But Schubert was writing art-songs, not folk-songs. Accordingly he was obliged to give more precise meanings to his melodies than folk-songs choose to give. He must not sing only of love or sorrow, but of a certain mood of love or sorrow. This is what we mean by the refinement of melody. Not that the unrefined melody is less worthy or less beautiful, only that it is less precise. In refining his tunes Schubert’s delicate artistic sense stood him in glorious stead. The _Ave Maria_ is first of all a beautiful German melody. But it is also a delicate, sensitive melody, which might have been sung by the essentially aristocratic Ellen. Or notice the delicacy of mood implied in Heine’s poem _Ihr Bild_. It is essentially a civilized mood, one which comes over a person inside of a house with the lights turned low, a mood which a folk-song would never be called upon to express. Schubert catches it in a few simple notes. He does not strain his melody in order to make it express an unusual mood. He selects his notes--that is, refines the melody--until its expression has become specific and accurate instead of broad and general. This matter of melodic refinement (which must be divined by a sort of sixth sense) leads us to one of the essential characteristics of Schubert’s songs (and of art-songs in general)--namely, detailed expression. Here we can be more specific. Compared to later song-writers, Schubert makes very little effort to emphasize details in his texts. He is never willing in his lyrical pieces to distort or disturb the flow of the melody or the design of the whole, in order to illustrate a detail. But a slight study of his songs will show that he is never overlooking these details. And when it seems to him proper to give them precise expression, the device is always at his finger-tips. Take one of the loveliest of all his songs, _Das Wirthshaus_--‘The Inn’--from the cycle _Winterreise_. The whole song should be played through first to get the mood of weariness, of spiritual hunger and thirst, that pervades it. Then on the words _die müden Wandrer_--‘tired wanderers,’ comes this progression: [Illustration: Music score] die müden Wandrer laden ins kühle Wirtshaus ein Notice the wonderful D flat of the accompaniment. And notice too with what magic the simple chords of the next measure seem to fit the word _kühle Wirtshaus_,--the ‘cool tavern.’ A little later, on the words: _bin matt zum Niedersinken_--‘tired to exhaustion’--is the following passage: [Illustration: Music score] bin matt zum Niedersinken und tötlich schwer verletzt Notice the G flat of the accompaniment, how it creeps into the harmonic framework and gives poignancy to the expression. And then four measures further on, on the words: _doch weisest du mich ab?_--‘and do you turn me away?’--there is this very simple musical passage: [Illustration: Music score]