Winterreise - Hive Collaborative

Winterreise is a song-cycle written by Franz Schubert, using the poetry of Wilhelm Müller. Winterreise was composed by Schubert in 1828, and is a setting of 24 of Müller's poems. As part of the Hive Collaborative's Conceptual Beginnings series, this song-cycle is reimagined as an environmental performance. There are rugs and pillows on the floor, along with black blocks and you are invited to sit on the stage, or even walk around and change perspective during the work. The audience tonight was very well trained in standard audience behavior and stayed put. I chose to sit on a block near the audience, though now that I have seen the whole work I would love to go back and sit in a different location, experience the show differently.

Justin Anthony Spenner is a baritone who is singing this work, sending his heart and his soul out into the world on the wings of song, baring his emotional core...or at least the emotional core to this work. In English, Winterreise is often translated as "A Winter's Journey." The poems relay...well, let's turn to Wiki for this.

Schubert's Winterreise is not merely a collection of songs upon a single theme (lost or unrequited love) but is in effect one single dramatic monologue...The intensity and the emotional inflections of the poetry are carefully built up to express the sorrows of the lover, and are developed to an almost pathological degree from the first to the last note...Over the course of the cycle, grief over lost love progressively gives way to more general existential despair and resignation...Wintry imagery of cold, darkness, and barrenness consistently serve to mirror the feelings of the isolated wanderer....After his beloved falls for another, the grief-stricken young man steals away from town at night and follows the river and steep ways to a charcoal burner's hut, where he rests before moving on. He comes across a village, passes a crossroads, and arrives at a cemetery. Here being denied even the death on which he has become fixated, he defiantly renounces faith before reaching a point of resignation. Finally he encounters a derelict street musician, the only instance in the cycle in which another character is present. The mysterious and ominous nature of the musician, along with the question posed in the last lines, leave the fate of the wanderer open to interpretation.

A QR code is provided at the door so that audience members can scan it, read a prior program, and see the lyrics in German and in English. I chose not to. I chose to envelope myself in the music and the experience, and it was magnificent. The connection between Spenner and Carson Rose Schneider (pianist and co-collaborator) is tangible. Schneider is not just playing piano, but is actively engaged in the drama with Spenner. It is clear in how she pauses and waits for a signal from him to start the next song, or in the moments where she continues on, feeling the pace of the song in the atmosphere of the space, and the mood and feel that Spenner has set vocally. It is an equal and beautifully matched energy between the two.

Beyond the gorgeous core that is the music and the lyrics and poetry of the lyrics, there is visual poetry. One side of the stage and a screen on which still images are projected. Each image provides the first line of each song so that the audience can follow along, or have an idea of what the next song is about. This image was used through out, even though at times it was partially covered by a curtain, this still let the audience know where Spenner was at in the space and in the cycle. There was also a video/film aspect that was played against curtains on a different wall. Spenner, at times, stepped up to the mini-projector and re-arranged it so that the projection was on the floor, or the ceiling, or his shirt. While the images in the film were clear at times, in my perspective it didn't really matter. It fit, it added a visual layer, a new element to the work.

This piece is really amazing and was a joy to see. It is only playing one more time so please go see it. Take 70 mins or so out of your day and experience this wonder, go on this journey. You won't forget it. I hope Spenner and Hive bring it back because I would like to experience it again - but from somewhere else on the stage. And I would like to experience that voice, that piano, take that performance journey again with this fantastic team - Justin Spenner and Carson Schneider.