ABSTRACT
Ryan McClelland's study of hypermetrical issues in Schubert's Klavierstuck is clearly aligned with the enterprise of music theory in its determination to formalize its findings within an overarching metaphor of musical structure, and "Schubert" is present within it largely as a label for a body of work with a common origin and particular structural characteristics. In Su Yin Mak's remarkable study of Schubert's Quartettsatz, a kind of double historicization emerges along with a close structural analysis: Schubert as composer responds both to a literary tradition with which he was demonstrably familiar and to a compositional heritage of structures and topics. The "wealth of Schubert studies already available" not only provides a variety of potentially credible Schubert images, but also some that fail to stand up to scrutiny.
