Baritone finds metaphor for music career in 'Winterreise'

Andre Campelo

As the first snow of the season begins to fall, DePauw voice faculty member André Campelo and pianist Tony Weinstein are preparing their first Faculty Select Series concert together -- a performance of Schubert's celebrated 1827 song cycle "Winterreise" -- to be presented at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 13 in the Green Center's Thompson Recital Hall.

Considered by some the Mount Everest of art song, "Winterreise" sets to music a 24-poem monodrama by Wilhelm Müller (1794--1827). What at first appears to be a sequence of laments uttered by a rejected lover turns out to be a deep reflection about life and destiny.

This "Winter Journey" captures the soul-searching experience and youthful transition from idealism to maturity and desperation of feelings associated with the discovery of one's true vocation.

"At the crossroads of what Schubert described as 'a cycle of horrifying songs,' is a dramatic question central to understanding 'Winterreise' and our musical interpretation of it," Campelo observes. "Will the wanderer have the courage to relinquish the dream of a normal, tranquil family life and find strength to follow the solitary path of an artistic calling?

"This is a question many of our students will soon have to decide: Do they want the more secure path in life that they would find in professions other than music?

"In 'Winterreise,' " Campelo continues, "the wanderer thinks that he is grieving because of a lost sweetheart, a lost love who was his hope for a secure life, but Winter is telling him something else. Winter is the symbolic force propelling him to his true vocation. This cycle is different from typical romantic poetry in which nature merely mirrors the emotions of the poet. In this cycle, Winter is an external driving force with many instances in which musical sounds arouse newfound excitement in the protagonist. At the end of this journey, the wanderer meets a hurdy gurdy man, who is, in some ways, his doppelganger--the image of himself as a solitary musician.

"While working together, Tony and I have come to interpret this cycle as a symbol for what happens in a musical career--having to find your own path, on your own--similar to what we felt when we were music students, not knowing what was going to happen after graduation."

Join Campelo and Weinstein for this very personal evening of music-making Tuesday. General admission to their Faculty Select Series concert is $5. Tickets for seniors, youth and all students are free.

For online purchases, visit depauw.edu/music. Tickets also will be available for purchase at the venue box office beginning 90 minutes prior to the performance.