Facebook Twitter Instagram
    Trending
    • Interview: Lewis Thompson, VP Sport
    • En Garde!
    • BUWRU Still on Top
    • Hidden Histories: With The Archaeology Society
    • Beabadoobee Concert Review: Welcome to Beatopia
    • Taylor Swift: Midnights Review – The Stories of 13 Sleepless Nights
    • Claire Concert Review: Claire Cottrill in Concert!
    • Is There Hope For Percy Jackson?
    Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Flickr
    Seren
    • News & Politics
      1. Local News
      2. UK News
      3. Uni News
      4. World News
      5. Politics
      6. Comment
      7. Business
      Featured

      SABB Election: The Full Result Breakdown

      By Emily ReadMarch 20, 20210
      Recent

      Redevelopment plans and the culture of Bangor

      October 28, 2022

      Immediate closure of Menai Bridge following reports of structural integrity issues

      October 28, 2022

      Racial abuse victim calls for harsher sentencing following nightclub assault

      October 28, 2022
    • Arts & Culture
      1. Books
      2. Games
      3. Film
      4. Music
      5. TV
      6. Creative Corner
      Featured

      Bangor alumni podcast earns Hollywood cameo & BBC features

      By Amelia SmithMarch 7, 20210
      Recent

      Beabadoobee Concert Review: Welcome to Beatopia

      October 29, 2022

      Taylor Swift: Midnights Review – The Stories of 13 Sleepless Nights

      October 29, 2022

      Claire Concert Review: Claire Cottrill in Concert!

      October 29, 2022
    • Lifestyle
      1. Fashion
      2. Food and Drink
      3. Social
      4. Health and Beauty
      5. Travel
      Featured

      Country Highlight: The Netherlands

      By Emily ShoultsMay 6, 20220
      Recent

      Gilmore Garms

      October 28, 2022

      Fleeces and Funk

      October 28, 2022

      Cheerleading: Getting your kit together

      October 28, 2022
    • Discovery
      1. Science
      2. Environment
      3. History
      4. International
      Featured

      Brewing up a Storm: The History of Guinness

      By Emily ReadMarch 20, 20210
      Recent

      North Wales Ramblings

      October 28, 2022

      Hamza Yassin: The Hard Work That Is Making Luck Happen

      October 28, 2022

      Student’s Union Hosts Repair Cafe for Sustainability Awareness Week

      October 28, 2022
    • Sport
      1. Varsity 2019
      2. Varsity 2018
      3. Varsity 2017
      4. Varsity 2016
      5. Varsity 2015
      6. Varsity 2014
      7. Varsity 2013
        • Varsity 2013 Results
        • Varsity 2013 – In tweets
      Featured

      Bangor Muddogs’ American Football: a young woman finding her place

      By Jade HillMarch 23, 20210
      Recent

      Interview: Lewis Thompson, VP Sport

      October 29, 2022

      En Garde!

      October 29, 2022

      BUWRU Still on Top

      October 29, 2022
    • Students’ Union
      1. Union News
      2. Societies
      3. Volunteering
      4. Clubs
      Featured

      INTERVIEW: Be Period Positive

      By Caroline CartmillMarch 17, 20210
      Recent

      Interview: Lewis Thompson, VP Sport

      October 29, 2022

      En Garde!

      October 29, 2022

      BUWRU Still on Top

      October 29, 2022
    • Issues
      • Current Issue
      • This year’s issues
      • Last year’s issues
      • Seren Archive
      • Seren Teams
    Seren
    Home»Arts & Culture»Music»Journey of a Winter Journey
    Music

    Journey of a Winter Journey

    Hedd ThomasBy Hedd ThomasFebruary 6, 2015Updated:February 24, 2015No Comments4 Mins Read
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    Caspar David Friedrich, 'Winter Landscape', 1811
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    After the rationalism of the Age of Enlightenment, Middle Europeans were feeling a bit detached from their feelings and from their place in nature.

