Der Leiermann

“With a heart filled with endless love for those who scorned me, I … wandered far away. For many and many a year I sang songs. Whenever I tried to sing of love, it turned to pain. And again, when I tried to sing of pain, it turned to love.”
—Franz Schubert, “My Dream”, manuscript, July 3, 1822 (1)

Schubert’s “Wintereisse” is a work of loss and sadness; anger and alienation. In spite of the darkness that permeates the original, time with this music has given me great joy and a new perspective of the fullness of life. Perhaps, as Schubert suggests, singing of pain opens us to love. We live at a time when anger and alienation are used to inflict pain by those who either have no love or are afraid to discover it. May love persevere and overwhelm the voices of those who, out of fear, do not know love.

1. Bostridge, Ian 2015, “Schubert’s Winter Journey: anatomy of an obsession,” Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

[released February 3, 2017]

Credits

• Norbert Herber, electronics and glacial processing
• Kyle Adams, piano
• Recorded by Jacob Belser, Primary Sound Studios
• Mastered by Taylor Deupree, 12k