En vinterresa

Abstract

The thesis is an attempt to describe the artistic process behind the performance En Vinterresa, a dramatic monologue conceived around Franz Schubert s song-cycle Winterreise. One of the artistic aims with the project was the singer's and the director's common urge to communicate Schubert's songs to groups of culturally interested people who normally do not get in contact with this particular kind of music, i.e. classical art-song with piano accompaniment. The description of the process is articulated in relation to Winterrese 's historical background, and in relation to different theatrical and literary traditions, such as those of Dario Fo and Peter Brook. Since one important point of departure for the manuscript writing was the "hidden" dramaturgy of Wilhelm Muller s poems contained in the cycle, an analysis of the poems in relation to their historical and literary context is made. There is also a description of the connection between the results of this investigation and the newly written monologue. Stage rehearsals are also dicussed in relation to this continuing manuscript process. The translation from German to Swedish that was made especially for the performance, is discussed in a comparative manner, using an older translation as a point if reference. Two new, smaller musicological tasks are sketched in the fields of a) the slow mazurka rhythmic characters of several songs contained in the cycle and b) Schubert's possible way of creating the piano parts of the songs with inspiration from other instruments such as the guitar and the cimbalom (cymbal). In a final, evaluating chapter reflections are made on artistic aims initially set in relation to results finally achieved. Several newspaper reviews of the performance are also used in this discussion.