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Musicianship II
Dr. Helvering
23 April 2018
Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828) was Austrian composer who bridged the worlds of
Classical and Romantic music. Franz Schubert’s work was described by Joseph Bennett, "The
charm of his simple nature, the freshness and beauty of his music, and the mystery of his tragic
life, drew our eyes to him brimming with love and pity, and we could offer him nought but
praise." Winterreise was composed in two parts, each containing twelve songs, the first part in
February 1827 and the second in October 1827. When it was written, Schubert was very sick,
having contracted syphilis. This illness most likely took a toll on his mental health. He composed
Winterreise as he was dying, and a listener can feel that despair and desperation in the song
cycle. Winterreise is considered to be one of the greatest pieces of the 19th century. Even nearly
200 years after its composition it is performed on a regular basis. Overall, the cycle has varying
levels of emotion, and the final song, “Der Leiermann,” reflects the raw emotion the
The repetition throughout the piece makes a listener expect change – but change never really
comes. It’s static and endless. It begins with an eight measure intro from the piano. The open
fifth chords in measures one and two are preceded by the leading tone(E#) of the dominant key.
It is thought that this gracenote represents the starting up of a hurdy-gurdy, an eighteenth century
instrument can be described as a pear-shaped fiddle, having strings that are sounded not by a
bow, but by the rosined rim of a wooden wheel turned by a handle at the instrument’s end. Notes
are made on the one or two melody strings by stopping them with short wooden keys pressed by
the left-hand fingers. Up to four unstopped strings, called bourdons, sound drones. As the
melody beings in measure 3, it outlines scale degrees 1 and 3 of B minor. In measure 4, there is a
sixteenth note rest that is repeated throughout the piece in the same pattern. This symbolizes the
unrest and uncertainty that is felt throughout the entire final movement of Winterreise. Each time
it happens, the listener is caught off guard. It can also represent the hurdy gurdy again, if one
stops turning the crank and hesitates, the drone like sound of the instrument will cease to sound.
As the vocal line enters at measure 9, the open fifth drone of B and D continues in the left hand
of the piano, as it does for the entire piece. The melody of this movement is fairly simple, it
shifts from the tonic to the dominant, and does not stray away from those two chords. The
melody in measures 9 and 13 are identical, with a leap from the first scale degree down to the
fifth and back to the first again. This pattern is supported by the drone in the left hand of the
piano. Measure 17 arrives, and the listener has grown comfortable hearing the same melody
repeated four times now. Schubert changes the melody in measure 17 to leap from the first scale
degree up to the fifth this time. This slight shift in the music will be slightly unsettling to the
listener, achieving what Schubert desires. Up until measure 18, the vocal line has had consistent
eight notes, but in this measure there is a slight hiccup in the flow of the line with a dotted eighth
note followed by a sixteenth note. This was done to reflect the text in this very moment,
“Barefoot on the ice he staggers back and forth,” this pause in the flow represents this
hurdy-gurdy man staggering around the cold. At measure 27, the first major dynamic marking
occurs with a messa di voce in the right hand of the piano. This is significant because it occurs
right before the B section of the piece, hinting to a shift in perspective. The B section, though it
sounds different, is identical harmonically to the A section. Shifting between the tonic and
dominant chords, the piece remains simplistic, and it is the vocal line that causes the shift in the
mood. Measures 34 and 35 are very unsettling to listen to. It is not clear to the listener that this is
the end of the piece. The vocal line ends on a lingering F5 and fades away as the accompaniment
finishes out the piece. By ending of the fifth scale degree in B minor, Schubert leaves the listener
wanting more as the piece ends. In measure 36, the piece reaches its first and only forte dynamic.
This occurs as the singer holds out their final note. Though the piece ends with an authentic
cadence, nothing about this piece feels resolved. At no point is there a resolution of any kind,
Schubert does not want to give the listener the satisfaction of resolution. By ending with a
pianissimo minor one chord, he resolves the piece. Schubert gives us the tonic chord, and it’s
almost far too perfect. This is contradictory to how the vocal line ended. This eerie ending
reflects the text of the piece and the work Winterreise as a whole.
“Der Leiermann,” describes not only the singer’s final despair but the deterioration of his
mental state. The desolation and despair are complete. Because the music of this piece is so
simplistic, the text must be delivered in a way that conveys the sadness and despair the singer
feels at the end of the song cycle, Winterreise. The first four sections of the poem describe the
hurdy-gurdy man from a distance. The repetition of the melody is reflecting the mediocrity of
this man’s life. It is ordinary, he is an ordinary man. Though he leads a humble life, this man,
“lets it all go by, everything as it will.” He knows that his life will remain despair ridden, and he
seems to accept that. The final stanza of the poem shifts perspectives, and now the singer speaks
directly to the man. “Strange old man, shall I go with you? Will you play your hurdy-gurdy to
my songs? (Müller)” The singer wonders if this man feels the same as he does, and if he can find
solace in this man. In the recording by Jonas Kauffmann, he pours the most emotion into the B
section because it is a self reflection. Because he chooses to end on forte with the final words, the
listener expects more text to follow, but is left with only piano.
thing a person hears – the final message on which they will reflect. After twenty-four songs, this
epic song cycle ends on a humble note. The despair felt in this movement digs deep into the
listener’s emotions as they hear about this lonely man. As the signer reflects back on themselves,
a person can understand why the singer has felt such pain for so long. Hearing the emotional text
over the drone of the piano allows each phrase to be delivered directly into a person’s soul.
When a person listens to this movement, they will feel what the singer is feeling in that moment.
This is a powerful tool that Schubert uses. If the audience can be completely immersed in the
music, then they will be able to understand what the Schubert was trying to convey in
Winterreise.
Works Cited
Bennett, Joseph, Forty Years of Music, 1865-1905 (London, 1908), pp. 337 and 342.
Kramer, R. (1994). Distant Cycles : Schubert and the Conceiving of Song. Chicago: University
of Chicago Press.
Youens, S. (1991). Retracing a Winter's Journey : Franz Schubert's 'Winterreise'. Ithaca: Cornell
University Press.