Winterreise (Schubert) - Gute Nacht (lyrics English, French, Spanish)

Details

Description

This is the first song of the extremely beautiful song cycle “Winterreise” (Winter Journey) by Franz Schubert. The name of the first song is “Gute Nacht” (good night).

Franz Schubert – Die Winterreise, D.911
More beautiful German songs probably do not exist
Winterreise is a song cycle consisting of 24 individual songs. The songs are based on 24 poems written by the German poet Wilhelm Müller.
Franz Schubert composed the music to the 24 poems in 1827. That was the year of the death of Beethoven, and one year before his own death (1828). And in the last days before his death Schubert was working on correcting the last songs of the song cycle.
Winterreise is introvert and interior.
The song cycle tells the story of an unrequited love. And is full of tragic feelings of desperation. Images of ice, snow, death, tears, anguish, journeying. The opening song (“Gute Nacht” = Good night) he explains that the male protagonist had felt in love with a beautiful girl but that the girl has lost the love for him. The 24 songs are about the romantic hero set against fate itself.
In Winterreise the pianist is as important as the singer. In the songs, the piano provides strong images of nature, the rushing storm, the crying wind, the water under the ice, birds singing, ravens croaking, dogs barking, and more.