Franz Schubert defined the genre of German art song (lied), creating hundreds of individual works and larger song cycles that captured some of the best poetry of the age. His cycle Die Schöne Müllerin, written in the summer of 1823, follows the blossoming and eventual withering of love’s first fruits. The twenty songs contain some of the greatest lieder in the entire repertoire. Schubert’s depiction of changing emotional states in both voice and piano marked a new stage in music’s psychological power.
Kevin McMillan (baritone), Gabriel Dobner (piano) |
