Es hängt ein Pferdehalfter an der Wand

Es hängt ein Pferdehalfter an der Wand is one of two records Fiete Honka repeatedly plays while Gerda Voss is under his control. Its recurrence links the first night of her confinement to a later scene in which Fiete tries to dance with her, as music continues in the apartment while her freedom and physical well-being contract.

The Record and Its Recurrence

On the evening Gerda returns with Fiete to his apartment, he alternates between Es hängt ein Pferdehalfter an der Wand and Es geht eine Träne auf Reisen. The records play during a bout of heavy drinking, with no food available. Gerda is hungry but, as a guest without money, is afraid to ask for anything to eat. The horse-halter song is thus introduced not in a scene of leisure freely shared, but during the last hours before her confinement begins.

The song returns when Fiete later announces that it is time for music, referring to the pair of records as the tear and the horse halter. The repeated pairing gives the songs a concrete place in the routine of the apartment; the text does not identify or interpret their lyrics.

Music During Confinement

By the time the music returns, Fiete has taken Gerda’s identity card and locked her in the apartment before going to work. He presents the taking of the card as security and a pledge, while the lock makes the restriction of her movement literal. Gerda tries to make the atmosphere more tolerable by cleaning. Fiete is pleased when he returns, and rewards her by taking her to Zum Goldenen Handschuh.

In a later scene, Fiete gives Gerda a large glass of Fako and objects to the speed with which she drinks it. He pours another glass to test whether she can sip slowly, then puts on the tear and the horse-halter records and pulls her toward him to dance. Gerda is exhausted, hungry, and already unsteady from drink; she can barely stay upright and repeatedly collapses. Fiete sets her on the sofa, but she pours herself another full glass without asking.

Contrast and Narrative Significance

The song’s recurrence supplies continuity between episodes of captivity, but the circumstances around it sharpen rather than soften that continuity. At first the records accompany drinking while Gerda has no food and no money; later they accompany Fiete’s attempt to direct her drinking and draw her into a dance when she can scarcely stand. The music offers a recognizable domestic ritual, yet the relationship within which it plays is defined by Fiete’s control over her movement and access to drink.

When Fiete tries to wipe the glass from Gerda’s mouth, she turns her head and his blow lands harder than he intended, breaking her dentures. The song is part of the musical setting of this episode, not an explanation for the violence: its significance lies in the contrast between the familiar sound of a record being put on and the escalating bodily harm unfolding alongside it.