Winterreise (The Winter Journey) - D911 (Muller)

[micrologus]

Christophe Prégardien: Tenor
Klangforum Wien / Sylvain Cambreling





Der Lindenbaum


Am Brunnen vor dem Thore
Da steht ein Lindenbaum:
Ich träumt' in seinem Schatten
So manchen süßen Traum.

Ich schnitt in seine Rinde
So manches liebe Wort;
Es zog in Freud' und Leide
Zu ihm mich immer fort.

Ich mußt' auch heute wandern
Vorbei in tiefer Nacht,
Da hab' ich noch im Dunkel
Die Augen zugemacht.

Und seine Zweige rauschten,
Als riefen sie mir zu:
Komm her zu mir, Geselle,
Hier findst du deine Ruh'!

Die kalten Winde bliesen
Mir grad' in's Angesicht,
Der Hut flog mir vom Kopfe,
Ich wendete mich nicht.

Nun bin ich manche Stunde
Entfernt von jenem Ort,
Und immer hör' ich's rauschen:
Du fändest Ruhe dort!

[haydnguy]

EDIT: BEGIN virginia's POST:


Am Brunnen vor dem Thore
Da steht ein Lindenbaum:
Ich träumt' in seinem Schatten
So manchen süßen Traum.

Or...

A linden tree is standing
Beside a flowing stream.
And underneath its branches
I dreamed the sweetest dream.

From Jeffrey Benton's translation and performance in English, Symposium 1118.


BEGIN SchubertGuy's POST:

The song leads a double life, as an adopted folksong which every German child knows in it's simplest E major form, and as an art song which represents some kind of peak of the song-writer's art. Yet these two roles do not conflict. It is a proof of Schubert's greatness as an artist that the song combines the universality of folksong with the subtlety, the mastery, of the art song.

Müller's there here, as in Frühlingstraum, is the conflict between dream and reality. The lime tree (the centre of village life) is the symbol of the innocence and security of childhood. So Schubert's folksong has the ease of sweetness of a dream. But his ability to change the emotional colour of a song never worked with more magical effect than it does here. The pianist's triplets, which in the prelude seem only to whisper gently like leaves in a summer breaze, are suddenly filled with menace, until in the fifth verse they howl through the song like a bitter gale.

The tempo indication on the autograph is Mässig langsam. In bar 45 there is a case for making the singer's quiver('Die') E rather then F-sharp (see Armitage-Smith)

Lyrics

A lime tree stands by the well outside the gate; in its shade I used to dream many a sweet dream.

On its bark I carved so many words of love; I was drawn to it always both in joy and sorrow.

Today my way led past it, at dead of night; and even in the dark I closed my eyes.

And its branches rustled as though they called to me: 'Come over here, my friend, here you will find rest.'

The cold winds blew full in my face, my hat flew from my head, but I did not turn round.

Now I am many hours' journey from that place; and still I hear the rustling: 'There you would find rest!'

[micrologus]

Wasserflut


Manche Thrän' aus meinen Augen
Ist gefallen in den Schnee;
Seine kalten Flocken saugen
Durstig ein das heiße Weh.

Wann die Gräser sprossen wollen,
Weht daher ein lauer Wind,
Und das Eis zerspringt in Schollen,
Und der weiche Schnee zerrinnt.

Schnee, du weißt von meinem Sehnen:
Sag' mir, wohin geht dein Lauf?
Folge nach nur meinen Thränen,
Nimmt dich bald das Bächlein auf.

Wirst mit ihm die Stadt durchziehen,
Muntre Straßen ein und aus:
Fühlst du meine Thränen glühen,
Da ist meiner Liebsten Haus.



Dietrich Fischer-Diskau / Alfred Brendel


Torrent

Many a tear from my eyes
has dropped onto the snow;
its chill flakes suck thirstily
at my scalding woe.

When it is time for the grass to grow,
a warm wind shall blow there,
and the ice crack into floes,
and the soft snows melt.

Snow, you know my longing:
say which way lies your course?
Just follow my tears,
the rivulet shall soon receive you.

It will take you through the town,
in and out of bustling streets:
when you feel my tears burning,
then there is my beloved’s house.

[virginia]

Excellent analysis. Please post more of same.

[Philidor]

Originally Posted by virginia

Excellent analysis. Please post more of same.

Ditto

[virginia]

Folks, if you don't have Netflix, sign up now. I just finished watching Dietrich F-D and Brendel in their 1979 performance of Winterreise. I liked it so much that I watched the rehearsal in German...and I don't speak German much. I assure you this DVD is not available at your local Blockbuster, even if you live in Wien (probably).

[haydnguy]

The mood of Wasserflut is already one of weariness and disenchantment. In Auf dem Flusse the wanderer's solitary step is renewed with a stoic resolve. It is like the beginning of a new act in the drama, after the intermissions of the last three songs. Once again we hear the 2/4 'gehende Bewegung', but the pace is slower and the mood grimmer. The original temp indication was Mässig.

Under the basic pulse Schubert introduces a series of rhythmic variations by a process of filling in, so as to suggest the torrent of emotion that rages beneath the surface of the song. At first (bars 1 - 12) the bare rhythm is articulated in staccato quavers ('how still you have become'). But the underlying disquiet is suggested first by the magical switch into D sharp minor at bar 9, and then by a surge of semiquavers in the accompaniment. This modulation at bar 9 is also the key to the solution of a textual problem which occurs later in the song. There is a parallel sequence at bars 45-7, and the underlying harmony of bar 47 is the tonic chord of D sharp major. If so, the note F should have an accidental double sharp sign throughout this bar, in both staves (see Armitage-Smith).

Lyrics

You clear wild stream, that once babbled so merrily, how still you have become. You give no parting word!

Covered with a hard unyielding crust, you lie cold and motionless, stretched out on the sand.

Upon your surface I carve with a sharp stone the name of my beloved, the hour and the day, the day of our first greeting, the day I went away. A broken ring surrounds the name and the dates.

Heart of mine, do you see your own image now in this stream? Is there a raging torrent beneath your surface too?

[micrologus]

Auf dem Flusse


Der du so lustig rauschtest,
Du heller, wilder Fluß,
Wie still bist du geworden,
Giebst keinen Scheidegruß.

Mit harter, starrer Rinde
Hast du dich überdeckt,
Liegst kalt und unbeweglich
Im Sande hingestreckt.

In deine Decke grab' ich
Mit einem spitzen Stein
Den Namen meiner Liebsten
Und Stund' und Tag hinein:

Den Tag des ersten Grußes,
Den Tag, an dem ich ging,
Um Nam' und Zahlen windet
Sich ein zerbrochner Ring.

Mein Herz, in diesem Bache
Erkennst du nun dein Bild?
Ob's unter seiner Rinde
Wohl auch so reißend schwillt?

[micrologus]

Originally Posted by SchubertGuy

Lyrics

What cd is that?

[Despina41]

wow. Listen to the difference between the DFD and Hotter recordings of this.. Who's pianoing on the DFD? is it Brendel? It's more staccato. Moore is detached, which gives it a little more gravitas - a more ominous opening to my ears.



Ok, staying in F minor-

Look who's on youtube! easier to hear the piano in the Moore-Hotter recording, though. Inner voices always good to hear. But Quasthoff always sounds good:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r-8BxFD4Fc"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r-8BxFD4Fc[/ame]