Winterreise
Encyclopedia
Song cycle
A song cycle is a group of songs designed to be performed in a sequence as a single entity. As a rule, all of the songs are by the same composer and often use words from the same poet or lyricist. Unification can be achieved by a narrative or a persona common to the songs, or even, as in Schumann's...
for voice and piano by Franz Schubert
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
(D
Otto Erich Deutsch
Otto Erich Deutsch was an Austrian musicologist. He is known for compiling the first comprehensive catalogue of the works of Franz Schubert, first published in 1951 in English, new edition in 1978 in German...
. 911, published as Op
Opus number
An Opus number , pl. opera and opuses, abbreviated, sing. Op. and pl. Opp. refers to a number generally assigned by composers to an individual composition or set of compositions on publication, to help identify their works...
. 89 in 1828), a setting of 24 poems
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
by Wilhelm Müller
Wilhelm Müller
Wilhelm Müller was a German lyric poet.-Life:Wilhelm Müller was born at Dessau, the son of a tailor. He was educated at the gymnasium of his native town and at the university of Berlin, where he devoted himself to philological and historical studies...
. It is the second of Schubert's two great song cycles on Müller's poems, the earlier being Die schöne Müllerin
Die schöne Müllerin
Die schöne Müllerin , is a song cycle by Franz Schubert on poems by Wilhelm Müller. It is the earliest extended song cycle to be widely performed. The work is considered one of Schubert's most important, and it is widely performed and recorded....
(D. 795, Op. 25, 1823). Both were originally written for tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
voice but are frequently transposed to suit other vocal ranges - the precedent being established by Schubert himself. These two works have posed interpretative demands on listeners and performers due to their scale and structural coherence. Although Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
's cycle An die ferne Geliebte
An die ferne Geliebte
, opus 98, is a composition by Ludwig van Beethoven in April 1816. It is considered to be the first example of a song cycle by a major composer.-Beethoven's :...
(To the Distant Beloved) had been published earlier, in 1816, Schubert's two cycles hold the foremost place in the history of the genre.
Authorship and composition
Winterreise was composed in two parts, each containing twelve songs, the first part in February 1827 and the second in October 1827. The two parts were also published separately, by Tobias Haslinger, the first on 14 January 1828, and the second (the proofs of which Schubert was still correcting days before his death on 19 November) on 30 December 1828. Müller, a poet, soldier, and Imperial Librarian at DessauDessau
Dessau is a town in Germany on the junction of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2007, it is part of the merged town Dessau-Roßlau. Population of Dessau proper: 77,973 .-Geography:...
in Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
(present-day east-central Germany), died in 1827 aged 33, and probably never heard the first setting of his poems in Die schöne Müllerin (1823), let alone Winterreise. Die schöne Müllerin had become central to the performing repertoire and partnership of Schubert with his friend, the baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
singer Johann Michael Vogl
Johann Michael Vogl
Johann Michael Vogl , was an Austrian baritone singer and composer. Though famous in his day, he is remembered mainly for his close professional relationship and friendship with composer Franz Schubert....
, who introduced Schubert and his songs into many musical households great and small in their tours through Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
during the mid-1820s.
Carl Maria von Weber
Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber was a German composer, conductor, pianist, guitarist and critic, one of the first significant composers of the Romantic school....
(godfather of Müller's son F. Max Müller
Max Müller
Friedrich Max Müller , more regularly known as Max Müller, was a German philologist and Orientalist, one of the founders of the western academic field of Indian studies and the discipline of comparative religion...
), 'as a pledge of his friendship and admiration'. Weber had died in 1826. On 4 March 1827, Schubert invited a group of friends to his lodgings intending to sing the first group of songs, but he was out when they arrived, and the event was postponed until later in the year, when the full performance was given.
Between the 1823 and 1824 editions Müller varied the texts slightly, but also (with the addition of the further 12 poems) altered the order in which they were presented. Owing to the two stages of composition, Schubert's order in the song-cycle preserves the integrity of the cycle of the first twelve poems published and appends the twelve new poems as a Fortsetzung (Continuation), following Müller's order (if one excludes the poems already set) with the one exception of switching "Die Nebensonnen" and "Mut!". In the complete book edition Müller's final running-order was as follows: Gute Nacht; Die Wetterfahne; Gefror'ne Thränen; Erstarrung; Der Lindenbaum; Die Post; Wasserfluth; Auf dem Flusse; Rückblick; Der greise Kopf; Die Krähe; Letzte Hoffnung; Im Dorfe; Der stürmische Morgen ; Täuschung; Der Wegweiser; Das Wirthshaus; [Das] Irrlicht; Rast; Die Nebensonnen; Frühlingstraum; Einsamkeit; Mut!; Der Leiermann. Thus Schubert's numbers would run 1-5, 13, 6-8, 14-21, 9-10, 23, 11-12, 22, 24, a sequence occasionally attempted by Hans Joachim Moser
Hans Joachim Moser
Translated from German WikipediaHans Joachim Moser was a German musicologist, composer and singer....
and Günther Baum.
