“The last fruit of his noble force.” This is how the publisher Tobias
Haslinger described the collection of fourteen songs that were to become
known under the title of Schwanengesang soon after Schubert’s death.
Although Schubert had probably not intended this series of fourteen
songs – which did actually turn out to be his swan song – as a cycle, this
work nevertheless contains unity from a musical, dramaturgical and
emotional point of view.
Dietrich Henschel is now a familiar face at La Monnaie: his performance
of the roles of Wozzeck and Golaud in recent seasons has shown the
refined ease with which this baritone is able to draw the finest nuances
from a text and a melody.
introduction
