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Willi Kahl:

Verzeichnis des Schrifttums über Franz Schubert 1828-1928

1st edition Gustav Bosse Verlag, Regensburg, 1938.



Of all the books I have described so far, this is the one that only a collector could love ! Anyone else is likely to find it incredibly dry and boring, but for the collector, Oh ! what delights. Published in 1938, it is an especially nondescript paperback book (which I have seen in 3 different colours with 2 different designs), which runs to just 264 pages. But it is no less than an attempt to produce a complete bibliography of books and articles about Schubert from his death (and thus earlier articles, such as the Blick aus Schubert’s Lieder by Friedrich von Hentl in the Wiener Zeitschrift in 1822 are ignored) up to the centenary of his death in 1928.

Given the resources and techniques then available : no computer databases, word processors or Emails, it is no surprise that this huge task should have taken over 10 years ! There are plenty of omissions, of course, but that is inevitable given the difficulty of the task: what is impressive is how complete it seems to be. Nevertheless, spotting things that Kahl missed is an inevitable source of amusement ! I have several items that passed him by, including a number of a fairly obscure or ephemeral nature: a 1928 reconstruction of Rosamunde by Alexander Dean; the 1928 Schubert Centennial Essay by Daniel Gregory Mason; a 1928 pamphlet on How to use the Gramophone in School - Schubert by Robertson and Latham, for example. And, almost inevitably, the cut-out-and-stick book by Thomas Tapper. These sorts of omissions are to be expected. Amongst the more surprising omissions is a book by Otto Erich Deutsch : Franz Schuberts Briefe und Schriften, and the long Schubert biography by Joseph Bennett in the Musical Times in 1886.

After a short foreword, the details are grouped by year in alphabetical order of author. The details given are just basic bibliographical details, although there are references to alternative printings (e.g. journal and book form) and later printings. In the first few years there are not many entries, of course (several years have just a single entry), but as time goes by, the lists for each year get longer. Thus Franz Schubert Eine biographische Skizze by Heinrich Kreissle von Hellborn in 1861 is entry number 161; Deutsch’s first book (Schubert Brevier, 1905) is number 926; and the final entry for 1927 is number 1933. Then comes 1928, the details of which graphically show the effect of the centenary: for the final entry in the book is number 3122 ! There are actually a few more entries than 3122, as now and then you find an entry with a suffix: 11a, for example. These are obviously additions to the catalogue which were added too late to allow time for renumbering.

Finding the entries you want are assisted by 4 useful indices which list the entries in a variety of ways. The first lists them by category (bibliographies, Schubert’s works, Schubert’s life and personality, etc.), and the second by place. Then we have indices of personalities and authors.

In this country you are unlikely to come across a copy in other than a specialist music bookshop, or catalogue, and I’ve not seen one advertised here in the last several years. However, I have acquired copies from general German bookshops through on-line databases. Expect to have to pay of the order of £35-40 for a copy.

Addendum

A new Schubert bibliography has appeared. It is described as being "elements of a new bibliography from 1929 to 2000, by Ernst Hilmar with Werner Bodendorff", and occupies over 200 pages of Schubert durch die Brille issue number 25. This first part of the Hilmar bibliography lists the entries just by alphabetical order of the author. Its scope includes books, dissertations and theses, as well as longer articles in magazines, journals and compendia. Longer articles from The Schubertian are included, so I’m famous at last: Of Mushrooms and Lilac Blossom being entry number 2511, out of a total of 3852. Bibliographical details are very simple: we don’t get the publisher, for example, which is a great shame. I’m all for including all possible details in bibliographies. One particularly pleasing feature is that they have included some entries from before 1929 which had been omitted by Kahl. Of course, with the explosion in printed material this century, we have to assume that there are very many valid entries which have not been included, and it is not difficult to find missing works. However, now that we know that this bibliography is in progress, I hope that others with an interest in such things will spend the time to communicate further entries to Ernst Hilmar, as I have done. Unfortunately (though inevitably) these omissions (some in Brille 26, others in Brille 27) have all come out with suffixed numbers.

© Richard Morris October 2000-February 2002