This collection of poems, written by German poet Wilhelm Muller and set for voice and piano by nineteenth century composer, Franz Schubert, is a story about a young apprentice miller whose desire to wander is so strong, he sets out to discover the world.
We learn in time, however, that the physicality of wandering morphs into a different kind of wandering: the unchartered, emotionally-unraveling territory he created in his own mind about a fair maid he insists he loves: she doesn't return the love. She has her eyes on the hunter! His thinking, skewed by desperation that the fair maid of the mill (Die schone Mullerin) doesn't love him, combined with the threat of the mere suggestion, let alone the actual presence the hunter poses, leads him to despair and brings him to a tragic end.
