Sitting through a performance of Schubert’s Winterreise can be a harrowing experience. We follow the protagonist as he, in the darkness of night, embarks on a winter’s journey with only the light of the moon as his companion. Restlessly he dreams of his beloved, and when he wakes he finds himself cold and alone with no end to his torment in sight. Set to poetry by Wilhelm Müller, Franz Schubert composed Winterreise towards the end of his short life (he died of syphilis, aged only 31, in 1828), and many consider the cycle to be an expression of the composer’s confused and depressed psychological state.

In Schubert’s Winter Journey: Anatomy of an Obsession, singer and scholar Ian Bostridge sets out to explore the origins of the cycle, giving it historical, social, political, and personal context. Bostridge is a renowned interpreter of the work, having performed it countless times over the course of his illustrious career, and while he concedes to be no musicologist, his insights are profoundly interesting. The book follows the structure of the cycle, and each of the 24 songs is given a chapter, starting with Bostridge’s own English translations of the original German texts. Illustrations and musical examples are provided throughout, enabling the reader to follow each chapter as though sitting through a performance of the cycle.

Although sometimes distractingly tangential, Bostridge’s writing is engaging and intelligent without seeming grandiose. Unlike most singers of Bostridge’s calibre, he has no formal music qualifications, which means he writes to be understood by a similar readership. Of interest are anecdotes from Bostridge’s own performance experience, which enliven the text and contemporise the subject matter, particularly in the final chapter, ‘Der Leiermann’. This beautiful book is a must-read for lovers of Schubert’s lieder.

This release coincides with Schubert: 3 Song Cycles (3CDs + DVD) by Ian Bostridge.

Alexandra Mathew