At the Schubertiade, Sophie Rennert and Joseph Middleton show that Schubert’s “Winterreise” is, above all, one thing: profoundly human.
Franz Schubert’s Winterreise is one of those works whose very first bars open the door to a world of their own. On 25 August, Austrian mezzo-soprano Sophie Rennert took on the complete cycle for the first time at the Angelika Kauffmann Hall in Schwarzenberg, together with her pianist Joseph Middleton.
A woman sings Winterreise.
What still seems noteworthy happens at the Schubertiade without any fuss. One might say that a form of musical equality is taking place here, quietly and naturally.
Yet Rennert’s interpretation is particularly moving partly because she is a woman – but by no means only for that reason.
Who ows the “Winterreise”?
Traditionally, Schubert’s cycle based on poems by Wilhelm Müller has been associated primarily with male voices. The female perspective on Winterreise, however, is hardly new: since the early 20th century, numerous women have interpreted the cycle, among them such distinguished artists as Christa Ludwig, Brigitte Fassbaender and Mitsuko Shirai. And yet, even today, a Winterreise sung by a woman is still not so commonplace that the gender of the interpreter passes entirely without comment.
In a brief conversation after the concert, Rennert herself said that she does not perceive the text as particularly male. Unlike, for example, Dichterliebe or Die schöne Müllerin, Winterreise is, in her view, far less specific and therefore largely gender-neutral.
As Rennert put it: “I think it is finally time for us women to make Winterreise our own as well.”
That evening, she did so impressively.
This was not a woman singing a male role. It was a human being telling us about love, loss, loneliness, memory and the search for a place in the world.
When Voice Becomes Atmosphere
Rennert possesses a beautiful mezzo-soprano that makes an immediate emotional impact. Her lower register is soft and gentle, while the transition from chest voice into the upper range is smooth and seamless. Her legato flows with tenderness and flexibility.
At times the voice shines bright and clear; at others it opens into dark, dramatic depths. Rennert is a deeply affecting performer without ever appearing mannered or exaggerated. What emerges is a kind of vocal mood painting, in which every word carries meaning. Her diction is hard to surpass.
Joseph Middleton is an equally sensitive and musical partner. His playing is refined and poetic, while also possessing depth and substance. He does not merely accompany – he travels alongside her.
This is one of the particular qualities of song recitals at the Schubertiade: time and again, one encounters artistic duos who do not simply make music side by side, but breathe and tell a story together.
Deeper and Deeper into Solitude
Winterreise leads less towards a geographical destination than ever deeper into the inner world of its wanderer. With every song, he seems to move further away from the familiar world.
This becomes particularly intense towards the end of the cycle. In “Im Dorfe”, people sleep and dream while the wanderer remains outside. In “Das Wirtshaus”, the cemetery appears to him as the resting place he longs for – yet even there he finds no place.
And finally, there is “Der Leiermann”: an old man, barefoot on the ice, ignored by everyone and yet tirelessly playing his hurdy-gurdy. Perhaps, for the first time, the wanderer recognises in this outsider someone like himself.
Rennert and Middleton did not turn this into a grand dramatic finale. It was precisely their restraint that made the ending all the more powerful.
The extraordinary darkness Schubert himself perceived in this cycle is reflected in the recorded reaction of his friends. When they initially responded to the songs with bewilderment, he explained that they had affected him more deeply than any of his others. It is precisely this existential dimension that makes Winterreise something greater than the story of disappointed love.
And perhaps it also explains why, at some point, the question of whether this wanderer is a man or a woman becomes secondary.
Sophie Rennert made this Winterreise her own without needing to turn it into a demonstration.
This “Winterreise” needs no gender. It needs a voice – and someone who can tell its story truthfully.
Singers, Staging, Orchestra 