Schubert: A Musical Wayfarer [Hardcover]

An insightful biography of the great composer, revealing Schubert’s complex and fascinating private life alongside his musical genius
 
Brilliant, short-lived, incredibly prolific—Schubert is one of the most intriguing figures in music history. While his music attracts a wide audience, much of his private life remains shrouded in mystery, and significant portions of his work have been overlooked.
 
In this major new biography, Lorraine Byrne Bodley takes a detailed look into Schubert’s life, from his early years at the Stadtkonvikt to the harrowing battle with syphilis that led to his death at the age of thirty-one. Drawing on extensive archival research in Vienna and the Czech Republic, and reconsidering the meaning of some of his best-known works, Bodley provides a fuller account than ever before of Schubert’s extraordinary achievement and incredible courage. This is a compelling new portrait of one of the most beloved composers of the nineteenth century.An insightful biography of the great composer, revealing Schubert’s complex and fascinating private life alongside his musical genius“A fascinating and invaluable addition to this burgeoning literature. . . . No one alive is better equipped to slay the various Schubert myths—and her biography is undoubtedly the most scrupulous and best-informed so far.”—Ivan Hewett,The Telegraph

“[A] remarkably informative book, revealing musical and historical insights that have long been hidden.”—Laura Tunbridge,Times Literary Supplement

“It is a welcome revelation from Lorraine Byrne Bodley’s fine biography that [Schubert] was not simply the rabble-rousing wastrel that others have portrayed him as. . . . [Bodley] explores his works in erudite detail.”—Air Mail

“Magisterial. . . . The most comprehensive and indispensable biography to date l£&