Mark Padmore and Mitsuko Uchida talk with Anne McLean of the Library’s Music Division about Franz Schubert’s Winterreise song cycle, D. 911. The conversation focuses on the central theme of loneliness in the cycle’s protagonist, a wanderer on a bleak wintry journey confronting his isolation and grief over a lost love. They look at the cycle in the context of major works written in 1828, in the final months of the composer’s life, including his last three piano sonatas. Other topics include the imagery of Wilhelm Müller’s poems and the playwright Samuel Beckett’s deep connection to Schubert’s songs. The artists discuss the possible interpretations of the final song, Der Leiermann, and the existential questions that Winterreise poses for audiences today.
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