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Schubert's Fingerprints: Studies in the Instrumental Works
New book on Schubert by Professor Susan Wollenberg just published by Ashgate
‘In the ongoing project to refute earlier writers' characterization of Schubert as "less than Beethoven", Susan Wollenberg's analytical study is among the most important new entrants into the field. Everyone who listens to Schubert's instrumental compositions soon becomes aware of a unique style, one composed of an intricate mesh of particular rhythmic and metrical practices, formal procedures, tonal processes, harmonic thumbprints, and much more. Wollenberg devotes a chapter to each of Schubert's foremost predilections, with - one of this book's many strengths - ample attention to exceptions. Those who read this beautifully- written book will emerge from it with a much greater understanding of what makes Schubert so great.'
- Susan Youens, University of Notre Dame, USA
As Robert Schumann put it, ‘Only few works are as clearly stamped with their author's imprint as his'. This book explores Schubert's stylistic traits in a series of chapters each discussing an individual ‘fingerprint' with case studies drawn principally from the piano and chamber music. The notion of Schubert's compositional fingerprints has not previously formed the subject of a book- length study. The features of his personal style considered here include musical manifestations of Schubert's ‘violent nature', the characteristics of his thematic material, and the signs of his ‘classicizing' manner. In the process of the discussion, attention is given to matters of form, texture, harmony and gesture in a range of works, with regard to the various ‘fingerprints' identified in each chapter. The repertoire discussed includes the late string quartets, the String Quintet, the E flat Piano Trio and the last three piano sonatas. Developing ideas which she first proposed in a series of journal articles and contributions to symposia on Schubert, Professor Wollenberg takes into account recent literature by other scholars and draws together her own researches to present her view of Schubert's ‘compositional personality'. Schubert emerges as someone exerting intellectual control over his musical material and imbuing it with poetic resonance.
Further information is available from the publishers website here