Ringer sheds new perspectives on Schubert's songs, focusing on their incomparable dramatic power, which often exceeds that of many a full-fledged opera. But Schubert's "stage" was not to be the public theaters of the repressive Metternich regime in Vienna, but the far less censorable "theatre of the mind." Schubert's theatre of song would spring to life in intimate social gatherings of like-minded friends, wherever a singer and a fortepiano were available. They rightfully belong to every music lover. This is the first introductory guide for the general reader to appear in many years. HIGHLIGHT * An accompanying CD from NAXOS Records features superb performances by pianists Michael Volle, Roman Trekel, Julia Borchert, Wolfgang Holzmair, and others.

Mark Ringer (New York, NY) is professor of theatre at Marymount Manhattan College., He has worked extensively as a dramaturge, director, and actor throughout the United States and Europe., His books Opera's First Master: The Musical Dramas of Claudio Monteverdi (Amadeus: Unlocking the Masters series) and Electra and the Empty Urn: Metatheatre and Role Playing in Sophocles (Chapel Hill) have been positively received in the international press, and he is a contributor to the New York Times and other publications.