Episode 135. A Woman’s Winterreise

Episode 135. A Woman’s Winterreise

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Fleeing Ukraine

Today in honor of Women’s History Month and the people of Ukraine, I present a compendium of eight different Liedersängerinnen singing Franz Schubert’s song cycle Winterreise, set to poems by Wilhelm Müller. When I am in despair, I turn to Schubert, who, even in such a bleak piece as Winterreise, offers incomparable insight and empathy into our shared humanity. Though it is often held that this is a cycle that should sung exclusively by men, these eight women put the lie to that faulty premise. Featured singers are Lois Marshall, Brigitte Fassbaender, Lotte Lehmann, Elena Gerhardt, Christa Ludwig, Margaret Price, Mitsuko Shirai, and Alice Coote. Pianists are Paul Ulanowsky, Erik Werba, James Levine, Hartmut Höll, Julius Drake, Coenraad Bos, Aribert Reimann, Wolfram Rieger, Anton Kuerti, and Thomas Dewey. This is an episode that I have been planning for some time, and with so many people forced to take precarious and life-threatening winter journeys, there was no time like the present than to share this music, and these singers, with you. WARNING: This is at least a six-hankie episode!

Franz Schubert
Wilhelm Müller
Elena Gerhardt
Lotte Lehmann
Lois Marshall
Christa Ludwig
Brigitte Fassbaender
Mitsuko Shirai
Margaret Price
Alice Coote

RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE

All but the final song are from Franz Schubert’s Winterreise, D.911, set to texts by Wilhelm Müller

The following illustrations were painted by Lotte Lehmann in the late 1940s, one painting for each song.
Gute Nacht

I. Gute Nacht. Brigitte Fassbaender, Aribert Reimann [1988]

Die Wetterfahne

II. Die Wetterfahne. Mitsuko Shirai, Hartmut Höll [1991]

Gefror’ne Tränen

III. Gefror’ne Tränen. Christa Ludwig, Erik Werba [live Milano 15.X.85]

Erstarrung

IV. Erstarrung. Lois Marshall, Anton Kuerti [Toronto 11.76]

Der Lindenbaum

V. Der Lindenbaum. Elena Gerhardt, Coenraad V. Bos [1927]

Wasserflut

VI. Wasserflut. Alice Coote, Julius Drake [live London 01.2012]

Auf dem Flusse

VII. Auf dem Flusse. Margaret Price, Thomas Dewey [1997]

Rückblick

VIII. Rückblick. Brigitte Fassbaender, Wolfram Rieger [soundtrack to 1994 Peter Weigl film]

Irrlicht

IX. Irrlicht. Christa Ludwig, James Levine [1988]

Rast

X. Rast. Lois Marshall, Anton Kuerti [live Toronto 11.76]

Frühlingstraum

XI. Frühlingstraum. Lotte Lehmann, Paul Ulanowsky [1941]

Einsamkeit

XII. Einsamkeit. Brigitte Fassbaender, Aribert Reimann [1988]

Die Post

XIII. Die Post. Mitsuko Shirai, Hartmut Höll [1991]

Der greise Kopf

XIV. Der greise Kopf. Alice Coote, Julius Drake [live London 01.2012]

Die Krähe

XV. Die Krähe. Elena Gerhardt, Coenraad V. Bos [1927]

Letzte Hoffnung

XVI. Letzte Hoffnung. Margaret Price, Thomas Dewey [1997]

Im Dorfe

XVII. Im Dorfe. Lotte Lehmann, Paul Ulanowsky [1940]

Der stürmische Morgen

XVIII. Der stürmische Morgen. Alice Coote, Julius Drake [live London 01.2012]

Täuschung

XIX. Täuschung. Margaret Price, Thomas Dewey [1997]

Der Wegweiser

XX. Der Wegweiser. Christa Ludwig, Erik Werba [live Milano 15.X.85]

Das Wirtshaus

XXI. Das Wirtshaus. Lois Marshall, Anton Kuerti [live Toronto 11.76]

Mut

XXII. Mut. Lotte Lehmann, Paul Ulanowsky [1940]

Die Nebensonnen

XXIII. Die Nebensonnen. Mitsuko Shirai, Hartmut Höll [1991]

Der Leiermann

XXIV. Der Leiermann. Elena Gerhardt, Coenraad V. Bos [1927]

Franz von Schober (1796 – 1882)

Franz Schubert, Franz von Schober: An die Musik, D. 547. Lotte Lehmann, Paul Ulanowsky [1941 radio performance]

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