Franz Schubert - THE HURDY-GURDY MAN

This song was written by the German composer, Franz Schubert, in 1827 the final song of a cycle called DIE WINTERREISE (The Winter’s Journey) and it is one of the most popular and enduring songs ever composed. Originally for voice and piano with words by the German poet, Wilhelm Müller, it tells the story of a wandering “drehleier” player, and was consequently called “Der Leiermann”. Schubert is not talking about an organ grinder. In fact, the grinder organ (sometimes called the barrel organ) is not a musical instrument at all. It is a mechanical music box with a crank. The hurdy-gurdy, on the other hand, is an ancient instrument on which tunes can actually be played. The piano, for which Schubert wrote the original accompaniment to this song, does not do a very good imitation of a hurdy-gurdy, and the hurdy-gurdy does an equally poor imitation of a piano. Consequently, I rearranged the song so that harmonies and chord changes can be played. This was possible because the hurdy-gurdy in the