Is Schubert's setting of Ludwig Hölty's Minnelied (Love Song, D. 429) a happy love song or a sad love song? It could go either way depending on the interpretation. Is the glorious legato vocal melody heartening or heartrending? Is the simple piano accompaniment contented in its happiness or constrained in its sorrow? Perhaps the little piano postlude that follows each verse offers a clue: after two short descending lines, the melody leaps up a sixth and lingers for a moment as if lost to the world and then closes in a perfect cadence.

If the Minnelied is a happy love song, that leap of a sixth is a musical jump for joy. But it could as easily be that the way the melody lingers at the top of the phrase is a slight catch in the throat. Either way, the Minnelied is a wonderful love song.

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