Franz Schubert: Die Winterreise (The Winter Journey)

Pianist, Lukas Sehr

Based on texts by Wilhelm Müller, Franz Schubert completed the monumental song cycle "Winterreise" (Op. 89) in the fall of 1827, one year before his death. The 24 songs in the cycle contain some of his greatest works. Schubert was particularly proud of these songs and wrote to his friend and fellow composer Josef von Spaun: "I will sing you a cycle of haunting songs. I am eager to see what you have to say about them. They have affected me more deeply than any other songs ever have." Spaun reported: "He now sang us through the whole of 'Winterreise' with an impassioned voice. We were completely taken aback by the sombre mood of these songs." The bleakness and desolation of the landscape sung about by the traveler, who tells of happy days in a summer of love and then of lost love, the barren trees, the snow, the dogs chasing him out of the village, the crows perched in the trees, the organ grinder playing his ghostly melody in a swirl of snow, left them perplexed.

The facsimile of the autograph (1827) and the Urtext edition are being used to prepare this performance. Schubert himself transposed his works, and the songs of Winterreise exist in different keys. We will perform the cycle in the version for bass voice. Some ornamentation will be subtly added to the vocal part, as Schubert and his singer Johann Michael Vogl did. As carefully as we approach the performance practice of the early repertoire, we also proceed with the same sensitivity when interpreting early romantic music. Joel Frederiksen will be accompanied by an historical fortepiano, as Schubert might have played.

Performers:

Joel Frederiksen - Bass
Lukas Sehr - Fortepiano

2nd concert of the XVII series "Between Mars and Venus"

With the kind support of the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts and the District of Upper Bavaria.