The Cambridge Companion to Schubert's ‘Winterreise'

An accessible multi-disciplinary exploration of Franz Schubert's haunting late song cycle Winterreise (1827) that combines context and different analytical approaches.

Marjorie W. Hirsch (Edited by), Lisa Feurzeig (Edited by)

9781108832847, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 4 February 2021

320 pages
25 x 17.5 x 2.5 cm, 0.69 kg

'(This) should appeal to any lieder-loving reader of Gramophone.' Richard Wigmore, Gramophone

Organized in five parts, this Companion enhances understanding of Schubert's Winterreise by approaching it from multiple angles. Part I examines the political, cultural, and musical environments in which Winterreise was created. Part II focuses on the poet Wilhelm Müller, his 24-poem cycle Die Winterreise, and changes Schubert made to it in fashioning his musical setting. Part III illuminates Winterreise by exploring its relation to contemporaneous understandings of psychology and science, and early nineteenth-century social and political conditions. Part IV focuses more directly on the song cycle, exploring the listener's identification with the cycle's protagonist, text-music relations in individual songs, Schubert's compositional 'fingerprints', aspects of continuity and discontinuity among the songs, and the cycle's relation to German Romanticism. Part V concentrates on Winterreise in the nearly two centuries since its completion in 1827, including lyrical and dramatic performance traditions, the cycle's influence on later composers, and its numerous artistic reworkings.

Introduction: An Endless Winter Journey Marjorie W. Hirsch and Lisa Feurzeig
Part I. Schubert's Winterreise and its Musical Heritage: 1. Music and Culture in Schubert's Vienna Andrea Lindmayr-Brandl
2. Tradition and Innovation in Schubert's Lieder Marjorie W. Hirsch
3. Precursors to Winterreise: Songs of Winter and Wandering, the Early Song Cycle Lisa Feurzeig
Part II. Die Winterreise: Poetic Cycle: 4. Wilhelm Müller's Odyssey Kristina Muxfeldt
5. Schubert's Treatment of Müller's Poems: Some Issues Rufus Hallmark
Part III. Cultural and Historical Contexts: 6. Two Perspectives on Psychology in Winterreise David Romand and Lisa Feurzeig
7. Nature and Science in Winterreise Blake Howe
8. On the Move: Outcasts, Wanderers, and the Political Landscape of die Winterreise George S. Williamson
Part IV. Winterreise: Song Cycle: 9. Identification in die Schöne Müllerin and Winterreise James William Sobaskie
10. Text-Music Relationships Susan Wollenberg
11. A Winter of Poetry: Connections among the Songs in Schubert's Winterreise Xavier Hascher
12. Discontinuity in Winterreise Deborah Stein
Part V. Winterreise after 1827: 13. Performance and Reception Benjamin Binder
14. Canonicity and Influence Laura Tunbridge.

Subject Areas: Romantic music [c 1830 to c 1900 AVGC5], Classical music [c 1750 to c 1830 AVGC4], Music reviews & criticism [AVC]