Schubert's original group of settings therefore closed with the dramatic cadence of "Irrlicht", "Rast", "Frühlingstraum" and "Einsamkeit", and his second sequence begins with "Die Post". Dramatically the first half is the sequence from the leaving of the beloved's house, and the second half the torments of reawakening hope and the path to resignation.
In Winterreise Schubert raises the importance of the pianist to a role equal to that of the singer. In particular the piano's rhythms constantly express the moods of the poet, like the distinctive rhythm of "Auf dem Flusse", the restless syncopated figures in "Rückblick", the dramatic tremolos in "Einsamkeit", the glimmering clusters of notes in "Irrlicht", or the sharp accents in "Der stürmische Morgen". The piano supplies rich effects in the Nature imagery of the poems, the voices of the elements, the creatures and active objects, the rushing storm, the crying wind, the water under the ice, birds singing, ravens croaking, dogs baying, the rusty weathervane grating, the posthorn calling, and the drone and repeated melody of the hurdy-gurdy.
Opinions of Schubert's intentions
In addition to his landlord Franz von Schober, Schubert's friends who often attended his 'Schubertiads' or musical sessions included Eduard von BauernfeldEduard von Bauernfeld
Eduard von Bauernfeld , Austrian dramatist, was born at Vienna.Having studied jurisprudence at the university of Vienna, he entered the government service in a legal capacity, and after holding various minor offices was transferred in 1843 to a responsible post on the Lottery Commission...
, Joseph von Spaun, and the poet Johann Mayrhofer. Both Spaun and Mayrhofer describe the period of the composition of Winterreise as one in which Schubert was in a deeply melancholic frame of mind, as Mayrhofer puts it, because 'life had lost its rosiness and winter was upon him.' Spaun tells that Schubert was gloomy and depressed, and when asked the reason replied,
' "Come to Schober's today and I will play you a cycle of terrifying songs; they have affected me more than has ever been the case with any other songs." He then, with a voice full of feeling, sang the entire Winterreise for us. We were altogether dumbfounded by the sombre mood of these songs, and Schober said that one song only, "Der Lindenbaum", had pleased him. Thereupon Schubert leaped up and replied: "These songs please me more than all the rest, and in time they will please you as well." '.
It is argued that in the gloomy nature of the Winterreise, compared with Die schöne Müllerin, there is
a change of season, December for May, and a deeper core of pain, the difference between the heartbreak of a youth and a man. There is no need to seek in external vicissitudes an explanation of the pathos of the Winterreise music when the composer was this Schubert who, as a boy of seventeen, had the imagination to fix Gretchen's cry in music once for all, and had so quivered year by year in response to every appeal, to MignonMignonMignon is an opéra comique in three acts by Ambroise Thomas. The original French libretto was by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on Goethe's novel Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre. The Italian version was translated by Giuseppe Zaffira. The opera is mentioned in James Joyce's The Dead,...
's and the Harper's grief, to Mayrhofer's nostalgia. It is not surprising to hear of Schubert's haggard look in the Winterreise period; but not depression, rather a kind of sacred exhilaration... we see him practically gasping with fearful joy over his tragic Winterreise - at his luck in the subject, at the beauty of the chance which brought him his collaborator back, at the countless fresh images provoked by his poetry of fire and snow, of torrent and ice, of scalding and frozen tears. The composer of the Winterreise may have gone hungry to bed, but he was a happy artist."
Schubert's last task in life was the correction of the proofs for part 2 of Winterreise, and his thoughts while correcting those of the last song, "Der Leiermann", when his last illness was only too evident, can only be imagined. However, he had heard the whole cycle performed by Vogl (which received a much more enthusiastic reception), though he did not live to see the final publication, nor the opinion of the Wiener Theaterzeitung:
Müller is naive, sentimental, and sets against outward nature a parallel of some passionate soul-state which takes its colour and significance from the former. Schubert's music is as naive as the poet's expressions; the emotions contained in the poems are as deeply reflected in his own feelings, and these are so brought out in sound that no-one can sing or hear them without being touched to the heart.
Elena Gerhardt
Elena Gerhardt
Elena Gerhardt was a German mezzo-soprano singer associated with the singing of German classical lieder, of which she was considered one of the great interpreters...
said of the Winterreise, "You have to be haunted by this cycle to be able to sing it."
Nature of the work
In his introduction to the PetersEdition Peters
Edition Peters, also known as C.F.Peters Musikverlag, is a German music publishing house, founded in Leipzig in 1800.From the 1860s it was largely run by members the Hinrichsen family, who were Jewish. The company was confiscated by the Nazis and administered by the "Trustee of Jewish Property"....
Edition (with the critical revisions of Max Friedländer), Professor Max Müller
Max Müller
Friedrich Max Müller , more regularly known as Max Müller, was a German philologist and Orientalist, one of the founders of the western academic field of Indian studies and the discipline of comparative religion...
, son of the poet Wilhelm Müller
Wilhelm Müller
Wilhelm Müller was a German lyric poet.-Life:Wilhelm Müller was born at Dessau, the son of a tailor. He was educated at the gymnasium of his native town and at the university of Berlin, where he devoted himself to philological and historical studies...
