Ļć½¶Ö±²„College of Education professor co-edits book on the music of Franz Schubert
Contact: Camille Carskadon
STARKVILLE, Miss.āA Mississippi State Department of Music faculty member is co-editor of a new book about the music of Franz Schubert, considered one of the last classical and first romantic composers from the early 19th century.
Ļć½¶Ö±²„Associate Professor James Sobaskie, with University of Oxford music faculty member and co-editor Joe Davies, secured the participation of 11 Schubert experts from seven countries to establish a new, collective and diverse perspective on the composerās music in āDrama in the Music of Franz Schubert.ā
Published by Boydell and Brewer in the United Kingdom, the extensively researched publication challenges the assumption that the musical masterābest known for his songs, symphonies and chamber scoresālacked a comparable talent for drama. The book demonstrates previously unsuspected locations of dramatic innovation in his vocal and instrumental music.
Sobaskieās contributions also include two chapters, āThe Dramatic Monologue in Schubertās Mass in A flat majorā and āThe Dramatic Strategy Within Two of Schubertās Serenades,ā as well as the bookās co-written introduction.
āSchubertās image is evolving, and we wanted to confront a longstanding misconception surrounding the Romantic Era composerās dramatic music.Ā It turns out that Schubert invested drama within other genres besides opera, incorporating subtle narrative simulation, and weāve aimed to change how people regard and listen to him.Ā Iām already using my colleaguesā ideas in my teaching,ā Sobaskie said.
āI am grateful to my music department colleagues for their encouragement and am fortunate for the support of the College of Education. Schubertās creativity thrived on the good will of those around him and so does mine.Ā Iām excited to see this book in print and motivated to complete my next project, a book on the music of Gabriel FaurĆ©.ā
Sobaskie holds bachelorās and masterās degrees in music from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and a doctorate in music from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He currently teaches music theory, ear training, form and composition at Mississippi State. He is an editorial board member of the Nineteenth-Century Music Review, a music journal published by Cambridge University Press, and he has served as the publicationās book review editor for a decade.
āDrama in the Music of Franz Schubertā is available in the local authors section of Barnes and Noble at Ļć½¶Ö±²„and from online outlets.
Part of MSUās College of Education, the nationally accredited Department of Music is online atĀ , as well as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @MSStateMusic.
Established in 1903, MSUās College of Education is now home to six academic departments, one research unit and numerous service units. For more about the college, visit .
Ļć½¶Ö±²„is Mississippiās leading university, available online at .