The music of Franz Schubert and Gustav Mahler comprise a unique niche in Romantic Western music: music of harrowing psychological intensity and heartbreaking lyricism. This course examines these two composters’ reflections on death, eternity, and redemption in such works as Schubert’s symphonies (the “Unfinished” and the “Night”) and Mahler’s symphonies and songs, including the “Resurrection,” Fifth and Ninth symphonies, and the song cycles “Kindertotenlieder” and “Das Lied von der Erde.”

Register online or call 773-702-1722.

Syllabus

Printable Version

Week 1

Schubert 1813-1816: Early songs to Goethe texts, 1st Symphony
Mahler in the 1880s: Das Klagende Lied; 1st Symphony

Week 2

Schubert: Songs of a Folk-Like Character; 3rd Symphony
Mahler: Des Knaben Wunderhorn

Week 3

Depictions of nature in Schubert and Mahler including special attention to Schubert's Die Schoene Muellerin and Mahler's 3rd Symphony

Week 4

Schubert: Impromptus; Schwanengesang
Mahler: 4th, 5th, and 6th Symphonies

Week 5

Schubert: 8th Symphony ("Unfinished"); Wanderer and Song Fantasy
Mahler: Lieder einen Fahrenden Gesellen; Rueckert Lieder

Week 6

Schubert in 1828 Part 1: Mass in E-flat; 9th Symphony "The Great Symphony"
Mahler: 6th and 7th Symphonies; Kindertotenlieder

Week 7

Schubert in 1828, Part 2: Last 3 piano sonatas; String Quintet
Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde

Week 8

Schubert in 1828, Part 3: Die Winterreise
Mahler: 9th Symphony

---