Winterreise

Winterreise (German: [ˈvɪntɐˌʁaɪzə], “Winter Journey”) is a song cycle for voice and piano by Franz Schubert (D. 911, published as Op. 89 in 1828), setting 24 poems by German poet Wilhelm Müller. It follows Schubert’s earlier Müller cycle, Die schöne Müllerin (D. 795, Op. 25, 1823). Both cycles were originally composed for tenor voice, though Schubert himself set a precedent by transposing them for other vocal ranges. Their large scale and structural unity make them demanding for listeners and performers alike. Although Beethoven’s cycle An die ferne Geliebte appeared earlier, in 1816, Schubert’s cycles are considered the most important in the genre’s history. The cycle is a monodrama told from the perspective of a wandering protagonist, with a plot that remains somewhat unclear. After his beloved chooses another, the grief-stricken young man leaves town at night, follows a river and steep paths to a charcoal burner’s hut, and rests before moving on. He passes a village, a crossroads, and a cemetery. There, denied even the death he has become obsessed with, he defiantly abandons his faith and reaches a state of resignation. Finally, he meets a derelict street musician—the only other character in the cycle. The musician’s mysterious, ominous nature, along with the question posed in the final lines, leaves the wanderer’s fate open to interpretation. The autograph manuscript is held at the Morgan Library & Museum. **Authorship and composition**

Winterreise was composed in two parts, each containing twelve songs: the first part in February 1827, the second in October 1827. The two parts were published separately by Tobias Haslinger—the first on 14 January 1828, and the second on 30 December 1828 (Schubert was still correcting proofs days before his death on 19 November). The texts are by Wilhelm Müller, a poet, soldier, and Imperial Librarian in Dessau, Prussia (now east-central Germany). Müller died in 1827 at age 32 and likely never heard the first setting of his poems in Die schöne Müllerin (1823), let alone Winterreise. Die schöne Müllerin had become central to the repertoire of Schubert and his friend, baritone Johann Michael Vogl, who introduced Schubert’s songs on tours through Austria in the mid-1820s. Schubert discovered the first twelve poems under the title *Wanderlieder von Wilhelm Müller. Die Winterreise. In 12 Liedern* in an almanac (*Urania. Taschenbuch auf das Jahr 1823*) published in Leipzig in 1823. His close friend Franz von Schober gave him this book. After setting these poems in February 1827, Schubert found the full series in Müller’s 1824 book, *Poems from the posthumous papers of a travelling horn-player*, dedicated to composer Carl Maria von Weber (godfather of Müller’s son F. Max Müller) “as a pledge of his friendship and admiration.” Weber died in 1826. On 4 March 1827, Schubert invited friends to his lodgings to sing the first group of songs, but he was out when they arrived; the event was postponed until later that year, when the full cycle was performed. Between the 1823 and 1824 editions, Müller slightly altered the texts and, by adding twelve more poems, changed their order. Because Schubert composed in two stages, his cycle preserves the order of the first twelve poems as published and appends the new twelve as a *Fortsetzung* (Continuation), following Müller’s order (excluding already-set poems) except for switching “Die Nebensonnen” and “Mut!”. In Müller’s complete book, the final order was: “Gute Nacht”; “Die Wetterfahne”; “Gefror’ne Tränen”; “Erstarrung”; “Der Lindenbaum”; “Die Post”; “Wasserflut”; “Auf dem Flusse”; “Rückblick”; “Der greise Kopf”; “Die Krähe”; “Letzte Hoffnung”; “Im Dorfe”; “Der stürmische Morgen”; “Täuschung”; “Der Wegweiser”; “Das Wirtshaus”; “[Das] Irrlicht”; “Rast”; “Die Nebensonnen”; “Frühlingstraum”; “Einsamkeit”; “Mut!”; “Der Leiermann”. Schubert’s numbering thus runs 1–5, 13, 6–8, 14–21, 9–10, 23, 11–12, 22, 24—a sequence occasionally attempted by Hans Joachim Moser and Günther Baum. Schubert’s first group of settings therefore ended with the dramatic cadence of “Irrlicht,” “Rast,” “Frühlingstraum,” and “Einsamkeit,” and his second sequence begins with “Die Post.” Dramatically, the first half covers the departure from the beloved’s house, and the second half the torments of reawakened hope and the path to resignation. In Winterreise, Schubert elevates the pianist’s role to equal the singer’s. The piano’s rhythms constantly express the poet’s moods—for example, the distinctive rhythm of “Auf dem Flusse,” the restless syncopation in “Rückblick,” the dramatic tremolos in “Einsamkeit,” the shimmering note clusters in “Irrlicht,” and the sharp accents in “Der stürmische Morgen.” The piano also provides rich effects for nature imagery: the rushing storm, crying wind, water under ice, birds singing, ravens croaking, dogs baying, a rusty weathervane grating, a post horn calling, and the drone and repeated melody of a hurdy-gurdy. **Opinions of Schubert’s intentions**

Many have tried to explain why Schubert composed Winterreise. One possible explanation appears in Elizabeth Norman McKay’s book *Schubert: The Piano and Dark Keys*: “Towards the end of 1822 ...