Abstract: The research subject is the genre and symbolical specificity of the poetry cycle by Wilhelm Mueller “The Fair Maid of the Mill” which became the basis of the vocal cycle by F. Schubert. The circumstances of the cycle creation predetermine the presence of poetics of play which is determined by the fact that the plot was created as a party play (Liederspiel), and an objective orientation of authors of Mueller’s milieu towards the stylization of folk and knight poetry of the Middle Ages. The poetic cycle by Mueller is considered in the context of the traditions of romantic poetry dating back to minnesong and meistersong and reflected both in the theme and the images of the cycle, and its structure. The author analyzes the genre solution of Mueller’s cycle, connected with the presence of the plot itself and the composition framework formed by the prologue and the epilogue. The analysis of the parts out of the music concept of Schubert gives the possibility to look at the genesis of the common theme of the two cycles from a new viewpoint thus explaining the scientific novelty of the research. The author outlines additional drama and symbolical connections in the cycle which form a particular poetry-play space. The author studies esthetic and stylistic reasons which made the composer refuse some parts of the poetry cycle. It turns out that Mueller’s idea is connected with a multilayer system of “play” foundations in the development of the text, and Schubert’s solution - with the elimination of this drama range which ensures additional interconnections between “The Fair Maid of the Mill” and the later tragic cycle “The Winter Journey”. 

Abstract: The research subject is the genre and symbolical specificity of the poetry cycle by Wilhelm Mueller “The Fair Maid of the Mill” which became the basis of the vocal cycle by F. Schubert. The circumstances of the cycle creation predetermine the presence of poetics of play which is determined by the fact that the plot was created as a party play (Liederspiel), and an objective orientation of authors of Mueller’s milieu towards the stylization of folk and knight poetry of the Middle Ages. The poetic cycle by Mueller is considered in the context of the traditions of romantic poetry dating back to minnesong and meistersong and reflected both in the theme and the images of the cycle, and its structure. The author analyzes the genre solution of Mueller’s cycle, connected with the presence of the plot itself and the composition framework formed by the prologue and the epilogue. The analysis of the parts out of the music concept of Schubert gives the possibility to look at the genesis of the common theme of the two cycles from a new viewpoint thus explaining the scientific novelty of the research. The author outlines additional drama and symbolical connections in the cycle which form a particular poetry-play space. The author studies esthetic and stylistic reasons which made the composer refuse some parts of the poetry cycle. It turns out that Mueller’s idea is connected with a multilayer system of “play” foundations in the development of the text, and Schubert’s solution - with the elimination of this drama range which ensures additional interconnections between “The Fair Maid of the Mill” and the later tragic cycle “The Winter Journey”.