Among the songs by Franz Schubert at the Morgan, two of the chillier ones attract most of the attention. Schubert wrote both the Winterreise cycle (1827), about a sorrowful winter’s journey, and Winterabend (Winter Evening), 1828), in the last two years of his short life. A decade earlier, on a single sheet, he wrote two springtime songs to texts by the Viennese poet and playwright Caroline Pichler. On the back of the sheet (not seen here), Ferne von der Grossen savors the peace and abundance of spring. Der Sänger am Felsen, written in its entirety on the front, conveys a quiet chill akin to the later wintry songs: “Lament, my flute, lament / The fading beautiful days / And the quick fleeing of spring / Here on the withered meadows / Where my spirit seeks in vain the traces / Of sweet familiar joys.”
Franz Schubert (1797–1828), Der Sänger am Felsen. Autograph manuscript, 1816, text: Caroline Pichler (1769–1843). Heineman Music Collection, 1977.