Schubert's Great C Major: Biography of a Symphony (Monographs in Musicology)

Schubert is known to everyone as the composer of many of the world s finest
songs, but he also excelled as a comp ser of abundant instrumental music during
his short life. The Symphony in C major, D944, is his last and, in the opinion of many, his
greatest work for orchestra. This short book surveys the symphony s historical background
in the context of Schubert s orchestral works from his earliest years as a composer as well
as its performance history, and offers a detailed formal and tonal analysis of each of its
four movements. Music students, professional scholars, and ordinary listeners alike will find
this book a valuable guide to one of the most beloved symphonies of all time.
Mark DeVoto, professor emeritus of Music at Tufts University, has published
extensively on the music of Alban Berg and Claude Debussy (Debussy and the
Veil of Tonality: Essays On His Music, Pendragon Press, 2004), and edited
the revised 4th and 5th editions of Walter Piston s Harmony, an essential textbook. He
lives in Medford, Massachusetts.