As a stranger I arrived
As a stranger I shall leave
I remember a perfect day in May
How bright the flowers, how cool the breeze
— From Gute Nacht (“Good Night”) by Wilhelm Müller. Translation by Barry Mitchell.
Written in 1828, Franz Schubert’s song cycle Winterreise (“Winter Journey”), opens on a melancholy note. Memories of warmth and spring vie with the singer’s cold anticipation of the icy road to come.
But the cycle, based on the poems of Wilhelm Müller, makes an apt metaphor for Schubert himself. Suffering from typhoid, he would die that November, at age 31.
On Sunday, Feb. 10, a string quintet from the St. Louis Symphony will join two performers from WUSTL’s Department of Music in Arts & Sciences for an evening of late works by this most romantic of Romantic composers.
The free event, presented as part of the symphony’s Community Partnerships, will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the 560 Music Center’s E. Desmond Lee Concert Hall.
The 560 Music Center is located in University City at 560 Trinity Ave., at the intersection with Delmar Boulevard.
For more information, call (314) 935-5566 or email daniels@wustl.edu
Program
The program will open with three songs from Winterreise: #1 Gute Nacht, (“Good Night”); #4 Erstarrung (“Numbness”); and #6 Wasserflut (“Flood Water”). Performers will be baritone Nathan Ruggles and pianist Sandra Geary, both teachers of applied music.
Next, symphony orchestra musicians — including violinists Ellen dePasquale and Celeste Golden Boyer; violist Morris Jacob; and cellists Anne Fagerburg and David Kim — will perform String Quintet in C major D. 956, Op. posth. 163.
Written only weeks before the composer’s death, the quintet was Schubert’s final work for chamber ensemble and his only full string quintet. Divided into four movements — Allegro ma non troppo, Adagio, Scherzo and Allegretto — the piece is notable for its unusual instrumentation, replacing the standard quintet’s second viola with a second cello.
Though now considered among Schubert’s finest works, the quintet was never performed in his lifetime. It finally debuted in 1850 and was published three years later.
St. Louis Symphony Community Partnerships
Guest musicians for the performance are sponsored by the St. Louis Symphony’s Community Partnerships, which presents more than 250 free events, concerts and classes each year throughout the greater St. Louis area. For more information about upcoming events, or to find out how you can help, visit the Community and Education section of the St. Louis Symphony website, stlsymphony.org, or call (314) 286-4432.
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