Franz Schubert: Das fragmentarische Werk

Abstract

The reception history of Schubert’s music has gained added piquancy through the various mysteries and intrigues surrounding famous works. The mythology surrounding the ‘Unfinished’ Symphony is especially rich in this regard: is it a deliberate torso, a complete two-movement work, or an incomplete four-movement work? In order meaningfully to tackle such questions it is necessary to develop a proper taxonomy of manuscript typology and a deeper understanding of the composer’s working methods. Andrea Lindmayer-Brandl’s book establishes the aesthetic coordinates, constructs a detailed classification of a wide array of different types of manuscript, and examines the substantial documentary record of Schubert’s compositions within this context. As a result we now have a much clearer image of Schubert’s musical conceptions and working processes. Schubert’s oeuvre offers an unusually fertile resource for the investigation of fragmentary pieces in all their multifarious possible forms. Of around 1,000 works approximately 200 are in some sense fragments. The specific situation with certain genres reveals structural patterns in the composer’s development and career. Of the three genres with the greatest number of fragmentary works, the symphony fragments (46.2%, especially D615, D708A, D729, and D759) mark stages along Schubert’s ‘way towards a grand symphony’ (Otto Erich Deutsch, Schubert: A Documentary Biography (London, 1946), 339), the early piano sonatas (45.6%) mark the composer’s period of experiment in sonata form, and the stage works (35%) record his efforts to become a successful opera composer. On a practical level, Lindmayr-Brandl’s systematic expansion of the basic compositional sequence from sketch (Entwurf)—first draft (erste Niederschrift)—fair copy (Reinschrift) to include more layers of sketching and drafting makes an immense contribution to the deeper understanding of Schubert’s working practice. Furthermore, her perceptive classification of different types of fragment—transmission fragment (Überlieferungsfragment), sketch fragment (Entwurfsfragment), fair copy fragment (Reinschriftfragment), composition fragment (Kompositionsfragment), and so forth—clarifies the stage at which work was interrupted and, where appropriate, suggests plausible reasons for Schubert’s abandoning the work. The recognition of a greater number of stages in the compositional process reveals the genesis of individual pieces and the evolution of Schubert’s creative personality in increased detail, both in general and within specific musical genres.