We think we know what Winterreise is: a formal live performance by a classically trained baritone and concert pianist in a recital or concert hall, featuring all twenty-four songs of the cycle presented without interruption or deviation from the printed score in Schubert’s original publication order. But in the full sweep of Winterreise’s reception history since 1827, performances satisfying all or even most of these conditions have been much less common than we might assume. The fact is that there are just as many Winterreises as there are performances, each informed by its own set of social, cultural, personal, historical, and technological factors. In this survey of Winterreise’s life in performance from Schubert’s day up until the present, we will observe how the cycle’s meaning is fundamentally dependent upon the manner and context of its presentation: performance as reception.