Uploaded December 2015 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
- Composer: Franz Peter Schubert (31 January 1797 -- 19 November 1828)
- Performers: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone), Gerald Moore (piano)
- Year of recording: 1962
Winterreise (Winter Journey), song cycle for voice and piano, D. 911 (published as Op. 89 in 1828), a setting of 24 poems by Wilhelm Müller, written in 1827.
00:00:00 - 01. Gute Nacht
00:05:30 - 02. Die Wetterfahne
00:07:13 - 03. Gefror'ne Tränen
00:09:46 - 04. Erstarrung
00:12:42 - 05. Der Lindenbaum
00:17:15 - 06. Wasserflut
00:21:33 - 07. Auf dem Flusse
00:25:16 - 08. Rückblick
00:27:44 - 09. Irrlicht
00:30:17 - 10. Rast
00:33:18 - 11. Frühlingstraum
00:37:15 - 12. Einsamkeit
00:39:57 - 13. Die Post
00:42:14 - 14. Der greise Kopf
00:45:09 - 15. Die Krähe
00:47:14 - 16. Letzte Hoffnung
00:49:35 - 17. Im Dorfe
00:52:49 - 18. Der stürmische Morgen
00:53:42 - 19. Täuschung
00:55:14 - 20. Der Wegweiser
00:59:23 - 21. Das Wirtshaus
01:04:01 - 22. Mut!
01:05:26 - 23. Die Nebensonnen
01:08:07 - 24. Der Leiermann
In his introduction to the Peters Edition, Professor Max Müller, son of the poet Wilhelm Müller, 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 ("Die schöne Müllerin", Schubert's earlier song cycle from 1823) or Julius Stockhausen ("Winterreise"). Like "Die schöne Müllerin", 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 popular 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". 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.
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.
The two Schubert cycles (primarily for male voice), of which Winterreise is probably 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.
- Composer: Franz Peter Schubert (31 January 1797 -- 19 November 1828)
- Performers: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone), Gerald Moore (piano)
- Year of recording: 1962
Winterreise (Winter Journey), song cycle for voice and piano, D. 911 (published as Op. 89 in 1828), a setting of 24 poems by Wilhelm Müller, written in 1827.
00:00:00 - 01. Gute Nacht
00:05:30 - 02. Die Wetterfahne
00:07:13 - 03. Gefror'ne Tränen
00:09:46 - 04. Erstarrung
00:12:42 - 05. Der Lindenbaum
00:17:15 - 06. Wasserflut
00:21:33 - 07. Auf dem Flusse
00:25:16 - 08. Rückblick
00:27:44 - 09. Irrlicht
00:30:17 - 10. Rast
00:33:18 - 11. Frühlingstraum
00:37:15 - 12. Einsamkeit
00:39:57 - 13. Die Post
00:42:14 - 14. Der greise Kopf
00:45:09 - 15. Die Krähe
00:47:14 - 16. Letzte Hoffnung
00:49:35 - 17. Im Dorfe
00:52:49 - 18. Der stürmische Morgen
00:53:42 - 19. Täuschung
00:55:14 - 20. Der Wegweiser
00:59:23 - 21. Das Wirtshaus
01:04:01 - 22. Mut!
01:05:26 - 23. Die Nebensonnen
01:08:07 - 24. Der Leiermann
In his introduction to the Peters Edition, Professor Max Müller, son of the poet Wilhelm Müller, 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 ("Die schöne Müllerin", Schubert's earlier song cycle from 1823) or Julius Stockhausen ("Winterreise"). Like "Die schöne Müllerin", 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 popular 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". 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.
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.
The two Schubert cycles (primarily for male voice), of which Winterreise is probably 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.
