Just for your personal edification, and in case you don't already know, 'Winterreise' is the name taken from the last song cycle by the great composer (of music) Franz Schubert. Written shortly after his other vocal masterpiece 'Schwanengesang' (Swan Song), Schubert was here on his deathbed, dying of (they beleive) syphilus, and Winterreise is one of the most tragic, haunting, and profoundly beautiful works in the history of western music.
It is for voice and piano, and has been recorded many times, but my personal favorite recording is by the great Baritone Hermann Frye. Incidentally, it is a set of short songs, each one about three minutes in length, and the entire piece is about half an hour long, for voice and piano. If you love music, in particular very profound art music, 'Winterreise' by Schubert is one of the best! Incidentally, it is in his song cycles that Schubert laid the groundwork for and perfected the three minute song, complete with verse and chorus repeats, which is still the most popular song form; all the stuff on pop radio still conforms to Schubert's original form, and yet he is fairly obscure; everyone has heard of him, but nobody seems to listen to his works. Pity; everyone should definitely check this out. Cameron Hood PS: Sorry if I digress... on 01/18/03 8:44 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >> for a history exam at school I once had to write an essay about the >> first Prime Minister of Britain, a certain Sir Robert Walpole. I wrote >> down all this great stuff about what a terrific guy he was etc. etc. >> and did ok in the exam. When I got the paper back the teacher pointed >> out with amusement that throughout I'd written the wrong name, and put >> instead 'Sir Robert Walkden'. > > > Sir Robert, > I received the first book from your list last night, Luc Delahaye's > _Winterreise_. > > Fascinating production--the design of the book is highly unusual to say the > least, and I think flirts just between being very effective and making the > pictures hard to see! But there's no doubt about the power of the > pictures...what a bleak world, what intense sequencing. I don't quite even > know how he got that peculiar technical quality, but in some cases the > characters look like statues on tableaux, with stage lighting...very > effective. > > Overall it seems the artwork is the book itself, as well as the > pictures...an "authored" photo book like Evans's _American Photographs_. > Actually, a better example would be Weegee's _Naked City_. > > Thanks for the recommendation. I'm very pleased to make Delahaye's > acquaintance, and to add this little gem to my bookshelf. > > --Mike
