ABSTRACT
This chapter presents four sets of songs published privately by the Lithographic Institute of Vienna, July 1828, 'dedicated in deepest respect to Maria Karolina, Furstin von Kinsky.' The songs are Die Sterne; Jagers Liebeslied; Wandrers Nachtlied II and Fischerweise. Opus. 96 is the second of two sets Franz Schubert had printed privately by the Lithographic Institute in 1828, when it was under the management of his friend Franz von Schober. Schubert himself assigned the opus number, but it was not used until Diabelli issued the set the following year. Schubert reveals the teasing nature of the set in the last song, but the inclusion of Wanderers Nachtlied II places the set on a deeper level, for the horn calls near the end of the song represent a farewell, the wanderer's farewell to life. In the context of the set they could also be construed as being Schubert's farewell to two of his closest friends.
