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Benjamin Appl (photo: David Ruano)

Schubert’s Winterreise, 24 songs to words by Wilhelm Müller, was composed about

a year before the composer’s tragically early death at the age of 31. In five years’
time – 2027 – it will be 200 years old and yet it remains as fresh, as powerful and as
a relevant as the day it was unveiled. And it is also arguably the greatest song-cycle

ever written: rather like Bach’s Solo Cello Suites, composers have tried to emulate it,
but all attempts fall short. It has become a musical lodestone, attracting baritones

and tenors – and a growing number of mezzos, too – as one of the pinnacles of the
Lieder singer’s repertoire, a work that remains constantly elusive and defies the

‘definitive’ approach, which no doubt explains its continuing allure for audiences too.

A Winterreise not only in a time of pandemic but also at a time when huge numbers
of people have become refugees takes on, perhaps, a different resonance. We have

become more aware of our relationships to our fellow humans, and even to the
landscape around us. The figure at the centre of Müller and Schubert’s cycle has left
his home and village, and as the songs progress, his sense of alienation grows. The

words, ‘My feet did not seek rest; it was too cold to stand still. My back felt no
burden; the storm helped to blow me onwards’ (from the tenth song, ‘Rast’, in

Richard Wigmore’s translation) are as real today as when they were written. ‘Coming