Schubert's Winter Journey - Anatomy of an Obsession (Ian Bostridge, 2015)

Unusual, different, interesting; will need to go through this again as there was too much to digest.

Bostridge is a world-renowned tenor - very familiar with him - like his style, not at all the overwrought/tiresome approach.  Pretty clearly, he has what it takes to be a writer as well.

Though the book is nontraditional.  He takes Schubert's Winterreise - a 24-song cycle (lieder) written as Schubert approached his very early death - and constructs a book by devoting a short chapter to each song.  At the outset I wasn't too optimistic about this approach, but in the end it all ties together really well.

The songs are settings for 24 poems written by Wilhelm Muller - not exactly world-famous; a Romantic poet.

Bostridge does an effective job giving context for the poems and the songs - linking it to contemporary events in the world and in Schubert's personal life; explaining areas where German historical references are used; interesting throughout.

Romantic themes - nature, death, feelings.  The linden tree.

Book design is neat.

I had no idea that one of my favorites - Thomas Mann - used Winterreise in The Magic Mountain - Bostridge explains in detail.  Neat.