Schubert's Fingerprints

'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 'Those in the fields of musicology and music theory who are studying Schubert or who have a scholarly focus on the music will welcome this important new contribution to Schubert research... Highly recommended.' Choice 'This book organizes and develops the discussion of various areas of Schubert's style in new directions. Freed from the pre-conceptions of the Beethovenian aesthetic, Schubert is allowed to be assessed as a master composer on his own terms. This is recommended reading for all who wish to stay abreast of modern Schubert scholarship.' The Schubertian 'Wollenberg's authoritative and richly detailed attempt to put several of Schubert's most distinctive fingerprints under the analytical microscope results in a valuable contribution to our understanding of a composer whose formal complexity and coherence remain relatively unexplored.' Notes '... erudite and enlightening...' The Musical Times '... what shines through on every page is Wollenberg's deep knowledge of Schubert's music, as she draws subtle connections across the history of his output. Her numerous reconstructions of what Schubert might have written, had he been inclined to follow common practice, illuminates what make