Elusive
Peter Dickinson
Schubert: A Biographical Study of his Songs Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. Translated and edited by Kenneth S. Whitton (Cassell £5.95) A great singer is not the obvious person to write a book on a major composer. But when the composer is Schubert and the singer Fischer-Dieskau, the connection seems inevitable. This is because FischerDieskau is deeply involved in every aspect of his subject, much more aware than most performing musicians of the need for historical and textual study.
In this book, which was first published in Germany in 1971, Fischer-Dieskau sets the composer's life beside the songs he was composing at the time. He is very concerned that out of a total of over six hundred songs only about one hundred are widely performed. He also wishes to emphasise the literature of vocal music, especially the German Lied, at a time when instrumental music seems overwhelmingly popular. The book provides information about the writers of the texts Schubert set to music, ranging from Goethe to complete nonentities, all of whom 'served Schubert's purpose.
All this makes the book suitable for the general reader who wants to support his study of Fischer-Dieskau's recorded performances with something more than sleevenotes. It will also be useful to the student who wants to have rapid access to the best of the lesser-known songs—he can use a master as a guide. Apart from this the book contains many valuable insights. Schubert was an elusive figure, inevitably emerging more strongly in his music than in the simple facts of his life, which Fischer-Dieskau treats appropriately without embroidery.
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