Death in Winterreise: Musico-Poetic Associations in Schubert's Song Cycle [Hardcover]

Lauri Suurp?? brings together two rigorous methodologies, Greimassian semiotics and Schenkerian analysis, to provide a unique perspective on the expressive power of Franz Schubert's song cycle. Focusing on the final songs, Suurp?? deftly combines textual and tonal analysis to reveal death as a symbolic presence if not actual character in the musical narrative. Suurp?? demonstrates the incongruities between semantic content and musical representation as it surfaces throughout the final songs. This close reading of the winter songs, coupled with creative applications of theory and a thorough history of the poetic and musical genesis of this work, brings new insights to the study of text-music relationships and the song cycle.

A Schenkerian approach to tragedy and joy in the final songs

Lauri Suurp?? is Professor of Music Theory at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland.

Preface
Acknowledgements
Note on the Translations of the Poems
Part I: Background
1. Genesis and Narrative of Winterreise
2. Winterreise in Context
3. Text-Music Relationships: Five Propositions
4. Musico-Poetic Associations: Principles of Analysis
Part II: Songs
5. The Emergence of Death as a Positive Option: Der greise Kopf
6. Death Contemplated: Die Kr?he
7. From Hope for the Past to Hope for the Future: Letzte Hoffnung
8. Reflecting Lost Hope: Im Dorfe, Der st?rmische Morgen, and T?uschung
9. Choosing Death: Der Wegweiser
10. Death Eludes the Wanderer: Das Wirtshaus
11. Reflecting on the Inability to Find Death: Mut, Die Nebensonnen, and Der Leiermann
Part III: Cycle
12. The Song Cycle as a Genre: Some Recent Views
13. Winterreise as a Cycle
14. Epilogue: The Meaning of Death in Winterreise
Notes
References
Index

Death in 'Winterreise' brings a fresh new perspective on the expressive power of Schubert's great cycle. Suurp?? negotiates skillfully between l£Ò