Winterreise by Schubert (슈베르트의 겨울 나그네)

영하 25도의 강추위와 온 천지가 햐얀 설국을 잠시 떠나서

남 캘리포니아로 피한여행을 가면서 

안 그래도 겨울날씨처럼 주인없는 썰렁한 방에 다녀 가실 친구분들을 위해서

30여년전에 처음 24개의 곡을 다 배운 후에도 계속 애착이 가는 슈베르트의 연가(song cycle) 겨울 나그네를 남기고 갑니다.

참고로 원제 Winterreise 는 겨울나그네 보다는 겨울 여행 혹은 겨울 여정 (winter journey)이 좀 더 어울리는 제목이다.

 

이 곡은 독일의 Wilhelm Mueller (빌렐름 뮬러)가 1821년과 1822년 사이에 쓴 24개의 시에

1827년에 슈베르트가 작곡을 한 연가로서(song cycle) 아마도 로맨틱 시대의 최고의 연가라고 해도 이의가 없을 것이다.

참고로 이 곡은 슈베르트가 작곡한 세개의 연가 중에 최고로 인정 받고, 또 그의 자서전인 요소가 많이 내포되어 있기도 하다.

 

이 연가의 내용을 간단히 소개하자면:

주인공인 젊은 청년이 5월에 한 아름다운 시골 마을에 도착하면서 스토리가 토막 토막 이어집니다(Good Night)

그 후 그는 그 마을의 한 가족과 가까워지면서 그 집으로 초대되어 갑니다.(Good Night)

그는 그 집의 딸과 사랑에 빠지고, 그녀 또한 그를 사랑한다고 믿는다. (Benumbed).

하지만 그녀는 그를 버리고 부모님이 허락하는 부유한 집의 아들과 결혼을 한다. (The Vane)

어느덧 겨울이 다가 왔고, 사랑하던 이들에게 작별 편지를 남겨 두고

그동안 고향처럼 지내 오던 그 마을을 한 밤중에 쓸쓸히 떠난다. (Good night)

그가 그 곳을 떠날 때 까마귀 떼들이 지붕에 쌓인 눈을 그에게 뿌린다. (Retrospect)

그 눈을 맞으면서 그의 가슴 아픈 여정이 시작되는데,

여정 내내 과거의 행복했던 추억들로 계속 절망에 사로 잡혀 있다. (Frozen teans, on the stream, The Torrent)

그가 그 마을을 떠나면서 까마귀 한마리가 그와 동행을 한다. 아마도 자살을 암시하는 심볼이다. (The Crow)

그렇게 떠돌다가 그는 어느 한 마을에 한동안 머문다. (Solitude)

사랑하는 사람에게서 올  편지를 기다리기도한다. (The Post)

이 청년의 고독한 여행은 계속되고, 이 연가는 아주 어두운 분위기로 끝을 맺는다.

 

슈베르트 연가의 독보적인 존재인 바리톤 Fischer-Dieskau

(lieder를 배우는 학생이면 이분의 정확한 독일어 diction을공부하는 것은 기본이다) 님의 목소리와

비록 아주 심한 신체장애를 가졌지만 아름다운 영혼과 목소리를 자랑하는 Thomas Quasthoff님의 심금을 울리는 목소리,

그리고 세명의 다른 연주자의 목소리로 제 취향대로 올려 놓았습니다.

특기할만한 점은 이곡을 포함한 슈베르트의 연가의 피아노 파트는 단순히 노래를 반주하는 역할만이 아니라

곡의 가사에 맞게 곡의 분위기를 연출하는 equal partner 역할을 담당하기에 주의깊게 들으면 마치 듀엣을 하는 형식이다.

 

실연당한 젊은 청년의 고독하고 절망적이고 암울한 겨울 여행이 아니라

따뜻한 햇살이 기다리고 있는 캘리포니아로 루루랄라 잘 다녀 오겠습니다.

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Gute Nacht (Good Night)

         By moonlight, in winter, the poet leaves the house as he came to it, a stranger.

         The daughter has allowed their love to grow,

         and the mother has encouraged the pair to think of marriage:

         but the daughter's love has wandered to some new sweetheart.

         So he quietly and secretly steals away while they are sleeping,

         writing 'Good night' on her door, and leaving the path of his footsteps in the snow.

 

 

2. Die Wetterfahne (The Weather-vane)

As he goes he notices the winds blowing the weather-vane around on the house,

and they blow him away from there as well.

If he had taken notice of that fickle sign when he first came,

he would not have expected to find a constant woman within.

Indoors, their hearts beat like the vane, but not so loud - what do they care for his suffering,

when their daughter will be a wealthy bride?.

 

 

3. Gefror'ne Tränen (Frozen Tears)

Frozen tears fall from his cheeks as he walks away,

but the breast from which they arise is so burning hot with feelings

that they should melt the winter ice completely.

 

 

4. Erstarrung (Numbness)

He looks in vain for her footprints in the snow,

where they formerly walked together arm in arm among the flowers and green grass.

He wants to kiss the ground and weep on it, until he can dissolve the ice and see where they trod.

But the flowers are all dead, and he can take no remembrance of her away from there.

His heart is lifeless with her image frozen within;

but if it thaws, her beautiful image fades.