    Instead of grand architecture and fancy portraits, artists like Caspar David Friedrich began depicting fearful mountains and lonely woods. People were painted as tiny figures in an overwhelming environment, as in The Chasseur in the Forest, or with their back to the viewer, as in the famous Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, a painting that epitomises the period.

    Instead of celebrating society and civilisation, poets likewise took an introspective focus on man’s individual hopes and fear, his accompanying vulnerabilities and failures, and, most of all, his utter isolation.

    Such was the world of Wilhelm Müller, a dashing young German poet writing after the end of the Napoleonic Wars. Towards the end of his life, which was cut tragically short by a heart attack at the age of 32, he wrote and had published a collection of twenty-four poems entitled Winterreise (Winter Journey).

    Caspar David Friedrich, 'Winter Landscape', 1811
    Caspar David Friedrich, ‘Winter Landscape’, 1811

    The poems tell the story of a young man. He starts in the bedroom of his sweetheart but talks of leaving: “I came here a stranger, As a stranger I depart.” Why? Wanderlust. The need for chance and change. The irritating failure to feel at home. “Love loves to wander – God made it that way – From one to the other, My dearest, good night!” Without waking his lover he whispers these words in her ear before softly closing the door behind him and leaving in the dead of night for whatever wild, wintry world awaits.

    The following twenty-three poems are all about this man’s solitary journey through the cold, unforgiving landscape. He walks past a weathervane, a linden tree, a stream, a signpost and an inn. The inn is full so he has to continue walking. He hears a post horn and a crow. He feels his tears freezing and his hair greying.

    Finally, he meets another human being: a hurdy-gurdy man. His fingers are frozen, his begging bowl is empty and no one is listening, but the musician plays a tune nonetheless. The final stanza reads, “Strange old man, Shall I go with you? Will you play your organ To my songs?”

    Franz Schubert
    Franz Schubert

    Franz Schubert, a young composer living in Vienna and a contemporary of Müller, had already read a previous collection of the poet’s and set them to music: Die schöne Müllerin (The Fair Miller-Maid) was composed when Schubert was 26 years old. Also about a wanderer meditating on the nature of love and the love of nature, the moods of the songs vary from comic to tragic, joyful to mysterious, calm to thoroughly impassioned. The musical style was revolutionary, changing the direction of song forever.

    Four years later, Schubert was slowly dying of syphilis. Through his pain, while waiting for his own winter to pass into spring, he somehow managed to compose Winterreise. The music is altogether more sombre in character yet hauntingly beautiful. Indeed, mezzo-soprano Elena Gerhardt said, “You have to be haunted by this cycle to be able to sing it.”

    A year later, and while still editing Winterreise for publication, Schubert died. Yet nearly two-hundred years later his legacy and that of his last great work endures. It’s frequently performed and recorded all around the world. It’s a centrepiece in the history of music. And for singers, wanderers and lovers alike, it has a special place in our hearts.

    To start your own winter journey, try Ian Bostridge’s 2004 recording on EMI Classics with piano accompaniment by Leif Ove Andsnes. Bostridge has also recently authored a book, Schubert’s Winter Journey: Anatomy of an Obsession, which delves into the song-cycle and his own personal reflections to give an insight into Schubert’s world and mind.

    love Middle Europeans music world
    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    Hedd Thomas

    Music Editor 2014/15

    Related Posts

    Beabadoobee Concert Review: Welcome to Beatopia

    October 29, 2022

    Taylor Swift: Midnights Review – The Stories of 13 Sleepless Nights

    October 29, 2022

    Claire Concert Review: Claire Cottrill in Concert!

    October 29, 2022

    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    MORE INFORMATION
    • ABOUT
    • ADVERTISE
    • CONTACT US
    • GET INVOLVED
    • MEMBERS
    Links
    • Bangor University Bangor University
    • Google+ Google+
    • Undeb Bangor Undeb Bangor
    About

    Seren is Bangor University Students’ Union’s English Language Newspaper

    We have editorial independence from both Bangor University and Bangor Students’ Union. Seren is written by students for students and we’d love you to get involved!

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.