Description
Franz Schubert’s Winterreise, a setting of 24 poems by Wilhelm Müller, stands as one of the greatest achievements in the classical song literature. Celebrated by his contemporaries as one of the great poets of their day, a German Byron of sorts, Johann Ludwig Wilhelm Müller’s (1794–1827) work rattles the heart and stirs the soul.
Though today he is best known for the haunting poems which Franz Schubert set to music, his work resonates alone, and it gives us great pleasure to shine a light on his magnificent work as an end in itself with a new translation by Lowell Liebermann and original artwork by Leon Johnson created especially for this edition..
That said, Schubert, in setting his words to music, was essential in establishing his immortality. Their legendary collaboration stands as one of the greatest achievements in the history of classical song literature, though Müller died before Schubert began setting his poetry to music and never heard the work.
Franz Schubert was an Austrian composer of the Classical and Romantic periods. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind countless vocal works, symphonies, operas, sacred music, and more. The song cycle Winterreise for voice and piano was composed in two parts, each with 12 songs. Schubert finished the final draft of music only days before his own death.
About Leon Johnson:
With this edition, we are pleased to present new letterpress printed artwork by internationally acclaimed artist and chef Leon Johnson. In our edition, Johnson presents a series of winter “fortresses” to accompany the poetry that have been abstracted from ancient structures.
Currently based here in Newburgh, NY, Johnson’s work bridges multiple mediums, uniting through his conjuring of sacred enclaves painting, printmaking, collage, atmosphere and food into one collective experience.
He started the creative space LODGER in 2018, hosting dinners, private events, and operating as an innovative classroom, kitchen lab, and new model for community engagement. LODGER was named Best of the Hudson Valley for Communal Dining (Hudson Valley Magazine, 2021). Johnson’s studio work is focused on works on paper and the potential for the form of the book. He designs and produces intermedia performances including dinner events, short films, and installations. His work has been performed and exhibited internationally. He is a recipient of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant for Painting, Fellowships from Yaddo and the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art. He won the Ersted Award for Distinguished Teaching and the Williams Fellowship for Distinguished Interdisciplinary Teaching at the University of Oregon, and was the 2014 Martha Daniel Newell Distinguished Scholar at Georgia College.
About Lowell Libermann: At once unabashedly romantic and modern, American composer Lowell Liebermann is internationally recognized as an artist of uncommon profundity and popularity. Time Magazine proclaimed: “Now brazen and glittering, now radiantly visionary…the work of a composer unafraid of grand gestures and openhearted lyricism.”
Mr. Liebermann has written more than one hundred forty works in all genres, several of which have gone on to become standard repertoire for their instruments. His works have been premiered by major orchestras, including the Dallas Symphony, the National Symphony, and the New York Philharmonic. His Sonata for Flute and Piano and Gargoyles for piano are among the most popular contemporary works for their instruments, regularly included in recital and competition programs.
His full-length ballet Frankenstein, co-commissioned by London’s Royal Ballet and the San Francisco Ballet, has been released on Blu-Ray and DVD. Mr. Liebermann has written two full-length operas, both enthusiastically received at their premieres: The Picture of Dorian Gray, the first American opera commissioned by and premiered in 1995 by l’Opéra de Monte-Carlo, and Miss Lonelyhearts, after the novel by Nathanael West, for the Juilliard School’s 100th anniversary in 2005.