 

5. Der Lindenbaum (The Linden Tree)

 

He comes to the linden tree, with its pale flowers and heart-shaped leaves.

that stands at the gate; in the shade of this tree he has dreamt many beautiful dreams,

and in the bark he has carved words of love. It was his favourite place.

Now he passes it with his eyes shut, even though it is deepest night,

but the branches rustle to him, 'Come here old comrade, find your rest here'.

A gust of wind blows his hat off, and many hours afterwards he remembers the tree,

and it seems to say 'You should have found your rest here.'

 

 

6. Wasserflut (Torrent)

He weeps copiously and his tears fall in the snow.

When the Spring comes the snow will melt and flow into the river,

and will carry his tears to the house of his beloved.

 

7. Auf dem Flusse (On the Stream)

The river, usually busy and bubbling, is locked in frozen darkness

and lies drearily spread out under the ice.

He will write her name, and the date of their first meeting, in the ice with a sharp stone.

The river is a likeness of his heart: it beats and swells under the hard frozen surface.

 

8. Rückblick (Retrospect)

His feet are freezing as the soles of his boots are out: but he is eager to leave the town,

and he stumbles over every stone. T

he crows knock the snow off the eaves onto his hat from every house he passes.

But when he first came to that inconstant town, larks and nightingales sang at the windows,

the lime-trees blossomed, the streams ran clear,

and a pair of maiden's eyes shone on him and stole his heart away.

When he thinks of that happy day, he longs to walk back along the road to the house where she lives.

 

9. Irrlicht (Will o' the wisp)

The will-o'-the-wisp has led him astray from the road in the darkness:

but he is always going off the road, for our joy and sorrow alike are merely sports to delude us.

He follows a track down the crag side: all roads lead to their goal,

every spring flows to the sea, and every sorrow leads to the grave.

10. Rast (Rest)

He reaches a charcoal-burner's hut and, worn out by his long trek

through the snowstorm with a heavy backpack, he lies down to rest.

In the quiet his cuts and bruises sting sorely.

 

11. Fruhlingstraum (Dream of Springtime)

He dreams he is wandering through meadows full of flowers and bird-song in May:

he heard the cock's crow and opened his eyes, but it was a raven calling in the cheerless darkness.

Who could draw the flowers of ice he can see on the windows?

He dreams again, of love, and a maiden's kiss, and the joy and bliss of love,

but again the crowing wakes him and he sits up alone.

He tries to sleep again: when will the leaves at the window be green -

when will she hold him in her arms again?

12. Einsamkeit (Loneliness/Solitude)

He wanders along the busy road ungreeted.

Why is the sky so calm and the world so bright?

Even in the tempest he was not so lonely as this.

 

13. Die Post (The Post)

His heart leaps up as the post-horn sounds: they are not bringing him a letter,

but it has come from the town, and he will ask if there is news of the beloved.

14. Der greise Kopf (The Grey Head)

The frost in his hair made him think he was going grey,

but now it has thawed and his hair is still black.

He has heard that some people go grey overnight with sorrow,

but though he has felt that sorrow, it has not happened to him.

 

15. Die Krähe (The Crow)

A crow has followed him all along the way from the town.

Is it waiting for him to die, so that it can eat him?

It won't be long, let it keep him company to the end.

16. Letzte Hoffnung (Last Hope)

He wanders among the trees and fixes his gaze on one leaf, which seems to hold his fate.

It is a token: if it should fall from the branch, his hope will fall.

His heart sinks, and his soul weeps the loss of everything.

 

 

17. Im Dorfe (In the Village)

People are asleep in the village and the dogs are barking.

They dream of many things and have their rest.

Let the dogs drive him away so that he does not rest with them -

he is finished with all dreaming.

18. Der stürmische Morgen (The Stormy Morning)

The tempest has driven the clouds about the sky,

and the fiery sun darts between them. 

It is like his heart, a cold, wild winter.

 

19. Täuschung (Deception)

A light on the dark and icy road at night, might be a warm place to stay,

or the deception of a beautiful face.

 

 

20. Der Wegweiser (The Signpost)

Straying restlessly away from the roads, he still seeks rest.

There is always a signpost in front of him, pointing to the road from which no wanderer returns.

21. Das Wirtshaus (The Inn)

The 'wayside inn' is a lonely graveyard where he hopes to find rest at last.

The wreaths are the tavern sign, inviting him in. But no - all the rooms are taken,

and he must carry on, as he tells his faithful walking staff.

22. Mut (Courage)

As the wind blows snow in his face, he sings loudly to silence his thoughts of sorrow,

so that he cannot hear or feel them. With his trusty staff and cheerful song he'll just keep going on.

 

23. Die Nebensonnen (The Phantom Suns)

He used to see three suns, but two of them (the eyes of his beloved) have turned away

to shine upon another, and now he sees only one,

and he wishes that would pass away and leave him to the darkness.

 

 24. Der Leiermann (The Hurdy-Gurdy Man)

At the end of the village he finds the old barefoot hurdy-gurdy man,

winding away his tunes, but no one has given him a penny, or listens,

and even the dogs growl at him. But he just carries on playing,

and the poet thinks he will cast in his lot with him.

The parallel with the singer singing his sad songs in the ice and the slow,