GRMUS H636 — Schubert: The Final Decade

2 credits
Fall
L. Michael Griffel

In the last 10 years of Schubert’s short life, he composed an amazing number of immortal works, both instrumental and vocal. Among them are symphonies, quintets, quartets, an octet, piano sonatas and trios, four-hand music, song cycles, Masses, and dozens of unforgettable art songs. This course will examine these works in the context of Schubert’s life during these years, a time of his maturation as an artist but also one of heartbreaking experiences and illness. The world of Schubert — his family and friends, life in Vienna, Beethoven’s shadow, performances and publications of his music — will be discussed. The inimitable musical style of this harbinger of musical Romanticism will be studied in detail.