Drama in the music of Franz Schubert

"It is commonly assumed that Franz Schubert (1797-1828), best known for the lyricism of his songs, symphonies, and chamber music, lacked comparable talent for drama. Challenging this view, Drama in the Music of Franz Schubert provides a timely re-evaluation of Schubert's operatic works, while demonstrating previously unsuspected locations of dramatic innovation in his vocal and instrumental music. The volume draws on a range of critical approaches and techniques, including semiotics, topic theory, literary criticism, narratology, and Schenkerian analysis, to situate Schubertian drama within its musical and cultural-historical context. In so doing, the study broadens the boundaries of what might be considered 'dramatic' within the composer's music and offers new perspectives for its analysis and interpretation. Drama in the Music of Franz Schubert will be of interest to musicologists, music theorists, composers, and performers, as well as scholars working in cultural studies, theatre, and aesthetics."--Page 4 de la couverture. Read more... This book challenges the assumption that Franz Schubert (1797-1828), best known for the lyricism of his songs, symphonies and chamber music, lacked comparable talent for drama.It is commonly assumed that Franz Schubert (1797-1828), best known for the lyricism of his songs, symphonies, and chamber music, lacked comparable talent for drama. Challenging this view, Drama in the Music of Franz Schubert provides a timely re-evaluation of Schubert's operatic works, while demonstrating previously unsuspected locations of dramatic innovation in his vocal and instrumental music. The volume draws on a range of critical approaches and techniques, including semiotics, topic theory, literary criticism, narratology, and Schenkerian analysis, to situate Schubertian drama within its musical and cultural-historical context. In so doing, the study broadens the boundaries of what might be considered'dramatic'within the composer's music and offers new perspectives for its analysis and interpretation. Drama in the Music of Franz Schubert will be of interest to musicologists, music theorists, composers, and performers, as well as scholars working in cultural studies, theatre, and aesthetics. JOE DAVIES is College Lecturer in Music at Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford. JAMES WILLIAM SOBASKIE is Associate Professor of Music at Mississippi State University. Contributors: Brian Black, Lorraine Byrne Bodley, Joe Davies, Xavier Hascher, Marjorie Hirsch, Anne Hyland, Christine Martin, Clive McClelland, James William Sobaskie, Lauri Suurpää, Laura Tunbridge, Susan Wollenberg, Susan Youens It is commonly assumed that Franz Schubert (1797-1828), best known for the lyricism of his songs, symphonies, and chamber music, lacked comparable talent for drama. Challenging this view, Drama in the Music of Franz Schubert provides a timely re-evaluation of Schubert's operatic works, while demonstrating previously unsuspected locations of dramatic innovation in his vocal and instrumental music. The volume draws on a range of critical approaches and techniques, including semiotics, topic theory, literary criticism, narratology, and Schenkerian analysis, to situate Schubertian drama within its musical and cultural-historical context. In so doing, the study broadens the boundaries of what might be considered 'dramatic' within the composer's music and offers new perspectives for its analysis and interpretation. Drama in the Music of Franz Schubert will be of interest to musicologists, music theorists, composers, and performers, as well as scholars working in cultural studies, theatre, and aesthetics.

JOE DAVIES is College Lecturer in Music at Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford.

JAMES WILLIAM SOBASKIE is Associate Professor of Music at Mississippi State University.

Contributors: Brian Black, Lorraine Byrne Bodley, Joe Davies, Xavier Hascher, Marjorie Hirsch, Anne Hyland, Christine Martin, Clive McClelland, James William Sobaskie, Lauri Suurpää, Laura Tunbridge, Susan Wollenberg, Susan Youens Introduction : Internal Dramas / Laura Tunbridge -- PART I. STAGE AND SACRED WORKS. Opera that Vanished : Goethe, Schubert and Claudine von Villa Bella / Lorraine Byrne Bodley -- Pioneering German Musical Drama : Sung and Spoken Word in Schubert’s Fierabras / Christine Martin -- The Dramatic Monologue of Schubert’s Mass in A flat major / James William Sobaskie -- PART II. LIEDER. Schubert’s Dramatic Lieder : Rehabilitating ’Adelwold und Emma’, D. 211 / Susan Wollenberg -- Gretchen abbandonata : The Lied as Aria / Marjorie Hirsch -- The Dramatic Strategy Within Two of Schubert’s Serenades / James William Sobaskie -- ’Durch Nacht und Wind’ : Tempesta as a topic in Schubert’s Lieder / Clive McClelland -- Reentering Mozart’s Hell : Schubert’s ’Gruppe aus dem Tartarus’, D. 583 / Susan Youens -- PART III. INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC. ’Zumsteeg Ballads without Words’ : Inter-Generic Dialogue and Schubert’s Projection of Drama through Form / Anne Hyland -- Lyricism and the Dramatic Unity of Schubert’s Instrumental Music : The Impromptu in C Minor, D. 899/1 / Brian Black -- Music as Poetry : An Analysis of the first movement of Schubert’s Piano Sonata in A major, D. 959 / Xavier Hascher -- Virtual Protagonist and Musical Narration in the Slow Movements of Schubert’s Piano Sonatas D. 958 and D. 960 / Lauri Suurpää -- Stylistic Disjuncture as a Source of Drama in Schubert’s Late Instrumental Works / Joe Davies. Frontcover 1 Contents 8 List of Figures 10 List of Tables 12 List of Contributors 14 Acknowledgements 18 Preface 22 Introduction: Internal Dramas 32 Part I: Stage and Scared Works 40 1 Opera that Vanished: Goethe, Schubert, and Claudine von Villa Bella 42 2 Pioneering German Musical Drama: Sung and Spoken Word in Schubert’s Fierabras 66 3 The Dramatic Monologue of Schubert’s Mass in A♭ Major 82 Part II: Lieder 114 4 Schubert’s Dramatic Lieder: Rehabilitating ‘Adelwold und Emma’, D. 211 116 5 Gretchen abbandonata: The Lied as Aria 138 6 The Dramatic Strategy Within Two of Schubert’s Serenades 164 7 ‘Durch Nacht und Wind’: Tempesta as a Topic in Schubert’s Lieder 182 8 Reentering Mozart’s Hell: Schubert’s ‘Gruppe aus dem Tartarus’, D. 583 202 Part III: Instrumental Music 234 9 ‘Zumsteeg Ballads without Words’: Inter-Generic Dialogue and Schubert’s Projection of Drama through Form 236 10 Lyricism and the Dramatic Unity of Schubert’s Instrumental Music: The Impromptu in C Minor, D. 899/1 264 11 Music as Poetry: An Analysis of the First Movement of Schubert’s Piano Sonata in A Major, D. 959 288 12 Virtual Protagonist and Musical Narration in the Slow Movements of Schubert’s Piano Sonatas D. 958 and D. 960 314 13 Stylistic Disjuncture as a Source of Drama in Schubert’s Late Instrumental Works 334 Select Bibliography 362 Index 372