A Tale of Unrequited Love: Schubert’s Classic Song Cycle—Die Schöne Müllerin

TACOMA, Wash. – From the young miller’s exultant cry in the love song “Mein,” to the soothing lullaby sung by the brook that enticed the young lover to his end, Franz Schubert’s song cycle Die Schöne Müllerin (The Beautiful Miller Maid) is a classic romance.

Thought to be one of the earliest and best-written examples of the song cycle genre, Schubert’s work is so universally appealing that major artists have performed countless times.

On Friday, Sept. 25, at 7:30 p.m., the Austrian composer’s Die Schöne Müllerin will be performed at the University of Puget Sound in a concert titled A Tale of Unrequited Love. The Jacobsen Series concert in Schneebeck Concert Hall will feature School of Music faculty members Christina Kowalski, soprano, and Keith Ward, piano. The ticket information is below.

“This song cycle is one of the staples in the repertoire—and for a good reason,” said Ward, director of the School of Music. “Beyond the quality and variety of the songs, the cycle has musical, dramatic, and narrative cohesion, making for a satisfying evening of song.”

The 20 songs, created by Schubert in 1823 from the poems of Wilhelm Müller, tell the story of a young journeyman who comes upon a brook and follows it to a mill. There he falls in love with the miller’s beautiful daughter. His attempts to win her, though successful at first, are ultimately in vain.

 

When a hunter appears, the girl offers the new suitor her affections, breaking the journeyman’s heart. He is driven to obsess in the song about a vision of flowers sprouting from his own grave to express his undying love. At the song cycle’s end, the audience hears that the young man has thrown himself into the brook, where he is comforted by the streaming water that first brought him to the mill.

Schubert’s entrancing music captures all the elements of the storyline: from the cheery celebration of the journeyman’s freewheeling early life; to the confessional lament of a man in love; to the jagged jealousy at the hunter’s appearance; and then to the young man’s final resignation as he releases himself to the rippling water.

The music demands a broad vocal range from the singer. It also allows the piano to share the weight of expressing the wide-ranging emotions and colorful plot, yielding a true partnership of vocals and keyboard.

Ward says that the famous song cycle is a work that he and Kowalski have long wanted to perform. Audiences can enjoy the benefit of that wish being realized this fall in an entertaining evening of one of Schubert’s great works.

The Jacobsen Series, named in honor of Leonard Jacobsen, former chair of the piano department at Puget Sound, has been running since 1984. The Jacobsen Series Scholarship Fund awards annual music scholarships to outstanding student performers and scholars. The fund is sustained entirely by season subscribers and ticket sales.

FOR TICKETS: Tickets are available online at tickets.pugetsound.edu or Wheelock Information Center, 253.879.3100. Admission is $15 for the general public; $10 for seniors (55+), students, military, and Puget Sound faculty and staff. The concert is free for current Puget Sound students. Group ticket rates are available for parties of 10 or more by calling 253.879.3555 in advance. Any remaining tickets will be available at the door.

For directions and a map of the campus:pugetsound.edu/directions
For accessibility information, please contact accessibility@pugetsound.edu or 253.879.3236, or visit pugetsound.edu/accessibility.

Press photos of Keith Ward and Christina Kowalski can be downloaded from pugetsound.edu/pressphotos.
Photos on page: Top right: Franz Schubert, by Wilhelm August Rieder (1825); Above left: Christina Kowalski, courtesy of the artist; Above right: Keith Ward, by Ross Mulhausen

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