Harmony in Schubert

One of Western music's great harmonists, Franz Schubert created a wondrous and treasured body of music that has retained its fascination to this day. His innovative harmonic practice has been a topic of lively discussion among analysts for generations. Harmony in Schubert presents a fresh approach, yielding insightful readings of a large and varied range of excerpts, as well as readings of fifteen complete movements spanning Schubert's chamber, choral, orchestral, piano, and vocal output. Damschroder reformulates the apparatus for Roman-numeral harmonic analysis, integrating his own speculations with various strands of historical analytical thought, including Schenkerian principles and historical perspectives. In addition, he juxtaposes his readings of complete movements by Schubert with discussions of how they have been interpreted by other Schubertian analysts. The book sets a new direction for the future of music analysis, proposing innovative improvements on existing methodologies.

David Damschroder is Associate Professor of Music Theory at the University of Minnesota School of Music, where he teaches a range of courses devoted to the analysis of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century music, the repertoire that also serves as the focus for his scholarly writings and performance activities on fortepiano. His previous books include Thinking about Harmony: Historical Perspectives on Analysis, Music Theory from Zarlino to Schenker, Listen and Sing, and Foundations of Music and Musicianship.