Epilogue

Summary

The epilogue draws together the book’s main aims: to define and explore the formal tendencies of Schubert’s lyric teleology; to revive analytical engagement with the composer’s pre-1816 string quartets, and to reflect on analytical methodology. It also considers paths not taken and questions not asked in an attempt both to rationalise the contribution made by the book and to contextualise its findings. Finally, it addresses the lingering question of how impactful Schubert’s instrumental lyricism was, and whether it can be perceived in the music of later nineteenth-century composers. To this end, the chapter considers the music of Brahms (whose debt to Schubert is well documented), Bruckner (who knew Schubert’s music intimately and whose compositions were the subject of similar criticisms of formal redundancy and seemingly disjunctive and self-contained themes), and Chopin (in whose early work we see formal strategies akin to those of Schubert’s lyric form). These correspondences suggest that Schubert’s lyric teleology can be understood as prescient of a distinct turn to Romantic form, and provide recommendations for further study.