Schubert: A Musical Wayfarer, Byrne Bodley

Author: Lorraine Byrne Bodley
Format: Hardcover, 736 pages
Publisher: Yale University Press (2023)
ISBN: 9780300204087

Brilliant, short-lived, incredibly prolific — Schubert is one of the most intriguing figures in music history. While his music attracts a wide audience, much of his private life remains shrouded in mystery, and significant portions of his work have been overlooked.

In this major new biography, Lorraine Byrne Bodley takes a detailed look into Schubert’s life, from his early years at the Stadtkonvikt to the harrowing battle with syphilis that led to his death at the age of 31. Drawing on extensive archival research in Vienna and the Czech Republic and reconsidering the meaning of some of his best-known works, Bodley provides a fuller account than ever before of Schubert’s extraordinary achievement and incredible courage. This is a compelling new portrait of one of the most beloved composers of the nineteenth century.

Lorraine Byrne Bodley is professor of musicology at Maynooth University. Internationally renowned as a Schubert and Goethe scholar, her previous books include Schubert’s Late Music, Rethinking Schubert, Goethe and Zelter, and Schubert’s Goethe Settings.