, remarks that Schubert's two song-cycles have a dramatic effect not unlike that of a full-scale tragic opera, particularly when performed by great singers such as Jenny Lind
Jenny Lind
Johanna Maria Lind , better known as Jenny Lind, was a Swedish opera singer, often known as the "Swedish Nightingale". One of the most highly regarded singers of the 19th century, she is known for her performances in soprano roles in opera in Sweden and across Europe, and for an extraordinarily...
(Die schöne Müllerin) or Julius Stockhausen
Julius Stockhausen
Julius Christian Stockhausen was a German singer and singing master.- Life :Stockhausens' parents, Franz Stockhausen Sr...
(Winterreise). Like Die schöne Müllerin
Die schöne Müllerin
Die schöne Müllerin , is a song cycle by Franz Schubert on poems by Wilhelm Müller. It is the earliest extended song cycle to be widely performed. The work is considered one of Schubert's most important, and it is widely performed and recorded....
, Schubert's Winterreise is not merely a collection of songs upon a single theme (lost or unrequited love) but is in effect one single dramatic monologue, lasting over an hour in performance. Although some individual songs are sometimes included separately in recitals (e.g. "Gute Nacht", "Der Lindenbaum" and "Der Leiermann"), it is a work which is usually presented in its entirety. The intensity and the emotional inflexions of the poetry are carefully built up to express the sorrows of the lover, and are developed to an almost pathological degree from the first to the last note.
The songs represent the voice of the poet as the lover, and form a distinct narrative and dramatic sequence, though not in so pronounced a way as in Die schöne Müllerin
Die schöne Müllerin
Die schöne Müllerin , is a song cycle by Franz Schubert on poems by Wilhelm Müller. It is the earliest extended song cycle to be widely performed. The work is considered one of Schubert's most important, and it is widely performed and recorded....
. In the course of the cycle the poet, whose beloved now fancies someone else, leaves his beloved's house secretly at night, quits the town and follows the river and the steep ways to a village. Having longed for death, he is at last reconciled to his loneliness. The cold, darkness, and barren winter landscape mirror the feelings in his heart, and he encounters various people and things along the way which form the subject of the successive songs during his lonely journey. It is in fact an allegorical journey of the heart.
The two Schubert cycles (primarily for male voice), of which Winterreise is the more mature, are absolute fundamentals of the German Lied, and have strongly influenced not only the style but also the vocal method and technique in German classical music as a whole. The resources of intellect and interpretative power required to deliver them, in the chamber or concert hall, challenges the greatest singers.
Synopsis
Early on the wanderer sings about his lost beloved. As the song cycle develops he sings of abject loneliness, longing for death, and glimpses of delusional hope.1. Gute Nacht (Good Night)
- By moonlight, in winter, the poet leaves the house as he came to it, a stranger. The daughter has allowed their love to grow, and the mother has encouraged the pair to think of marriage: but the daughter's love has wandered to some new sweetheart. So he quietly and secretly steals away while they are sleeping, writing 'Good night' on her door, and leaving the path of his footsteps in the snow.
2. Die Wetterfahne (The Weather-vane)
- As he goes he notices the winds blowing the weather-vane around on the house, and they blow him away from there as well. If he had taken notice of that fickle sign when he first came, he would not have expected to find a constant woman within. Indoors, their hearts beat like the vane, but not so loud - what do they care for his suffering, when their daughter will be a wealthy bride?.
3. Gefror'ne Tränen (Frozen Tears)
- Frozen tears fall from his cheeks as he walks away, but the breast from which they arise is so burning hot with feelings that they should melt the winter ice completely.
4. Erstarrung (Numbness)
- He looks in vain for her footprints in the snow, where they formerly walked together arm in arm among the flowers and green grass. He wants to kiss the ground and weep on it, until he can dissolve the ice and see where they trod. But the flowers are all dead, and he can take no remembrance of her away from there. His heart is lifeless with her image frozen within; but if it thaws, her beautiful image fades.
5. Der Lindenbaum (The Linden Tree)
- He comes to the linden tree, with its pale flowers and heart-shaped leaves. that stands at the gate. In the shade of this tree he has dreamt many beautiful dreams, and in the bark he has carved words of love. It was his favourite place. Now he passes it with his eyes shut, even though it is deepest night, but the branches rustle to him, 'Come here old comrade, find your rest here'. A gust of wind blows his hat off, and many hours afterwards he remembers the tree, and it seems to say 'You should have found your rest here.' It is a tacit invitation to suicide. (In Die Schöne MüllerinDie schöne MüllerinDie schöne Müllerin , is a song cycle by Franz Schubert on poems by Wilhelm Müller. It is the earliest extended song cycle to be widely performed. The work is considered one of Schubert's most important, and it is widely performed and recorded....
by the same author the rejected lover actually drowns himself and finds rest in the friendly brook where he dies.)
6. Wasserflut (Torrent)
- He weeps copiously and his tears fall in the snow. When the Spring comes the snow will melt and flow into the river, and will carry his tears to the house of his beloved.
7. Auf dem Flusse (On the Stream)
- The river, usually busy and bubbling, is locked in frozen darkness and lies drearily spread out under the ice. He will write her name, and the date of their first meeting, in the ice with a sharp stone. The river is a likeness of his heart: it beats and swells under the hard frozen surface.
