ABSTRACT
Three songs to poems by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe are An Schwager Kronos (To Coachman Time), An Mignon (To Mignon), and Ganymed (Ganymede). Franz Schubert attached great importance to this set. It was one of five manuscripts he sold to Diabelli some time during November 1822, the others being the Wanderer Fantasy Opus 15, two sets of male-voice quartets Opus 16 and 17, and the Waltzes, Landler and Ecossaises Opus 18. If An Schwager Kronos was the missing first song in the volume sent to Goethe in 1816, then Schubert must have considered it appropriate that his second attempt to win the poet's approval should begin with the same item. Schwager means brother-in-law and is a colloquial term for postilion. Goethe intended the poem to indicate that he would 'rather go to hell quickly while young and drunk, than become a gray beard in a slow trot'. An Mignon is also about someone who wants to die young.
