Over the years, numerous books and other publications about Schubert and other song composers have appeared. Publications about Schubert songs in particular tend to focus on often incorrect details and examples of projections, paying excessive attention to autobiographical details and too little to music and lyrics.
Partly for this reason, Schubert.nl has set itself the goal of publishing a series of books about Schubert songs, based on the most accurate and objective interpretation of text and music possible. They offer not only interpretations, but also very clear and practical information for performers and listeners.
The first book, published in 2023, deals with Die schöne Müllerin; see the website accompanying the book for more information. In March 2026, a book about Schwanengesang will be published, followed a few months later by a book about Winterreise. Other books and publications will follow.
Die schöne Müllerin is available in Dutch (bol.com en broekmans.nl), German and English (Amazon); Schwanengesang will be available in Dutch (bol.com en broekmans.nl), German, English and French (Amazon).
Below is a preliminary list of books by other authors that are recommended and not recommended, in the opinion of the compiler of the list.
Schubert Musik und Lyrik, Thrasybulos G. Georgiades
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. Göttingen
In this book, Georgiades describes Die schöne Müllerin in about a hundred pages, going into more detail about the Müllerin than any other book—except for the book mentioned above. Georgiades makes a great impression, although he sometimes makes mistakes, but he mainly surprises with his insight. However, his German is quite complex, with sentence lengths reminiscent of Thomas Mann, so some sentences need to be read twice. This is partly due to the fact that Georgiades wrote at a time when people were less complacent and better able to read complex texts. The book is only available second-hand.
Franz Schubert Die schöne Müllerin Winterreise, Arnold Feil
Reclam
Feil studied with Georgiades, which is evident in the way he looks at rhythm and, of course, in the places where he quotes Georgiades. Occasionally, his comments are a bit far-fetched, but even those are certainly worthwhile as thought exercises, and the book as a whole even more so.
Franz Schubert oder die melodie, Hans Gál
S. Fischer Verlag
Feil takes issue with this book, which is perhaps understandable because Gál and Feil represent opposing perspectives: melody versus rhythm. For the reader, that doesn’t matter; the aspects belong together. Gál makes very valuable comments about Schubert’s melodies.
Franz Schubert und seine Lieder, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.
Insel Verlag
This book is a fairly inexpensive paperback in which Dieskau gives interpretation and performance instructions without much explanation or relativization. It was previously published as a hardcover, with a partially different text. The big problem with this little book is that it suggests it contains the absolute and unshakeable truth, while even Dieskau is sometimes wrong. That is the problem with Dieskau in any case; he was undeniably a great singer, who was right on many points, but because of his stature (and arrogance, however well he hid it behind a civilized smile), he stands in the way of further development of the musical tradition, even posthumously.
Franz Schubert. Walther Dürr and Arnold Feil
Philip Reclam Jr.
The book is about Schubert and not Die schöne Müllerin. Nevertheless, it does contain some interesting information about the Müllerin here and there and gives a good picture of the composer.
Franz Schubert. Ernst Hilmar.
Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag
Similar in subject matter to the previous book, but this book offers different information and stands out for its good historical description of the facts.
Franz Schubert The complete Songs, Graham Johnson.
Yale University Press
This three-volume work of almost three thousand words is no longer available. It is a remarkable combination of the same kind of unsubstantiated performance instructions that we also find in Fischer-Dieskau, among others, Faulty Towers-style humor, samples of erudition, partly apt musical analyses, some useful practical instructions (aimed mainly at pianists), anecdotes, and astonishing and sometimes disconcerting examples of Hineininterpretieren, often based on a misunderstanding of the German language. (See also note 88.) An example: Johnson thinks that sittsam means nice. But it means virtuous, in this context especially in a sexual sense. Johnson also misunderstands the word neugierig: he takes it literally. Furthermore, without any evidence to be found in the text, he invents the idea that the miller’s apprentice is not really sexually interested in the Müllerin. But above all, it is a testimony to Johnson’s great love for Schubert, and that alone makes the work valuable. The biggest drawback was the price (a hefty €400) and now its availability (only available second-hand).
Schubert. Die Erinnerungen seiner Freunde gesammelt und herausgegeben von Otto Erich Deutsch. Breitkopf & Härtel KG
If you really want to know something about Schubert and his life, you would do well to read this book. It is very valuable because Deutsch also clearly indicates which of Schubert’s friends are reliable witnesses and which are less so or not at all. For a while it was only available secondhand, but fortunately it is now available again, 616 pages for a rounded €0.11 per page. There is also an English translation, but it is of little use if you really want to know exactly what Schubert’s contemporaries said about him.
