Practically without ancestry, the songs of Franz Schubert stand out as the crowning achievement of the lieder tradition. The directly appealing melodies, with their infinite variety and grace, and the highly evocative accompaniments, filled with graceful pianistic figures, lend these short masterpieces the rare distinction of encompassing greatness in a score of bars.
Schubert's three great song cycles are here reprinted directly from the definitive Breitkopf & Härtel Schubert-Gesammtausgabe. The volume comprises the universally known and beloved songs of Die schöne Müllerin (1823), the somber depth and picturesqueness of Die Winterreise (1827) and Schwanengesang (1828), one of Schubert's last works, a rich and masterly epilogue to the long series of his songs. Whether purely lyrical (as in "Wohin?") or creating revolutionary atmospheric effects (as in "Die Stadt" or "Der Doppelgänger"), all of these songs show the composer to sure and powerful advantage.
In addition to the music and German texts, this volume also includes English translations of the texts by Henry S. Drinker, previously unavailable, that are especially designed to be sung to Schubert's melodies.