Schubert - Winterreise

The sheer number of recordings and monographs about Franz Schubert's song cycle 'Winterreise' alone testify to its magnificence. Even so, specialists are still undecided whether this work actually is a song cycle. Its 24 songs, settings of texts by the poet Wilhelm Müller, were published on two separate occasions: one in February 1827, and one in October 1827. The narrative of Müller's poems appears straightforward: a young man is rejected, and wanders off on a destinationless journey in the midst of winter. The music's atmosphere, though, is gloomy and downcast.