Schubert - Winterreise, D. 911

"Winterreise" (Winter Journey) is a melancholic song cycle about a young poet who is rejected by his lover and leaves town in the dead of winter. The 24 songs follow his increasingly bleak and psychological descent into isolation.

Franz Schubert set the 24 poems to music using texts written by the German poet Wilhelm Müller. Schubert composed the cycle in two parts in 1827, shortly before his death at age 31.

The cycle ends with "Der Leiermann" (The Hurdy-Gurdy Man), a haunting track where the narrator observes a barefoot beggar playing a hurdy-gurdy on the ice. The piano accompaniment mimics the droning, repetitive cranking of the instrument.

Yes, Schubert altered the order of Müller's poems, most notably by moving "Die Post" to an earlier position to suit his dramatic pacing. He also intentionally swapped the final poem to end the cycle on the devastating image of the hurdy-gurdy man.