BY KAREN BOSSICK

Franz Schubert’s “Winterreise” will be presented at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 3, at St. Thomas Episcopal Church.

The Faculty Artist Recital will feature Tenor Geoffrey Friedley and pianist Kori Bond from Idaho State University’s School of Performing Arts.

The concert is free but a freewill offering will be taken. A reception will follow.

“Winterreise,” or “Winter Journey,” is a song cycle of 24 German poems by Wilhelm Muller, a poet soldier and Imperial Librarian in Prussia. It was composed in two parts—each containing 12 songs—in 1827.

“It is perhaps the most important work in its genre,” said Joel Bejot, the director of music at St. Thomas.

Schubert elevated the pianist to a role equal of the singer, with the piano rhythms expressing the moods of the poet. There’s a wide range of expressions from a restless syncopated stretch to a dramatic tremolo as Schubert portrays a rushing storm, birds singing and more.

The poems themselves tackle a variety of subjects from “The Hurdy-Gurdy Man” who never stops even though his begging bowl is always empty to “Dreams of Spring,” which in this case seems unattainable.

The music tends to be on the somber side, as Schubert was in a deeply melancholic state as he worked on it, having contracted syphilis.