Overview
Franz Schubert (1797-1828) was born in Vienna of immigrant parents. During his short life he produced an astonishing amount of music. Symphonies, chamber music, opera, church music, and songs (more than 600 of them) poured forth in profusion. His 'Trout' Quintet, his 'Unfinished' Symphony, the three last piano sonatas, and above all his song cycles Die Schone Mullerin and Winterreise have come to be universally regarded as belonging to the very greatest works of music. Who was the man who composed this amazing succession of masterpieces, so many of which were either entirely ignored or regarded as failures during his lifetime? In her new biography, Elizabeth Norman McKay paints a vivid portrait of Schubert and his world. She explores his family background, his education and musical upbringing, his friendships, and his brushes and flirtations with the repressive authorities of Church and State. She discusses his experience of the arts, literature and theatre, and his relations with the professional and amateur musical world of his day. Schubert's manic-depressive temperament became of increasing significance in his life, and McKay shows how it was partly responsible for his social inadequacies, professional ineptitude, and idiosyncracies in his music. She examines Schubert's uneven physical decline after he contracted syphilis, traces its effects on his music, his hedonism, and sensuality, and investigates the cause and circumstances of his death at the age of 31.
Full Product Details
Author: Elizabeth Norman McKay
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Imprint: Clarendon Press
Dimensions:
Width: 15.00cm
, Height: 2.50cm
, Length: 23.00cm
Weight: 0.742kg
ISBN: 9780198165231
ISBN 10: 0198165234
Pages: 378
Publication Date: 01 December 1996
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
General/trade
,
Undergraduate
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: To order
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.
Reviews
McKay...far exceeds her modest objective to enhance the reader's pleasure in and understanding of, Schubert's music.'...Highly recommended for both academic and public libraries. --Library Journal<br> McKay draws on the limited sources of information about the composer to construct a biography that balances the recording of his accomplishments with analysis of his manic-depressiveness and his social life - and all in time to honor the bicentennial of his birth. --Booklist<br> The story of Schubert's short life is extraordinarily compelling, and Elizabeth McKay tells it skillfully. --Commentary<br>
McKay...far exceeds her modest objective to enhance the reader's pleasure in and understanding of, Schubert's music.'...Highly recommended for both academic and public libraries. --Library Journal McKay draws on the limited sources of information about the composer to construct a biography that balances the recording of his accomplishments with analysis of his manic-depressiveness and his social life - and all in time to honor the bicentennial of his birth. --Booklist The story of Schubert's short life is extraordinarily compelling, and Elizabeth McKay tells it skillfully. --Commentary
"""McKay...far exceeds her modest objective to `enhance the reader's pleasure in and understanding of, Schubert's music.'...Highly recommended for both academic and public libraries.""--Library Journal ""McKay draws on the limited sources of information about the composer to construct a biography that balances the recording of his accomplishments with analysis of his manic-depressiveness and his social life - and all in time to honor the bicentennial of his birth.""--Booklist ""The story of Schubert's short life is extraordinarily compelling, and Elizabeth McKay tells it skillfully.""--Commentary"
"""McKay...far exceeds her modest objective to `enhance the reader's pleasure in and understanding of, Schubert's music.'...Highly recommended for both academic and public libraries.""--Library Journal""McKay draws on the limited sources of information about the composer to construct a biography that balances the recording of his accomplishments with analysis of his manic-depressiveness and his social life - and all in time to honor the bicentennial of his birth.""--Booklist""The story of Schubert's short life is extraordinarily compelling, and Elizabeth McKay tells it skillfully.""--Commentary"
Author Information
Elizabeth Norman McKay was formally Tutor in Piano and Visiting Professor at the Birmingham Conservatoire, and is the author of several publications on Franz Schubert and his music.