8. Rückblick (Retrospect)
- His feet are freezing as the soles of his boots are out: but he is eager to leave the town, and he stumbles over every stone. The crows knock the snow off the eaves onto his hat from every house he passes. But when he first came to that inconstant town, larks and nightingales sang at the windows, the lime-trees blossomed, the streams ran clear, and a pair of maiden's eyes shone on him and stole his heart away. When he thinks of that happy day, he longs to walk back along the road to the house where she lives.
9. Irrlicht (Will o' the wisp
Will o' the wisp
A will-o'-the-wisp or ignis fatuus , also called a "will-o'-wisp", "jack-o'-lantern" , "hinkypunk", "corpse candle", "ghost-light", "spook-light", "fairy light", "friar's lantern", "hobby lantern", "ghost orb", or simply "wisp", is a ghostly light or lights sometimes seen at night or twilight over...
)
- The will-o'-the-wisp has led him astray from the road in the darkness: but he is always going off the road, for our joy and sorrow alike are merely sports to delude us. He follows a track down the crag side: all roads lead to their goal, every spring flows to the sea, and every sorrow leads to its grave.
10. Rast (Rest)
- He reaches a charcoal-burner's hut and, worn out by his long trek through the snowstorm with a heavy backpack, he lies down to rest. In the quiet his cuts and bruises sting sorely.
11. Frühlingstraum (Dream of Springtime)
- He dreams he is wandering through meadows full of flowers and bird-song in May: he heard the cock's crow and opened his eyes, but it was a raven calling in the cheerless darkness. Who could draw the flowers of ice he can see on the windows? He dreams again, of love, and a maiden's kiss, and the joy and bliss of love, but again the crowing wakes him and he sits up alone. He tries to sleep again: when will the leaves at the window be green - when will he hold his beloved in his arms again?
12. Einsamkeit (Loneliness/Solitude)
- He wanders along the busy road ungreeted. Why is the sky so calm and the world so bright? Even in the tempest he was not so lonely as this.
13. Die Post (The Post)
- His heart leaps up as the post-horn sounds: they are not bringing him a letter, but it has come from the town, and he will ask if there is news of the beloved.
14. Der greise Kopf (The Grey Head)
- The frost in his hair made him think he was going grey, but now it has thawed and his hair is still black. He has heard that some people go grey overnight with sorrow, but though he has felt that sorrow, it has not happened to him.
15. Die Krähe (The Crow)
- A crow has followed him all along the way from the town. Is it waiting for him to die, so that it can eat him? It won't be long, let it keep him company to the end.
16. Letzte Hoffnung (Last Hope)
- He wanders among the trees and fixes his gaze on one leaf, which seems to hold his fate. It is a token: if it should fall from the branch, his hope will fall. His heart sinks, and his soul weeps the loss of everything.
17. Im Dorfe (In the Village)
- People are asleep in the village and the dogs are barking. They dream of many things and have their rest. Let the dogs drive him away so that he does not rest with them - he is finished with all dreaming.
18. Der stürmische Morgen (The Stormy Morning)
- The tempest has driven the clouds about the sky, and the fiery sun darts between them. It is like his heart, a cold, wild winter.
19. Täuschung (Deception)
- A light on the dark and icy road at night, might be a warm place to stay, or the deception of a beautiful face.
20. Der Wegweiser (The Signpost)
- Straying restlessly away from the roads, he still seeks rest. There is always a signpost in front of him, pointing to the road from which no wanderer returns. Death?
21. Das Wirtshaus (The Inn)
- The 'wayside inn' is a lonely graveyard where he hopes to find rest at last. The wreaths are the tavern sign, inviting him in. But no - all the rooms are taken, and he must carry on, as he tells his faithful walking staff.
22. Mut (Courage)
- As the wind blows snow in his face, he sings loudly to silence his thoughts of sorrow, so that he cannot hear or feel them. With his trusty staff and cheerful song he'll just keep going on.
23. Die Nebensonnen (The Phantom Suns)
- He used to see three suns, but two of them have turned away to shine upon another, and now he sees only one, and he wishes that would pass away and leave him to the darkness.
24. Der Leiermann (The Hurdy-Gurdy Man)
- At the end of the village he finds the old barefoot hurdy-gurdy man, winding away his tunes, but no one has given him a penny, or listens, and even the dogs growl at him. But he just carries on playing, and the poet thinks he will cast in his lot with him.
Reworkings by others
- Franz LisztFranz LisztFranz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
transcribed half the songs in the cycle for piano and may have intended to do them all. - Leopold GodowskyLeopold GodowskyLeopold Godowsky was a famed Polish American pianist, composer, and teacher. One of the most highly regarded performers of his time, he became known for his theories concerning the application of relaxed weight and economy of motion in piano playing, principles later propagated by Godowsky's...
made a number of piano transcriptions of Schubert songs; the only one from Winterreise was the first song, "Gute Nacht". - Maury YestonMaury YestonMaury Yeston is an American composer, lyricist, educator and musicologist.He is known for writing the music and lyrics to Broadway musicals, including Nine in 1982, and Titanic in 1997, both of which won Tony Awards for best musical and best score. He also won a Drama Desk Award for Nine...
composed December SongsDecember SongsDecember Songs is a song cycle by Maury Yeston, best known as a musical theatre songwriter responsible for the music and lyrics for Nine, Titanic and part of Grand Hotel. The work is a 'retelling' of Franz Schubert's Winterreise, , with a cabaret sensibility...
