Schubert: Winterreise, Frühlingstraum

Winter has long been a source of literary inspiration for numerous authors across many different lands. In the Romantic era, winter was often used as a metaphor for death and aging. Hence, we get the idea of saying that someone is in "the winter of their lives." Franz Schubert was no stranger to this kind of poetic idea and took it to a whole new level when he composed the song cycle Winterreise. Winterreise is a cycle of 24 songs on the poetry of Wilhelm Müller, whose Die schöne Müllerin cycle was also set to music by Schubert. Several of Schubert's friends and colleagues noted that he composed Winterreise during a long period of depression in his life, a time when "life had lost its rosiness and winter was upon him." In this song, "Spring Dream," the poet dreams of wandering through flowery fields in May, all the while having flashbacks of his lost love