Conference Booklet - Music - National University of Ireland, Maynooth

Session 2.1 TEXT AND MEANING IN THE SACRED WORKS
James Sobaskie (Mississippi State University)
Schubert’s Late Church Music and the Pursuit of Redemption
My article, ‗Schubert‘s Self-Elegies‘ (2008), addressed the theme of ‗Thanatos as Muse‘ using
Schoenberg‘s concept of ‗musical problem‘ to illuminate contextual processes in two of
Schubert‘s late piano pieces, revealing them as instances of a novel musical genre analogous to
the then-recently-emerged poetic form devoted to mourning one‘s own death. My article, ‗The
―Problem‖ of Schubert‘s String Quintet‘ (2005), used the same concept to demonstrate how the
composer‘s last chamber work simulates a search for a solution to a contextu ally-defined
musical problem across its four movements to convey impressions of teleology and triumph.
Similar future-directed processes appear in Schubert‘s late church music, unfolding within
diverse informative contexts to communicate a common scenario: the pursuit of redemption.
Ingenuous contextual musical processes animate the Schlussgesang and Das Gebet des
Herrn of Schubert‘s Deutsche Messe (1827). In the former, a frequently-heard descending second
motive elicits a broad ascending gesture that reaches its foretold goal in the final bars, while in
the latter, a play of tonalities evokes a surprising though satisfying metamorphosis. A different
quest unfolds within Hymnus an den heiligen Geist (1828), where no less than eight tonalities
serve systematically, alluding to the achievement and confirmation of one seemingly sought.
Single distinctive chromatic harmonies heard near the beginnings of Schubert‘s last two sacred
essays, the Tantum ergo (1828) and Offertorium: Intende voci (1828), educe expectations that
remain unfulfilled until their works‘ conclusions, when intervening events enable voice-leading
‗breakthroughs‘ that underscore the sentiments of the texts. Yet it is in the Sanctus and Agnus
Dei of Schubert‘s sublime Messe in Eb (1828), an un-commissioned work that was not performed
until a year after the composer‘s death, that we may observe Schubert in his most unguarded
moments contemplating transformation and transcendence, perhaps aspiring toward spiritual
redemption, as this presentation will suggest.
David Rees (Germany) and Alon Schab (Israel)
A Rediscovered Source for Psalm XCII (D953)
The setting in Hebrew of Psalm XCII (D 953), composed in 1828 for the Viennese Jewish
community in the Seitenstettengasse synagogue and its famous cantor Salomon Sulzer, holds a
unique place in Schubert‘s late oeuvre. The language of its text, its a cappella setting, and the
historical circumstances which led to its composition make it difficult to compare it to any other
late work by the composer. The picture is complicated further by the facts that the autograph
score is lost, that that two primary sources for the piece are considerably later (1834 and 1840),
and that they disagree over text underlay and other details
Recently we have rediscovered another, previously unknown, manuscript copy (in
private hands). Preliminary research suggests not only that it is the earliest source of the piece
(ca. 1832) but also supplies interesting variant readings and alternative text underlay. More
importantly, it may shed new light on the early reception history of the work and on the
objection it might have encountered among the Jewish community. Our paper will describe the
new source, survey its variant readings and revisit the historical background of the piece