Schubert Lied Lexikon. Dürr Kube Schweikert Steiner (Hsg.)
Bärenreiter
This lexicon contains fairly extensive discussions of the text and music of all Schubert’s songs. For that reason alone, it is an asset, even more comprehensive than the Handbuch, see below.
Schubert Handbuch, Dürr / Krause (ed.)
Bärenreiter
Although the Handbuch discusses DsM less extensively, it is still recommended because of its completeness. Schubert’s entire oeuvre is discussed in almost seven hundred pages.
Schuberts Liederzyklen, Elmar Budde
Verlag C.H. Beck
In this compact work, Budde provides a good overview of the harmonic structure of the songs in particular and explains the symbolism behind the keys very well. It is a pity that there are a few errors.
Studien zu Schuberts Rhytmik, Arnold Feil.
Georg Olms Verlag
A fairly specialized work that occasionally draws very apt conclusions.
The Schubert Song Companion. John Reed
Manchester University Press
A very nice book that provides a good, albeit brief, description of the lyrics and musical details. Particularly valuable for those who do not speak German and would like to have a book that describes all of Schubert’s songs.
Erdmute Schwarmath: ‘Musikalischer Bau und Sprachvertonung in Schuberts Liedern’
This article can be read online: https://epub.ub.uni-muenchen.de/28270/1/Schwarmath_Erdmute_Musikalischer_Bau_und_Sprachvertonung_in_Schuberts_Liedern.pdf.
Schwarmath raises an important theme. Unfortunately, the article is rather short and seems to have been written in a hurry. Expressions such as ‘turning inward into empty space’ also sound very vague and woolly. This is a pity, because the woolly language detracts from an article that otherwise deals with very concrete and visible issues.
Schubert Die schöne Müllerin Susan Youens.
Cambridge University Press
Youens deserves credit for publishing the only book written about Die schöne Müllerin – untill the publication of De ondraaglijke stilte van Schubert & Die schöne Müllerin (The Unbearable Silence of Schubert & Die schöne Müllerin), that is. However, it is an extremely peculiar book that I cannot recommend without reservation. In general, her interpretations of the text are very poor: she often drags Freud into it, and since Freud was a fantasist, Youens is too at times. Furthermore, it appears (even more so than in her second book) in several places that her knowledge of the German language leaves much to be desired. The musical analyses are certainly interesting at times, however, so it is a bit of a shame that she did not write the book together with, for example, a Germanist. You could say that this problem applies to almost all the books discussed here, but unfortunately to this book to the greatest extent.
Schubert Müller and Die schöne Müllerin Susan Youens
See above for the general picture. This book tells the story of the work’s origins, as already explained in this book, although her version is slightly less up-to-date. She also draws on all kinds of other sources. An interesting book, but quite difficult to read due to the sometimes confused ideas, and it consists largely of information about music and literature that has nothing to do with Die schöne Müllerin and does not contribute to an understanding of the context of the cycle. Please note: another part of the book does contain relevant information, but for readers of my book on Die schöne Müllerin, this is not new.
Schubert Song Cycles:
With Thoughts on Performance, Gerald Moore
A very nice book, especially for pianists, but in terms of analysis it does not really add much to the books already discussed here, especially if, like almost everyone else, you are familiar with Moore’s recordings with Dieskau and/or have read his book. Only available second-hand.
Schubert. Die Erinnerungen seiner Freunde. Gesammelt und herausgegeben von Otto Erich Deutsch.
Verdict: if you want to know something about Schubert’s life, read this book. Here too you will find a lot of information that is dubious, but Deutsch clearly indicates the extent to which the information can be trusted. The German version is available again. There is also an English translation, but it is of little use because you never know whether what you are reading was also in the original edition. Anyway, anyone who is not good at German—such as Susan Youens, see (later) the review of her books—will not really know what Deutsch wrote after reading the original version.
Schubert Handbuch. Dürr / Krause (ed.)
Provides a brief but very complete overview of Schubert’s works, often with very valuable information about the music.
Schubert Lied Lexikon Dürr Kube Schweikert Steiner (ed.)
Similar to the Handbuch, but exclusively and more extensively about the songs.
Schubert Musik und Lyrik Thrasybulos G. Georgiades
An impressive and in-depth book about the way Schubert translated poems into music. Contains many very complex musical analyses, which are not always flawless, but always provide new and often very surprising insights. Only available second-hand.
(To be continued)