Die schöne Müllerin/These Fevered Days

Concept

Instrumentation of Franz Schubert’s song cycle with seven new songs after Emily Dickinson by Johannes Maria Staud for tenor and large ensemble (2023/2024)

Johannes Maria Staud orchestrated the original work for large ensemble and added seven new songs based on poems by Emily Dickinson. The commissioned composition, realised in collaboration with ensemble KONTRASTE, Casa da Musica Porto/Remix Ensemble, and Wiener Konzerthaus/Klangforum Wien, combines historical and contemporary languages. Christoph Prégardien’s performance brings Schubert’s settings into the present and creates a dialogue between the two poets: Dickinson’s laconic lyricism acts as a modern counterpoint, questioning the original cycle’s romanticised image of nature and – for the first time – lending the character of the “fair maid of the mill” her own voice.

more

Cast

Johannes Maria Staud

Born in Innsbruck in 1974, the composer Johannes Maria Staud draws much of his inspiration from literature and the visual arts. Reflections on philosophical questions, social processes, and political events also influence his compositions. His artfully constructed works possess a rigorous dramaturgy.

Johannes Maria Staud

Christoph Prégardien

His lyric tenor voice had a youthful glow, yet he sang with plaintive beauty and piercing insight. The New York Times

Christoph Prégardien

ensemble KONTRASTE

For more than three decades ensemble KONTRASTE (eK) has been an important fixture in Nuremberg’s cultural landscape. The city of Nuremberg recognised this in 2020 with the award of its Grand Culture Prize, which is part of a whole series of awards in recognition of the ensemble’s work.

more

Website of ensemble KONTRASTE

References

“The magnificent tenor Christoph Prégardien evokes all these facets of expression with consummate skill and sonority. The clarity and intensity of his lyrical diction are remarkable in the lullaby-like, gently swaying Danksagung an den Bach and in Der Neugierige.”

Der Standard, Ljubiša Tošić, December 2025

“Tenor Christoph Prégardien realised the narrative’s arc of suspense with extraordinarily precise vocal control and remarkably clear articulation.”

nmz, Luise Heiss, November 2024

“What a challenge for the voice to move away from Schubert’s romantic hopes and fears and to immerse itself several times in Dickinson’s almost demonic world of ideas. (…) Christoph Prégardien’s tenor manages this balancing act with stupendous assurance. It is not least his voice that brings the disparate aspects of the two musical worlds together into a unity.”

Nürnberger Zeitung, Peter Löw, October 2024