Page 74 - Winterreise Coverage Book, 2021 - 22
P. 74
2 February 2022
The enduring chill of Schubert’s Winterreise
A work ahead of its time, the composer's great song cycle meditates on all our
disappointments.
By Phil Hebblethwaite
In his element: a Viennese postcard of circa 1910 depicts Franz Schubert walking in the snow to
illustrate Winterreise. Image by Otto Nowak / CCI / Bridgeman Images
“Come over to Schober’s today, and I will sing you a cycle of terrifying songs,” Franz Schubert
said to his friend Joseph von Spaun in late 1827. Schubert, suffering from a fatal illness, was
