Auf der Bruck, D 853

On the Bruck

(Poet's title: Auf der Bruck)

All translations into English that appear on this website, unless otherwise stated, are by Malcolm Wren. You are free to use them on condition that you acknowledge Malcolm Wren as the translator and schubertsong.uk as the source. Unless otherwise stated, the comments and essays that appear after the texts and translations are by Malcolm Wren and are © Copyright.

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In 1813 a small booklet was printed to introduce Göttingen and its region to the newly arrived students at the town´s Georg August University (Der Göttinger Student. Oder Bemerkungen, Rathschäge und Belehrungen über Göttingen und das Studenten-Leben auf der Georgia Augusta.). In a chapter on the surroundings (natural scenery and views) there is this entry under the heading ‘Die Bruck’:

An hour beyond Kerstlingerode, therefore 2 hours from Göttingen, there rises the Bruck, a high mountain, from which a splendid view over Unter-Eichsfeld opens out to delight the eye. Seeburg . . . looks more beautiful from here than it does from nearby. In the far distance the Harz Mountains can be seen, of which the Brocken is the most noticeable. Down the edge of the Bruck runs a long narrow footpath, which is rather dangerous to walk down. 

(English translation by Malcolm Wren)

Ernst Schulze’s ‘Auf der Bruck’ was written when he was a tutor at Göttingen University. He called his poem ‘Auf der Bruck‘ and dated it ‘Den 25st Julius 1814‘. It was printed as part of his ‘Poetic Diary‘ posthumously in 1819. When Schubert’s musical setting of the text was published in Graz in 1828 the title was changed to ‘Auf der Brücke‘ (On the bridge). Although some writers have speculated that this was motivated by a desire to remove the references to a specific time and place in order to create a more general connection with readers and listeners, it is much more likely that the people involved in the publication of the song in far-away Austria had no idea that ‘Bruck’ was the name of a specific hill near Göttingen and they assumed that there had been a misprint. Since the text makes no reference whatsoever to a bridge (or a river), and the poetic persona is not crossing from one emotional or spiritual state to another, the new title makes no sense on any level.

Although the poet is urging his horse onwards, insisting that there is going to be light at the end of the dark forest, it soon becomes clear that he is going back. He has been away for three days and is unable to break the ties that bound him to the beloved (or rather, to his idea of the beloved). He is sufficiently self-aware to realise that his obsession is wounding him as much as it is offering him healing, but it is something he cannot do without. Others have offered him ‘peace, love and joy’ but this is not enough. He cannot break away or move forward.

Yet on another level he is far from self-aware. He sees the migrating birds, so certain of the direction in which they are flying, and he tells himself that such instincts cannot be wrong. His own longing cannot be misguided. The presentiments he feels must be leading him ‘securely’. Only someone truly enthralled or seriously disturbed would speak with such certainty about his prospects. We do not even need to know (as Schubert would not have done) that the woman Schulze was fixated on (Adelheid Tychsen) showed no interest in him, particularly since he had previously been obsessed with her own sister (now dead). There are enough signs in the text as it stands to show any reader that the poetic voice here is unstable.

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Original Spelling and notes on the text

Auf der Bruck

Frisch trabe sonder Ruh' und Rast,
Mein gutes Roß, durch Nacht und Regen!
Was scheust du dich vor Busch und Ast
Und strauchelst auf den wilden Wegen?
Dehnt auch der Wald sich tief und dicht,
Doch muß er endlich sich erschließen,
Und freundlich wird ein fernes Licht
Uns aus dem dunkeln Thale grüßen.

Wohl könnt' ich über Berg und Thal1
Auf deinem schlanken Rücken fliegen
Und mich am bunten Spiel der Welt,
An holden Bildern mich vergnügen;
Manch Auge lacht mir traulich zu
Und beut mir Frieden, Lieb' und Freude,
Und dennoch eil' ich ohne Ruh,
Zurück, zurück zu meinem Leide.

Denn schon drey Tage war ich fern
Von ihr, die ewig mich gebunden;
Drey Tage waren Sonn' und Stern
Und Erd' und Himmel mir verschwunden.
Von Lust und Leiden, die mein Herz
Bey ihr bald heilten, bald zerrissen,
Fühlt' ich drey Tage nur den Schmerz,
Und ach, die Freude mußt' ich missen!

Weit sehn wir über Land und See
Zur wärmern Flur den Vogel fliegen;
Wie sollte denn die Liebe je
In ihrem Pfade sich betrügen?
Drum trabe muthig durch die Nacht!
Und schwinden auch die dunklen Bahnen,
Der Sehnsucht helles Auge wacht,
Und sicher führt mich süßes Ahnen.2

1  Schubert appears to have changed Schulze's 'Feld' (field) to 'Thal' (valley)
2  Schubert changed the order of the lines here. Schulze's stanza was:

Drum trabe muthig durch die Nacht!
Und schwinden auch die dunkeln Bahnen,
Der Sehnsucht helles Auge wacht,
Und sicher führt mich süßes Ahnen.
Weit sehn wir über Land und See
Zur wärmern Flur den Vogel fliegen;
Wie sollte denn die Liebe je
In ihrem Pfade sich betrügen?

Confirmed by Peter Rastl with Schubert’s source,  Ernst Schulze’s sämmtliche poetische Schriften. Dritter Band. I. Poetisches Tagebuch. […] Leipzig: F. A. Brockhaus. 1819, pages 74-75; and with Sämmtliche poetische Werke von Ernst Schulze. Neue Ausgabe mit sechszehn Kupfern. Dritter Theil. Leipzig: F. A. Brockhaus. 1822, pages 75-76.

To see an early edition of the text, go to page 74  [90 von 336] here: http://digital.onb.ac.at/OnbViewer/viewer.faces?doc=ABO_%2BZ170542803