, a song cycle influenced by Winterreise on commission from Carnegie Hall for its 1991 Centennial celebration. - Hans ZenderHans ZenderJohannes Wolfgang Zender is a German conductor and composer.-Life:From 1956 to 1959 Zender studied piano, conducting, and composition at the Hochschule für Musik Frankfurt and at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg.From 1959 to 1963 he was Kapellmeister of the Municipal Theatres in Freiburg im...
orchestrated a version of the cycle in 1993, altering the music in the process. - Jens JosefJens JosefJens Josef is a German composer of classical music, a flutist and academic.- Career :Jens Josef received flute instructions from Rita Eggenweiler and Klaus Grünow, principal flute of the Staatstheater Kassel, and took composition classes with Jörn Tegtmeyer, the director of church music of Hann...
created in 2001 a version for tenor and string quartet. It was recorded by Christian Elsner and the Henschel QuartetHenschel QuartetThe Henschel Quartet is a German string quartet comprising the Henschel siblings; Christoph and Markus and Monika and, the cellist, Mathias Beyer-Karlshøj, who joined them in 1994.-Musical Training:...
in 2002, and performed in 2004 by Peter SchreierPeter SchreierPeter Schreier is a German tenor and conductor.-Early life:Schreier was born in Meissen, Saxony, and spent his first years in the small village of Gauernitz, near Meissen, where his father was a teacher, cantor and organist...
and the Dresdner Streichquartett. - John NeumeierJohn NeumeierJohn Neumeier is a well-known American ballet dancer, choreographer, and director. He has been the director and chief choreographer of the Hamburg Ballet since 1973. 5 years later he founded the Hamburg Ballet School, which also includes a boarding school...
made a ballet to Winterreise on his Hamburg BalletHamburg BalletHamburg Ballet, also known as the Hamburg State Opera Ballet, is an internationally acclaimed ballet company located in Hamburg, Germany. Since 1973 it is directed by the American dancer and choreographer John Neumeier....
company in December 2001. - Oboist Normand Forget made a chamber version for accordion and an unusual wind quintet including bass clarinet, oboe d'amoreOboe d'amoreThe oboe d'amore , less commonly oboe d'amour, is a double reed woodwind musical instrument in the oboe family. Slightly larger than the oboe, it has a less assertive and more tranquil and serene tone, and is considered the mezzo-soprano of the oboe family, between the oboe itself and the cor...
and baroque horn, recorded in September 2007 by tenor Christoph PrégardienChristoph PrégardienChristoph Prégardien is a German lyric tenor whose career is closely associated with the roles in Mozart operas, as well as performances of Lieder, oratorio roles, and Baroque music...
, accordionist Joseph Petric, and the Montréal ensemble Pentaèdre. - The deaf actor Horst Dittrich translated the cycle of poems into Austrian Sign LanguageAustrian Sign LanguageAustrian Sign Language, or Österreichische Gebärdensprache , is the sign language used by the Austrian Deaf community — approximately 10,000 people. -Classification:...
in 2007 and presented it on stage in a production of ARBOS – Company for Music and TheatreARBOS – Company for Music and TheatreARBOS – Company for Music and Theatre in Vienna, Salzburg and Klagenfurt, is a society specialized in the realisation of new forms of theatre especially of projects for contemporary new music theatre, scenic concerts, theatre for young people, theatre concerts, deaf theatre, directed space,...
directed by Herbert GantschacherHerbert GantschacherHerbert Gantschacher is an Austrian director and producer and writer.- Education :...
, with Rupert Bergmann (bass-baritone) and Gert Hecher (piano), in 2008 in Vienna and Salzburg and in 2009 in VillachVillachVillach is the second largest city in the Carinthia state in the southern Austria, at the Drava River and represents an important traffic junction for Austria and the whole Alpe-Adria region. , the population is 58,480.-History:...
(Austria). - Rick Burkhardt, Alec Duffy and Dave Malloy created an Obie awardObie AwardThe Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...
-winning theatrical adaptation of the cycle, Three Pianos, which played at the Ontological-Hysteric TheaterOntological-Hysteric TheaterThe Ontological-Hysteric Theater was founded in 1968 by Richard Foreman. According to his website, his aim was-Total Theater:According to his website,-Production history:...
and New York Theater Workshop in 2010. - Matthias Loibner, inspired by "Der Leiermann", the last song of Winterreise, arranged the cycle for voice and hurdy-gurdy, and recorded it in 2010 with soprano Nataša Mirković - De Ro.
Editions
Besides re-ordering Müller's songs, Schubert made a few changes to the words: verse 4 of "Erstarrung" in Müller's version read [Schubert's text bracketed]: "Mein Herz ist wie erfroren [erstorben]" ("frozen" instead of "dead"); "Irrlicht" verse 2 read "...unsre Freuden, unsre Wehen [Leiden]" ("pains" instead of "sorrows") and "Der Wegweiser" verse 3 read "Weiser stehen auf den Strassen [Wegen]" ("roads" instead of "paths"). These have all been restored in MandyczewskiEusebius Mandyczewski
Eusebius Mandyczewski was a musicologist, composer, conductor, and teacher. He was an author of numerous musical works and is highly regarded within Austrian, Romanian and Ukrainian music circles.- Family and friends :...
