ABSTRACT
The autographed first draft of Im Freien is dated March 1826. The manuscript containing the drafts of Der Wanderer an den Mond and Das Zugenglocklein, on the other hand, lacks a date. It is usually assigned to some time between January and September 1826. But the set's reference to Op. 65, which was probably compiled about four or five months before it was published in November 1826, means that the two songs were probably composed after June or July 1826. In that the three poems also refer to the stars, moon and sun, Schubert was looking back at Op. 65. There these heavenly bodies were the guides for three travellers, the last having the Utopian city of the sun as his destination. In all probability Schubert chose to begin with Der Wanderer an dem Mond because it relates to Schlegel's Der Wanderer in Op. 65.
