Der Neugierige

• Intro (m.1-4) sets up the sentimental atmosphere of the song, the E# to F# emphasizes the lead up to the
dominant F#maj.

• A very “question” like song, lots of slow melodic movements and appogiaturas that emphasize the
“questions” (B# to C#).

• m.9 features a D# major chord on the word “all” and an appogiatura going down on the word “night”.

• A B C B form

• A form; intro; forming thoughts to himself, coming across the brook to talk about his love interest.

• m.21, accompaniment ends on V, and doesn’t resolve to I, but the voice continues and resolves to the B
section.

• Music changes from 2/4 to 3/4, to possibly show the protagonist taking more time to appreciate and
acknowledge the brook.

• The underlying accompaniment part (m.23 for example) plays a steady 16th note pattern on the right
hand and a held dotted half on the left, to show a calm and steady stream flowing from the brook.

• C section: m.33 to m.41 sort of modulates into G Major/Mixolydian(?), this part has this text:

”One word is ‘yes’,

the other is ‘no’;
these two words contain for me
the whole world.”

In my opinion, a change of tonality, going from B Major to G Major is a big change and puts emphasis on
this big idea that the protagonist is impatiently expecting an answer from the brook; yes or no.

• The music returns to the B form, to show a somewhat full circle; same melodic ideas as the A section, but
with the calmness and assurance of the B section’s 3/4 time signature.

• m.49 the suspension on the word “liebt” (love) creates a nice word painting moment that resolves to the
earlier D# major chord we saw earlier in the accompaniment, with the left hand moving up in semitones
to create the heightened “tension” and eventual resolution in m.50. The text for these 2 measures are:

“Sag’, Bächlein, liebt sie mich?”

• This text is repeated once more for the next 2 bars but the harmonic progressions sticks to the familliar
V7 - I to create a sense of ending the full circle.

• m.53 creates an interesting chord in between the I and V7 chords.