Revelge is the most intense and manic of the Wunderhorn settings, and also by far the most extended. It is a persistent march of a magnitude matching the great march movements of the symphonies. The speaker is a fallen drummer boy whose comrades pass him by on the march and leave him for dead. For most of the song, a persistent military rhythm in the trumpets is omnipresent, becoming obsessive in its insistence.

A listening guide of Des Knaben Wunderhorn - Revelge (Reveille) with Lew Smoley.