's edition (the widely available Dover score) and are offered as alternative readings in Fischer-Dieskau's revision of Max Friedländer's edition for Peters. A few of the songs differ in the autograph and a copy with Schubert's corrections. "Wasserfluth" was transposed by Schubert from f sharp to e without alteration; "Rast" moved from d to c and "Einsamkeit" from d to b, both with changes to the vocal line; "Der Leiermann" was transposed from b to a. The most recent scholarly edition of Winterreise is the one included as part of the Bärenreiter New Schubert Edition,http://www.baerenreiter.com edited by Walther Dürr, Volume 3, which offers the songs in versions for high, medium and low voices. In this edition the key relationships are preserved: only one transposition is applied to the whole cycle.
The following table names the keys used in different editions. Major keys are shown with upper case letters, and minor keys with lower case letters.
| Song | Autograph & copy | | Peters Edition of Friedländler (1884) | Schirmer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Autograph | Tieferer Stimme | Tiefer Alt oder Baß | Low | |
| 1. Gute Nacht | d | b flat | a | c |
| 2. Die Wetterfahne | a | f | d | f |
| 3. Gefror'ne Thränen | f | d | b | d |
| 4. Erstarrung | c | g | g | a |
| 5. Der Lindenbaum | E | D | C | E |
| 6. Wasserflut | f sharp, changed to e | c | b | c sharp |
| 7. Auf dem Flusse | e | c | a | c |
| 8. Rückblick | g | e flat | d | e |
| 9. Irrlicht | b flat | g | f | g |
| 10. Rast | d, changed to c | a | g | a |
| 11. Frühlingstraum | A | F | F | G |
| 12. Einsamkeit | d, changed to b | a | g | b |
| 13. Die Post | E flat | B | G | B flat |
| 14. Der greise Kopf | c | a | a | c |
| 15. Die Krähe | c | a | g | b flat |
| 16. Letzte Hoffnung | E flat | C | B flat | D |
| 17. Im Dorfe | D | C | B flat | D |
| 18. Der stürmische Morgen | d | c | b | d |
| 19. Täuschung | A | G | G | A |
| 20. Der Wegweiser | g | e flat | d | e |
| 21. Das Wirthshaus | F | E flat | D | F |
| 22. Mut | g | f | d | f |
| 23. Die Nebensonnen | A | F | F | A |
| 24. Der Leiermann | b flat, changed to a | f | f | g |
Recordings
There are numerous recordings. Before 1936 are the complete 1928 version of Hans Duhan with Ferdinand Foll and Lene Orthmann, the incomplete Richard TauberRichard Tauber
Richard Tauber was an Austrian tenor acclaimed as one of the greatest singers of the 20th century. Some critics commented that "his heart felt every word he sang".-Early life:...
version with Mischa Spolianski, and, lastingly famous, the version of Gerhard Hüsch
Gerhard Hüsch
Gerhard Heinrich Wilhelm Fritz Hüsch was one of the most important German singers of modern times. A lyric baritone, he specialized in Lieder but also sang, to a lesser extent, German and Italian opera.-Career:...
with Hanns Udo Müller (1933, for which an HMV limited edition subscription society was created). There is a very powerful account by Peter Anders
Peter Anders
Peter Anders may refer to:* Peter Anders , German tenor and favorite under the Hitler regime* Peter Anders , American songwriter and record producer, who collaborated with Vini Poncia among others...
with Michael Raucheisen
Michael Raucheisen
Translated from German WikipediaMichael Raucheisen was a German pianist and song accompanist....
recorded in Berlin in 1945. The Hans Hotter
Hans Hotter
Hans Hotter was a German operatic bass-baritone, admired internationally after World War II for the power, beauty, and intelligence of his singing, especially in Wagner operas. He was extremely tall and his appearance was striking because of his high, narrow face, wide mouth, and big, aquiline nose...
account with Gerald Moore
Gerald Moore
Gerald Moore CBE was an English pianist best known for his career as one of the most in-demand accompanists of his day, accompanying many of the world's most famous musicians...
(issued May 1955) is very celebrated. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau is a retired German lyric baritone and conductor of classical music, one of the most famous lieder performers of the post-war period and "one of the supreme vocal artists of the 20th century"...
, among the most famous of exponents, is represented in seven versions spanning four decades: three with Gerald Moore
Gerald Moore
Gerald Moore CBE was an English pianist best known for his career as one of the most in-demand accompanists of his day, accompanying many of the world's most famous musicians...
(1955 HMV, 1963 HMV, and 1972 DG), and one each with Jörg Demus
Jörg Demus
Jörg Demus is an Austrian pianist.At the age of six, Demus received his first piano lessons. Five years later, at the age of 11, he entered the Vienna Academy of Music, studying piano and conducting. He graduated in 1945, then 17 years old...
