Drama in the Music of Franz Schubert

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 Suurpaa, Laura Tunbridge, Susan Wollenberg, Susan Youens

“This excellent book offers something for everyone, with exemplary studies using a wide range of analytical and hermeneutic techniques. It provides a welcome summary of the major trends in the past two decades of research into Schubert's music as well as a tantalizing invitation for further innovation as the Schubertian community accommodates new ideas and approaches with open arms. Filled with exquisite prose and fresh, rejuvenating ideas, Drama in the Music of Franz Schubert should become a must-read resource for scholars and students seeking models of engaging, deeply musical scholarly work.”

Correcting the record when it comes to Schubert's supposed lack of success in musical drama... the editors seek to highlight Schubert's innovations in theatrical composition, shed new light on those of Schubert's lieder that have special claims on drama, and elucidate his unique approaches to drama in instrumental music... should interest musicologists, theorists, and performers alike, contains many valuable new insights into Schubert's music, an oeuvre that cannot be so easily pinned down by any traditional aesthetic category. JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR MUSICOLOGY IN IRELAND
-- Marie Sumner Lott NOTES, The Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association

JOE DAVIES is Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Fellow at Maynooth University and the University of California, Irvine. He is editor of Clara Schumann Studies (2021), guest-editor of the special journal issue 'Clara Schumann: Changing Identities and Legacies' (2023), and co-editor of Drama in the Music of Franz Schubert (Boydell Press, 2019). SUSAN WOLLENBERG is Emeritus Professor of Music, University of Oxford, as well as Emeritus Fellow of Lady Margaret Hall.

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