Schubert composed many great settings of the poetry of Friedrich von Schlegel—Abendröte, Der Wanderer, Die Sterne, and especially Die Gebüsche—but undoubtedly the greatest of all the Schlegel settings is Im Walde (Waldesnacht) (In the Forest) (D. 708). Here Schlegel pantheism inspires Schubert to one of his most impetuous, most masterful, and most exalted song settings. From first note to last, Im Walde sweeps the listener away in thrilling waves of onrushing sound. The song begins with a moto perpetua figure in the middle fingers of the piano accompaniment, which starts with the first bar of the solo introduction. And despite the enormous range of the song both harmonically and imagistically, that moto perpetua figure both holds the song together and drives it forward. Schlegel's poem is in five strophes with the last strophe opening with the same couplet as the opening strophe. This verbal recapitulation enables Schubert to compose a musical recapitulation. Thus, a song that at first sounds through-composed becomes a sonata form song with the outer verses serving as exposition and recapitulation and the central three verses serving as development. The organic nature of sonata form suits the organic imagery and construction of Schlegel's poem and thus the unity of words and music is thoroughly fused in Im Walde. But the compositional technique of Im Walde is entirely at the service of the song's overpowering effect. Although pantheism often inspired Schubert to some of his most awe-inspiring music, it infrequently inspired him to write such viscerally exciting music. But Schlegel's images of "God's wings" and "surging waves of the spirit" and "creative breath" draw from Schubert music such as he rarely wrote, music that recalls Die Allmacht and Auflösung in its towering strength. One of the greatest and most exciting of Schubert songs.

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