(1966, DG), Daniel Barenboim
Daniel Barenboim
Daniel Barenboim, KBE is an Argentinian-Israeli pianist and conductor. He has served as music director of several major symphonic and operatic orchestras and made numerous recordings....
(1980, DG), Alfred Brendel
Alfred Brendel
Alfred Brendel KBE is an Austrian pianist, born in Czechoslovakia and a resident of the United Kingdom. He is also a poet and author.-Biography:...
(1986, Philips) and Murray Perahia
Murray Perahia
Murray Perahia KBE is an American concert pianist and conductor.-Early life:Murray Perahia was born in the Bronx borough of New York City to a family of Sephardi Jewish origin. According to the biography on his Mozart piano sonatas CD, his first language was Judaeo-Spanish or, Ladino. The family...
(1992, Sony Classical). Olaf Bär
Olaf Bär
Olaf Bär is a German operatic baritone.- Life :Bär received his musical training in his home city of Dresden, studying at the city's Hochschule für Musik. His career has concentrated on lieder and on the lyric baritone roles of the operatic repertoire...
's 1989 recording with Geoffrey Parsons
Geoffrey Parsons
Geoffrey Parsons may refer to:* Geoffrey Parsons , British lyricist* Geoffrey Parsons , Australian classical pianist* Geoff Parsons , Scottish high jumper...
on EMI classics is well regarded. At least one videotaped performance is also available. These, and the discs of Peter Pears
Peter Pears
Sir Peter Neville Luard Pears CBE was an English tenor who was knighted in 1978. His career was closely associated with the composer Edward Benjamin Britten....
with Benjamin Britten
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
(issued 1965), have all long been considered outstanding, although Norman Lebrecht
Norman Lebrecht
Norman Lebrecht is a British commentator on music and cultural affairs and a novelist. He was a columnist for The Daily Telegraph from 1994 until 2002 and assistant editor of the Evening Standard from 2002 until 2009...
placed the Pears/Britten coupling among "20 Recordings that Should Never Have Been Made" in his 2007 book The Life and Death of Classical Music. Highly recommended versions from the modern era include those of Thomas Quasthoff
Thomas Quasthoff
Thomas Quasthoff is a German bass-baritone. Although his reputation was initially based on his performance of Romantic lieder, Quasthoff has proven to have a remarkable range from the Baroque cantatas of Bach to solo jazz improvisations.-Biography:Quasthoff was born in Hildesheim, Germany, with...
with Charles Spencer
Charles Spencer
Charles J. Spencer, Jr. is an American football offensive tackle who is currently a free agent. He was drafted by the Houston Texans in the third round of the 2006 NFL Draft...
(1998, RCA), Wolfgang Holzmair
Wolfgang Holzmair
Wolfgang Holzmair is an Austrian baritone.Holzmair studied at the Vienna Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He won 2nd prize in the baritone class of the 's-Hertogenbosch International Vocal Competition in 1981, and a year later 1st prize in the Musikverein International Lieder Competition,...
with Imogen Cooper
Imogen Cooper
Imogen Cooper, CBE is an English pianist.Born in London, she is the daughter of the musicologist Martin Cooper. She studied piano in London with Kathleen Long, in Paris with Jacques Février and Yvonne Lefébure, and in Vienna with Alfred Brendel, Jörg Demus and Paul Badura-Skoda...
(1996, Philips), Christian Gerhaher
Christian Gerhaher
Christian Gerhaher is a German baritone and bass singer in opera, concert and notably Lied.- Biography :Christian Gerhaher studied with Paul Kuen and Raimund Grumbach at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München, and Lied with Friedemann Berger, already together with his accompanist for decades...
with Gerold Huber (2001, RCA Sony BMG, reedited in 2008), Mark Padmore
Mark Padmore
Mark Padmore is a British tenor appearing in concerts, recitals, and opera.Born in London 8 March 1961, and raised in Canterbury, Kent in England. Padmore studied clarinet and piano prior to his gaining a choral scholarship to King's College, Cambridge...
with Paul Lewis
Paul Lewis
Paul Lewis may refer to:*Paul Lewis , American architect and professor at the Princeton University School of Architecture*Paul Lewis , African American activist who lived in London, Ontario...
(2009, Harmonia Mundi), and Werner Güra
Werner Güra
Werner Güra is a German classical tenor in opera, concert and Lied, also an academic teacher in Zurich.- Professional career :...
with Christoph Berner playing a Rönisch fortepiano
Fortepiano
Fortepiano designates the early version of the piano, from its invention by the Italian instrument maker Bartolomeo Cristofori around 1700 up to the early 19th century. It was the instrument for which Haydn, Mozart, and the early Beethoven wrote their piano music...
of 1872 (2010, Harmonia Mundi
Harmonia Mundi
Harmonia Mundi is an independent music record label founded in 1958 by Bernard Coutaz in Arles . The Latin phrase means "world harmony"....
).
Literature
- Blom, EricEric BlomEric Walter Blom CBE was a Swiss-born British-naturalised music lexicographer, musicologist, music critic, music biographer and translator. He is best known as the editor of the 5th edition of Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians .-Biography:Blom was born in Berne, Switzerland...
