Schubert, Franz (1797-1828)

[kernelbogey]

(How odd - no existing Schubert thread.)

Just hearing the Notturno, composed in his last year, on TTN, I heard for the first time anger in this piece - and why shouldn't there be?

Which took me to the question: can anyone recommend a good book on Schubert - life and works?

[Bryn]

Schubert threads: http://www.for3.org/forums/search.php?searchid=7389748

Perhaps, appropriate messages could be moved here.

[Lion-of-Vienna]

My go-to book on Schubert is "Schubert, the Music and the Man" by Brian Newbould. It is quite a large book, over 450 pages, that concentrates on the music, dealing with it in chronological order against events in his life and including a complete list of the works. He has also written an even more detailed book about the symphonies which gives separate detailed chapters on each individual work with lots of information about the various unfinished symphonies that Schubert left behind. There are also four much shorter BBC Music Guides on the Symphonies, Chamber Music, Piano Sonatas and Songs that can be picked up cheaply on Amazon. I don't know if there is anything available that concentrates on Schubert's life.

[smittims]

Schubert certainly seems to have had good cause to bewail his fate, and yet always there is this blessed hope which shines through, one reason why his music is so perennially loved ever since his lifetime, with some exceptions. Inexplicably he's never been favoured much at the Proms; I can recall more than one no-Schubert year. I wonder why.

Schubert was my re-entry into the classics, after years listening to nothing ealier than Berlioz, I saw a Prom performance of the 'Death and the Maiden' quartet in Mahler's string orchestra version.I probably wouldn't have listened but my love of the sound of the string orchestra tempted me and I was enchanted, wanting to hear more and more, and I've never looked back.

One thing that never fails to delight me is the originality even of his earliest works; that authentic Schubertian tone is there at the outset. Of course one reason for this was that he did have one great advantage: the very best professional musical education available at the time, a thorough grounding at the Konvikt and then a pupil of Salieri.

Not all his music has been valued: the 1951 'Record Guide' speaks of 'the shortcomings' of his piano music, not a remark one would find in these post-Brendelian days, and I think his quartets remain undervalued.

[Mal]

Can anyone recommend Peter Gammond's book on Schubert? He was an interesting character, and it's ony £1.99 on Kindle...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Gammond

"As editor of Audio Record Review, Gammond instigated the annual 'Audio Awards', later the Hi-Fi News & Record Review Audio Awards', for 'services to the gramophone', which were the first of their kind ..."

"Gammond served as the British representative on the annual panel of adjudicators for the Grand Prix du Disque at Montreux in the 1970s and 1980s..."

Example quote:"Haydn was the father of the symphony. Contrary to the usual way of life, no-one knew who the mother was."

[Bryn]

Schubert threads: http://www.for3.org/forums/search.php?searchid=7389748

Perhaps, appropriate messages could be moved here.

If the link fails, try using Advanced Search to find threads including "Schubert" in their title.

[kernelbogey]

If the link fails, try using Advanced Search to find threads including "Schubert" in their title.

Thank you, Bryn: it did fail though. I will return to this.

[kernelbogey]

My go-to book on Schubert is "Schubert, the Music and the Man" by Brian Newbould.....

Thanks very much for this, Wienerloewe....

I think your recommendation sounds to be what I am looking for - connections between his life and his compositions. 1828 was amazing....

[french frank]

If the link fails, try using Advanced Search to find threads including "Schubert" in their title.

There seemed to be 103 other threads with Schubert in the title. No harm in starting afresh here in the Composers sub-forum. (There was even a substantial thread discussing whether there should be a poll of views on the Schubertathon. We couldn't agree on what options to include.)

On a general point, there was a programme with Vikram Seth some years back (Work in Progress???) lamenting the paucity of Schubert works played at the Proms. Don't know whether that is true - or ever was.

[Steerpike]

There's also four talks by Graham Johnson on the Wigmore Hall website: https://wigmore-hall.org.uk/news/schubert-in-life-songs

They concentrate on the songs, played mainly from Johnson's recordings, and give a lot of biographical background. The four take a while to watch but I recommend them.

[Mandryka]

By coincidence I heard Schubert’s Hüttenbrenner Variations for the first time this week, and it’s a gem. Richter was a champion of it, and I thought Michel Dalberto was also rather good with it.

I stumbled across it because someone was asking me about recent - good sound - recordings of the impromptus. That prompted me to go to Radu Lupu’s CD - I think it’s wonderful.

[Mandryka]

For me, there’s something strangely and disturbingly modern about some Schubert - the staticness (stasis?) of it, maybe. Richter understood that in the Paris D 840 - one of the most enigmatic performances of 19th century piano music I know. Here, if you’re in the mood now that I’ve set it up like that!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JK1AYAyZUIY&t=155s

[silvestrione]

By coincidence I heard Schubert’s Hüttenbrenner Variations for the first time this week, and it’s a gem. Richter was a champion of it, and I thought Michel Dalberto was also rather good with it.

I stumbled across it because someone was asking me about recent - good sound - recordings of the impromptus. That prompted me to go to Radu Lupu’s CD - I think it’s wonderful.

Privileged to hear Richter play those variations in the RFH in....68 or 69 I think!

[Maclintick]

I don't know if there is anything available that concentrates on Schubert's life.

To augment Newbould I'd definitely recommend Franz Schubert: A Biography by Elizabeth Norman McKay (OUP 1997) which gives a scrupulously researched account of FS's all-too-brief life. If you can get hold of a copy, Schubert: Memoirs by his Friends by Otto Erich Deutsch ( he of the D numbers: 1958 A&C Black) contains a wealth of fascinating contemporaneous description of the musical events they attended in the presence of the composer. For a modern analytical take on the music, Schubert's Fingerprints: Studies in the Instrumental Works by Susan Wollenberg ( 2011 Ashgate) is excellent.

[smittims]

I think what's 'disturbingly modern ' about Schubert is his phenomenal vision regarding harmony, one of the most famous instances being the central section of the second movement of the A major sonata D959, surely one of the most startling passages of music ever composed ( in the context of its time) ; and there are others. In the second movement of the 'Death and the Maiden ' quartet, towards the end, the cello maintains a pedal point for some time then suddenly goes berserk, like something out of Schoenberg;s op. 7. And the opening of 'Verklarte Nacht' surely grows out of the trio of the C major string quintet D956.