Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Lieder began with words, with the composer's discovery of a poet and a poetic work, but the scholarly study of lieder has tended to bypass those origins. Schubert's choice of poets has traditionally come under fire for the preponderance of mediocre talent, and yet many of these writers were highly esteemed in their day. In her highly acclaimed study, Susan Youens has chosen four such poets - Gabriele von Baumberg, Theodor Körner, Johann Mayrhofer and Ernst Schulze - in order to re-examine their lives, works, and Schubert's music to their verse. All four poets were vivid inhabitants of a vivid era, and their tribulations afford us added insight into the upheavals, the manners and mores, of their day.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Introduction
• 1 The Sappho of Vienna
• 2 The lyre and the sword
• 3 Chromatic melancholy
• 4 En route to Winterreise

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

This reviewer welcomes another Schubert book from Youens (Univ. of Notre Dame), whose previous writings (Retracing a Winter's Journey: Schubert's Winterreise, CH, Jun'92; Schubert: Die schone Mullerin, CH, May'93; and Hugo Wolf: The Vocal Music, CH, Apr'93) have set the standard for musicological attention to Austrian lieder. Having already dealt intensively with Schubert's masterworks, she now moves on to another extremely productive level. She kills several birds with one stone: turning her attention to (mostly) early Schubert, she focuses on his poetic choices and the evolution of his adult "voice"; she examines these lieder from the perspective of four neglected poets, Gabriele von Baumberg, Theodor Korner, Johann Mayrhofer, and Ernst Schulze; she digs deeply into the relationship between selected poems and some of the songs they inspired; and eschewing current literary and critical systems she clarifies the psychological, social, and political context of these issues. A big bonus is that the author's delight in her material flows out like good scholarly conversation. Simply stated, the book is interesting from beginning to end. Abundant examples from both poetry and music are included along with copious, information-laden endnotes and a substantial bibliography. This very important book is recommended for comparative literature and German language studies as well as music. Upper-division undergraduate through faculty; general. M. S. Roy Pennsylvania State University, University Park Campus