, Schubert's "Winterreise", Foreword and analytical notes, (The "Winterreise" Society, Gramophone Company, Ltd, London 1933), 32 pp. - Capell, Richard, Schubert's songs (Ernest Benn, London 1928).
- Deutsch, Otto ErichOtto Erich DeutschOtto Erich Deutsch was an Austrian musicologist. He is known for compiling the first comprehensive catalogue of the works of Franz Schubert, first published in 1951 in English, new edition in 1978 in German...
, Schubert: Die Erinnerungen seiner Freunde (Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig 1957). - Deutsch, Otto Erich, Franz Schubert: Zeugnisse seiner Zeitgenossen (Fischer-Verlag, Frankfort 1964).
- (E.M.G.), The Art of Record Buying (EMG, London 1960).
- Fischer-Dieskau, DietrichDietrich Fischer-DieskauDietrich Fischer-Dieskau is a retired German lyric baritone and conductor of classical music, one of the most famous lieder performers of the post-war period and "one of the supreme vocal artists of the 20th century"...
, Schubert's Songs (Knopf, New York 1977). - Giarusso, Richard, Beyond the Leiermann, in The Unknown Schubert, ed. Barbara M. Reul, Lorraine Byrne Bodley (Ashgate, 2008) http://books.google.com/books?id=GCKfMGpE7xcC&lpg=PA26&ots=LoG1qFF6p5&dq=M%C3%BCller%20Urania%20Waldhornisten%20text&pg=PA25#v=onepage&q&f=false
- Haywood, Ernest, 'Terrifying Songs', Radio Times 20 January 1939.
- Mann, William, Schubert Winterreise, Sleeve notes HMV ASD 552 (Gramophone Co. Ltd 1955).
- Moore, GeraldGerald MooreGerald Moore CBE was an English pianist best known for his career as one of the most in-demand accompanists of his day, accompanying many of the world's most famous musicians...
, The Schubert Song Cycles - with thoughts on performance (Hamish Hamilton, London 1975). - Müller, Wilhelm, Aus dem hinterlassenen Papieren eines reisenden Waldhornisten, II: Lieder des Lebens und der Liebe.
- Neuman, AndrésAndres NeumanAndrés Neuman is a Spanish-Argentinian writer and poet. He was born in Buenos Aires, where he spent his childhood. He lives in Spain at present. Through a vote called by the Hay Festival, Neuman was selected among the most outstanding young Latin American authors, being included on the Bogotá39 list...
, El viajero del siglo (Traveller of the Century). Madrid: Alfaguara, 2009. XII Alfaguara Award of novel. - Osborne, CharlesCharles Osborne (music writer)Charles Thomas Osborne, born 24 November 1927 in Brisbane, Australia, is a journalist, critic, poet and novelist, and a recognised authority on opera. He was assistant editor of The London Magazine from 1958 until 1966, literature director of the Arts Council of Great Britain from 1971 until 1986,...
, Schubert Winterreise, Sleeve notes HMV ALPS 1298/9 (Gramophone Co. Ltd 1955). - Reed, John, The Schubert Song Companion (Manchester University Press 1997).
- RehbergWalter RehbergWalter Rehberg was a Swiss concert pianist, composer and writer on musical subjects who was particularly active from the 1920s to 1950s....
, Walter and Paula, Schubert: Sein Leben und Werk (Artemis-Verlag, Zurich 1946). - Robertson, Alec, Schubert, Winterreise, Brochure accompanying Decca SET 270-271 (Decca Records, London 1965).
- Schubert, Franz, Sammlung der Lieder kritisch revidirt von Max Friedländer, Band I, Preface by Max Müller (Peters, Leipzig).
- Youens, SusanSusan YouensSusan Youens is the author of many respected books on German lieder. A noted musicologist, her work on Franz Schubert and Hugo Wolf is considered some of the most scholarly and useful material on these composers. Both musicologists and performers have often cited her work.As well as her books,...
, Retracing a Winter's Journey: Schubert's Winterreise (Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London 1991)
External links
- The working ms at Schubert Online
- German texts and English translations
- Performance by Randall Scarlata (baritone) and Jeremy DenkJeremy DenkJeremy Denk is an American classical pianist. He has performed with numerous orchestras and presented world premieres by Jake Heggie, Libby Larsen, Kevin Puts, and Ned Rorem. He frequently performs with violinists Joshua Bell and Soovin Kim. He has recorded several chamber works as well as a solo...
(piano) part 1 and part 2 from the Isabella Stewart Gardner MuseumIsabella Stewart Gardner MuseumThe Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum or Fenway Court, as the museum was known during Isabella Stewart Gardner's lifetime, is a museum in the Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located within walking distance of the Museum of Fine Arts and near the Back Bay Fens...
in MP3MP3MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
format - Complete performance by soprano Lotte LehmannLotte LehmannCharlotte "Lotte" Lehmann was a German soprano who was especially associated with German repertory. She gave memorable performances in the operas of Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Ludwig van Beethoven, Puccini, Mozart and Massenet. The Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier was considered her greatest...
- Winterreise (MIDI)
- A Web site about Winterreise by Margo Briessinck
- The complete text, spoken in German, at librivox.org (N. 20)
- Official Maury Yeston website