The very last song of Schubert's song cycle is "Der Leiermann" ("The hurdy-gurdy man"). In the song, the narrator describes an old man, ignored by everyone, who never stops turning the wheel of his hurdy-gurdy.
The narrator asks himself if this hurdy-gurdy is the accompaniment to his own life: alienated and unchanging. At the beginning of the song, you can hear that the piano accompaniment provides an imitation of the hurdy-gurdy: in reality this is a droning sound, made by rotating a wheel against a string.
There are many examples of hurdy-gurdys in Europeana Music and you can see a select gallery of them here. We also have different recordings of Schubert's song cycle and different versions of the sheet music; and, also, there are many depictions on Europeana Art of the hurdy-gurdy player, who is often a blind beggar such as in David Vinckboon's painting below.