SV19 - Die Taubenpost

During the second week of the Schubertíada, we're listening to the three Schubert's great cycles performed by three different singers who, in addition, have also three different voices: baritone Andrè Schuen will sing Schwanengesang, tenor Christoph Prégardien Die schöne Müllerin and mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, Winterreise. We've listened so far to some songs from the three cycles, so if you want to go over them, that's a lot of (wonderful) work!

Tuesday 22 August: Schwanengesang, with Andrè Schuen and Daniel Heide

Andrè Schuen and Daniel Heide made their debut at the Schubertíada last year with Die schöne Müllerin and they are back this year with Schwanengesang. Their programme also includes five more Lieder: one with a poem of Ludwig Rellstab, the poet of the first part of the cycle and four with poem of Johann Gabriel Seidl, the poet of Die Taubenpost, the Lied we're listening today:

Friday 23 August: Die schöne Müllerin, with Christoph Prégardien and Malcolm Martineau

Christoph Prégardien sang a few years ago Die schöne Müllerin in Vilabertran; If you were there and have a good memory, this year will have the chance to appreciate similarities and differences (both in interpretation and reception, because you were also a few years younger...). We listen to a quarter of the songs of this cycle, which are:

Sunday 25 August: Winterreise, with Joyce DiDonato and David Zobel

Finally, Winterreise, sung by a woman; I would say DiDonato's focus is quite unusual and interesting. I hope you have your tickets, because the concert is sold out. Anyway, it's always time to listen to some of these songs:

And now, time to talk about Die Taubenpost, a Cinderella of Schubert's Lieder. Schwanengesang could have been published with thirteen songs (seven with poems by Ludwig Rellstab and six with poems by Heinrich Heine), but Schubert's editor added one more, Die Taubenpost; it's said that he did it because thirteen was an unlucky number.

I don't know how the song would have been appreciated if it has been published alone, or if at least it had been placed just after the Rellstab's songs (it fits them better from a musical point of view), but the fact is that Tobias Haslinger put it after Der Doppelgänger, a breathtaking song. For many people, Die Taubenpost is an anticlimax, the same that the sextet of Don Giovanni. In my opinion, the sextet exists because the opera conceptually needs it, and when they cut it, the spirit of Classicism is betrayed (if you allow me the hyperbole); I also think that Die Taubenpost is a different case for many reasons but, who knows, there is a remote possibility that Haslinger acted according to that spirit of the Classicism (that, in fact, was quite old-fashioned in 1828) and wanted to restore the balance with Die Taubenpost. I know, it's a peculiar theory...

The tradition still considers Die Taubenpost part of Schwanengesang, but it no longer belongs to the cycle and it has its own catalogue number, D. 965A; That's the perfect alibi for singers not singing it or singing it as an encore. Andrè Schuen will sing Die Taubenpost after Der Doppelgänger, and he could easily have grouped it with the rest of Seidl's songs; I must admit that his decision intrigues me. Anyway, I suggest that you listen to Die Taubenpost, now or at the recital, with new ears, because it's a lovely song. Our performers are Wolfgang Holzmair (under whom Schuen studied song and oratorio) and Charles Spencer.