Thesis submission ID 974 | created
| last updated
Peter Shannon, Franz Schubert: A pathway to explore illness and healing in the final symphonies - a conductor's perspective
Volumes, pp.: 1 (319pp)
Supervisor(s): Prof Lorraine Byrne Bodley
Repository (online): https://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/id/eprint/20106/
Repository (hard copy): Maynooth University
General specialism: Musicology
Historical timeframe: 1822-1828
Key terms, persons: Franz Schubert
Abstract:
Generally regarded as a dark work, Schubert’s ‘Unfinished’ Symphony in B minor (D. 759) was written while he was sick from syphilis, and questions abound as to why he never returned to complete this work. During a period of latency, which is part of the cycle of this illness, Schubert wrote what is generally thought of as a very positive work, and his longest symphony: the ‘Great’ Symphony in C major (D. 944). Did Schubert compose in a vacuum separated from his illness? Is there any correlation to be drawn between his newly found health and that of the C-major Symphony? If so, what is to be learned? Both symphonies offer themselves as a pathway to explore issues around illness and healing. Combining my experience as a conductor with my knowledge of the philosophical works of Hans-Georg Gadamer and contemporary research in both psychology and mindbody medicine, I tackle these questions, and in doing so, challenge many received truths about Schubert. The question is not any more if Schubert’s brain was affected, but how. By undertaking an analysis on how Schubert’s varying states of illness and health might be seen to be represented in his music, I open up a whole new perspective in Schubertian scholarship, and demonstrate the rich and diverse ways in which music may be integrated into the health humanities
Peter Shannon, Franz Schubert: A pathway to explore illness and healing in the final symphonies - a conductor's perspective
PhD, Maynooth University, 2025
Volumes, pp.: 1 (319pp)
Supervisor(s): Prof Lorraine Byrne Bodley
Repository (online): https://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/id/eprint/20106/
Repository (hard copy): Maynooth University
General specialism: Musicology
Historical timeframe: 1822-1828
Key terms, persons: Franz Schubert
Abstract:
Generally regarded as a dark work, Schubert’s ‘Unfinished’ Symphony in B minor (D. 759) was written while he was sick from syphilis, and questions abound as to why he never returned to complete this work. During a period of latency, which is part of the cycle of this illness, Schubert wrote what is generally thought of as a very positive work, and his longest symphony: the ‘Great’ Symphony in C major (D. 944). Did Schubert compose in a vacuum separated from his illness? Is there any correlation to be drawn between his newly found health and that of the C-major Symphony? If so, what is to be learned? Both symphonies offer themselves as a pathway to explore issues around illness and healing. Combining my experience as a conductor with my knowledge of the philosophical works of Hans-Georg Gadamer and contemporary research in both psychology and mindbody medicine, I tackle these questions, and in doing so, challenge many received truths about Schubert. The question is not any more if Schubert’s brain was affected, but how. By undertaking an analysis on how Schubert’s varying states of illness and health might be seen to be represented in his music, I open up a whole new perspective in Schubertian scholarship, and demonstrate the rich and diverse ways in which music may be integrated into the health humanities
Thesis submission ID 974