Written in 1846 by Franz Liszt, Der Müller und der Bach ( The Miller and the Stream) is a transcription for solo piano of the nineteenth song in Schubert 's cycle Die schöne Müllerin (The Fair Daughter of the Miller) in which a love-stricken young man sets out into the world alone. Originally published with five other transcriptions from the same cycle, this song is a conversation about lost love between the young man and the stream.

The haunting and melancholy theme which opens this piece effectively expresses the young man's heartbreak with a simple treble line and minimal accompaniment. The stream tries to comfort him in a passage of hopefulness supported by a fluid accompaniment in the bass line. Although the young man will not be consoled he tells the well meaning stream to sing on anyway in a return of the first melodic line. The stream responds in a rolling broken-chord bass line beneath the lyrical melody of its theme.

This charming transcription with its expanded accompaniment admirably captures the mood of Schubert's song and is a fine example of Liszt's expertise in this area of composition.

© Corie Stanton Root, All Music Guide