I thought i might add my tuppence worth, though alot has been already stated, though some of the conjecture i think is a bit off the mark.
He is not revisiting nor looking back on the situation. It is sung in present tense in german, with the exception of the chorus and verse 2 which are the 'narrators' thoughts back to before the event.
Verse 1 is the start of the discovery of the deed. He is being shouted at to open the door. Inside he is there with the corpse and the piano. The condition of the piano tells us he has been there some time.
Verse 2 is his reminiscence of, and motivation for the killing. (As everyone has mentioned, she plays not for him alone (this doesnt have to be one other person, it could be multiple or even people in general) and to 'quench' his fury, he kills her (the whole blood onto fire metaphor). It was then that he locked the door (not previously) and then people began to ask after her.
Verse 3 is the culmination of the discovery. With access to the room he is assaulted as distraught parents react. (He does not tell us who's parents they are. It can be assumed they are the girls parents, but equally it could be his, or even both of theirs (adding another rather grisly twist), because he uses a general article of die and der (the) instead of one for hers, mine or ours. Since he refers to them as 'the' mother and 'the' father though, this denotes distance to me, and thus i would presume it is her parents (with the distraught mother pleading that it not be true/ her child be alive, etc and the father lashing out in grief). The body is taken away and the (egocentric and unstable) reaction of the narrator is to tell us that 'they' (discoverers/parents) do not believe that he is deathly ill from the grief and the smell. (This again denoting the length of time spent in the room, as the body must still be fleshy but not fresh to stink. Furthermore, she is not taken (weg genommen) but rather is detached (Lösen: a verb which implies she is stuck or merged or doesnt want to let go of the piano), sugesting she is rather decomposed, or perhaps that the murder was very grisly and gore is splattered over the piano.
The chorus is,as i said, a reminiscence of pre-murder times. It is both literal and a metaphor (as i suspect the whole song is). The last repetition of the chorus, with it's changed lyrics is a clever word game; being able to mean either or both that whilst he was in the room he played for her whilst she was dead and she 'listened' to him, or that as his 'playing' (aka his assault upon her) began, then she 'held her breath' (denoting her death and/or shock).
The melancholic melody, offkey musical score and uncomfortable change in tempo with verse 3 does not convey in my opinion a romantic tone. It is jarring and unnerving (suggesting the killers mind and the unpleasantness of the deed). The underlying metaphor is one of obsession, not love. His look back upon the playing shows awe, but this is not coupled with any loving imagery at all. His obsession drives him to kill when it is revealed that he is not alone in receiving the benefit of her 'playing'. Also, the way that the story begins with him telling us of how the piano is no longer what it once was ( dusty and out of tune. It acts as a good metaphor for their 'relationship', as it can represent her, the relation between them and even the bridge that held them together (the playing/ the object of his awe), and then ends with him reflecting on his deed in an almost triumphant manner, suggests an unstable and obssesive mind. Powerful stuff all in all, and a brilliant song.
I thought i might add my tuppence worth, though alot has been already stated, though some of the conjecture i think is a bit off the mark.
He is not revisiting nor looking back on the situation. It is sung in present tense in german, with the exception of the chorus and verse 2 which are the 'narrators' thoughts back to before the event.
Verse 1 is the start of the discovery of the deed. He is being shouted at to open the door. Inside he is there with the corpse and the piano. The condition of the piano tells us he has been there some time.
Verse 2 is his reminiscence of, and motivation for the killing. (As everyone has mentioned, she plays not for him alone (this doesnt have to be one other person, it could be multiple or even people in general) and to 'quench' his fury, he kills her (the whole blood onto fire metaphor). It was then that he locked the door (not previously) and then people began to ask after her.
Verse 3 is the culmination of the discovery. With access to the room he is assaulted as distraught parents react. (He does not tell us who's parents they are. It can be assumed they are the girls parents, but equally it could be his, or even both of theirs (adding another rather grisly twist), because he uses a general article of die and der (the) instead of one for hers, mine or ours. Since he refers to them as 'the' mother and 'the' father though, this denotes distance to me, and thus i would presume it is her parents (with the distraught mother pleading that it not be true/ her child be alive, etc and the father lashing out in grief). The body is taken away and the (egocentric and unstable) reaction of the narrator is to tell us that 'they' (discoverers/parents) do not believe that he is deathly ill from the grief and the smell. (This again denoting the length of time spent in the room, as the body must still be fleshy but not fresh to stink. Furthermore, she is not taken (weg genommen) but rather is detached (Lösen: a verb which implies she is stuck or merged or doesnt want to let go of the piano), sugesting she is rather decomposed, or perhaps that the murder was very grisly and gore is splattered over the piano.
The chorus is,as i said, a reminiscence of pre-murder times. It is both literal and a metaphor (as i suspect the whole song is). The last repetition of the chorus, with it's changed lyrics is a clever word game; being able to mean either or both that whilst he was in the room he played for her whilst she was dead and she 'listened' to him, or that as his 'playing' (aka his assault upon her) began, then she 'held her breath' (denoting her death and/or shock).
The melancholic melody, offkey musical score and uncomfortable change in tempo with verse 3 does not convey in my opinion a romantic tone. It is jarring and unnerving (suggesting the killers mind and the unpleasantness of the deed). The underlying metaphor is one of obsession, not love. His look back upon the playing shows awe, but this is not coupled with any loving imagery at all. His obsession drives him to kill when it is revealed that he is not alone in receiving the benefit of her 'playing'. Also, the way that the story begins with him telling us of how the piano is no longer what it once was ( dusty and out of tune. It acts as a good metaphor for their 'relationship', as it can represent her, the relation between them and even the bridge that held them together (the playing/ the object of his awe), and then ends with him reflecting on his deed in an almost triumphant manner, suggests an unstable and obssesive mind. Powerful stuff all in all, and a brilliant song.