The date of composition of Schubert's Am See (By the Lake) (D. 746) is uncertain: it could have been 1817, when Schubert made his other settings of Bruchmann's poems or it could have been as late as 1822. What is certain, however, is that Am See is one of Schubert's most rapturous songs, with a soaring vocal line rising above the 6/8 barcarole in the piano accompaniment. Unusually for Schubert's songs, the composer repeats words, phrases, even whole lines to extend not only the song but the bliss of the song. The song's closing line—"oh, so many, so many, many"—is purely Schubert's invention and it makes it seem as if the song is ascending into infinity.

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