was evidently a bit drunk. He later wrote that “Just as, in my haste, I was going to send the thing [to Anselm’s brother, who had requested it], I rather sleepily took up the ink-well and poured it calmly over it. What a disaster!” In 1819, a music patron and cellist named Sylvester Paumgartner commissioned Schubert to write a chamber work based on Die Forelle. This became the Trout Quintet, scored for the unusual ensemble of piano, violin, viola, cello, and double bass. Its fourth movement is a set of variations on the tune of the song. Samsung washing machines play the “Trout” tune when the laundry is done. Click here for a rock group playing “Washing Rock,” in which the tune seems to be in the mixolydian mode (flatted leading tone), followed by various other musical events featuring the Samsung washing machine. You can listen to Schubert’s more Schubertian take-off on the tune in the fourth movement of the Trout Quintet, starting at 26:05 here. You can also listen to all five movements, starting at 1:06. End of Lesson 4. Click here to continue to Lesson 5, for April 6. Click here to return to the Lesson List.