Winterreise (Winter Journey) is a song cycle by Franz Schubert, on poems by Wilhelm Müller. A song cycle is a group of songs designed to be performed in sequence as a single entity. ... Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (January 31, 1797 – November 19, 1828), was an Austrian composer, considered the last master of the Viennese Classical school and one of the earliest proponents of musical Romanticism. ... Wilhelm Müller (October 7, 1794 - September 30, 1827), German lyric poet, was born at Dessau, the son of a shoemaker. ...

The cycle was written in 1827 and includes 24 songs on the subject of unrequited love:

1. Gute Nacht (Good Night)
2. Die Wetterfahne (The Weather-vane)
3. Gefrorne Tränen (Frozen Tears)
4. Erstarrung (Numbness)
5. Der Lindenbaum (The Linden Tree)
6. Wasserflut (Torrent)
7. Auf dem Flusse (On the Stream)
8. Rückblick (Backward Glance)
9. Irrlicht (Will o' the wisp)
10. Rast (Rest)
11. Frühlingstraum (A Dream of Springtime)
12. Einsamkeit (Lonliness)
13. Die Post (The Post)
14. Der greise Kopf (The Grey Head)
15. Die Krähe (The Crow)
16. Letzte Hoffnung (Last Hope)
17. Im Dorfe (In the village)
18. Der stürmische Morgen (In the Stormy Morning)
19. Täuschung (Deception)
20. Der Wegweiser (The Signpost)
21. Das Wirtshaus (The Inn)
22. Mut (Courage)
23. Die Nebensonnen (The Phantom Suns)
24. Der Leiermann (The Organ Grinder)

Winterreise is Schubert's opus 89. In Otto Erich Deutsch's catalogue of his works, it is D. 911. It followed Schubert's earlier song cycle, Die schöne Müllerin. The will o the wisps or ignis fatuus (fools fire) is the phenomenon of ghostly lights sometimes seen at night or in twilight hovering over damp ground in still air, often over bogs. ... Opus is a Latin word which means work (in the sense of a work of art). Some composers musical pieces are identified by opus numbers which generally run either in order of composition or in order of publication. ... Otto Erich Deutsch (September 5, 1883 - November 23, 1967) was an Austrian musicologist. ... Die schöne Müllerin, D. 795, is a song cycle by Franz Schubert on poems by Wilhelm Müller. ...

The songs in Winterreise are linked as a sequence of reflections by the singer taking a lonely walk in a winter's night, thinking back on his lost love. The lonely themes of cold, darkness, and the barren winter landscape predominate, with occasional encounters with other nighttime wanderers, such as a passing postal coach in Die Post. The fifth song, Der Lindenbaum, with a lingering look at a lime tree that whispers thoughts of suicide, is a popular excerpt from this cycle. The cycle ends with a sad, lingering look at a frozen hurdy-gurdy man in Der Leiermann. The parallel with the singer singing his sad songs in the ice and the slow, unresolved melody of the hurdy-gurdy concludes the cycle with an eerily unfinished feel that is perfectly in character with the lonely wandering of the singer.

External links

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Winterreise

• German texts and English translations
• A Web site about Winterreise by Margo Briessinck