Christopher H. Gibbs – författare

This Companion to Schubert examines the career, music, and reception of one of the most popular yet misunderstood and elusive composers. Sixteen chapters by leading Schubert scholars make up three parts. The first seeks to situate the social, cultural, and musical climate in which Schubert lived and worked, the second surveys the scope of his musical achievement, and the third charts the course of his reception from the perceptions of his contemporaries to the assessments of posterity. Myths and legends about Schubert the man are explored critically and the full range of his musical accomplishment is examined.

Franz Schubert's tragically short life was spent in one of Europe's most richly musical cities: a Vienna that worshipped Beethoven, adored Rossini, and thrilled to Paganini. Schubert, with the help of supportive friends who were themselves immersed in the arts, won fame for himself through songs and dances while aspiring to succeed with larger operas and symphonies. Christopher Gibbs considers how and what Schubert composed, taking a fresh look at this misunderstood figure, particularly the unfolding of his professional career, his relationship to Beethoven, the growth of his reputation and public image and the darker side of drinking, depression and sexual ambiguity. This searching and sympathetic biography questions the customary sentimental clichés and the recent revisionist views concerning this elusive genius.

Franz Schubert's tragically short life was spent in one of Europe's most richly musical cities: a Vienna that worshipped Beethoven, adored Rossini, and thrilled to Paganini. Schubert, with the help of supportive friends who were themselves immersed in the arts, won fame for himself through songs and dances while aspiring to succeed with larger operas and symphonies. Christopher Gibbs considers how and what Schubert composed, taking a fresh look at this misunderstood figure, particularly the unfolding of his professional career, his relationship to Beethoven, the growth of his reputation and public image and the darker side of drinking, depression and sexual ambiguity. This searching and sympathetic biography questions the customary sentimental clichés and the recent revisionist views concerning this elusive genius.

No nineteenth-century composer had more diverse ties to his contemporary world than Franz Liszt (1811-1886). At various points in his life he made his home in Vienna, Paris, Weimar, Rome, and Budapest. In his roles as keyboard virtuoso, conductor, master teacher, and abbe, he reinvented the concert experience, advanced a progressive agenda for symphonic and dramatic music, rethought the possibilities of church music and the oratorio, and transmitted the foundations of modern pianism. The essays brought together in Franz Liszt and His World advance our understanding of the composer with fresh perspectives and an emphasis on historical contexts.Rainer Kleinertz examines Wagner's enthusiasm for Liszt's symphonic poem Orpheus; Christopher Gibbs discusses Liszt's pathbreaking Viennese concerts of 1838; Dana Gooley assesses Liszt against the backdrop of antivirtuosity polemics; Ryan Minor investigates two cantatas written in honor of Beethoven; Anna Celenza offers new insights about Liszt's experience of Italy; Susan Youens shows how Liszt's songs engage with the modernity of Heinrich Heine's poems; James Deaville looks at how publishers sustained Liszt's popularity; and Leon Botstein explores Liszt's role in the transformation of nineteenth-century preoccupations regarding religion, the nation, and art. Franz Liszt and His World also includes key biographical and critical documents from Liszt's lifetime, which open new windows on how Liszt was viewed by his contemporaries and how he wished to be viewed by posterity. Introductions to and commentaries on these documents are provided by Peter Bloom, Jose Bowen, James Deaville, Allan Keiler, Rainer Kleinertz, Ralph Locke, Rena Charnin Mueller, and Benjamin Walton.