Schubert in the European Imagination, i

This, surely, is what musical research is all about: a lone scholar, labouring for more than a decade and producing a monumental monograph that transforms our view of its subject. In terms of scale alone, Scott Messing's book is a formidable achievement; such heavenly length, after all, flies in the face of the constraints of modern academic publishing. And these days, when academics are expected to churn out a new book for every RAE or period of research leave, it is rare for a scholar to be able to devote such a sustained period to a single venture; increasingly, projects that defy the Five-Year Plan mentality of modern academe get left on the back burner or emerge half-baked. While many scholars continue to overcome these obstacles, groundbreaking historical work cannot easily be reconciled with the demand for rapid delivery and guaranteed results. Not every important project requires an elephantine scale and gestation period. But all scholars need the time to take risks, the freedom to explore potentially blind alleys, and the space to experiment with approaches that may not bear fruit. Only through such processes can they acquire the kind of command of a topic that is so amply evident in Messing's monograph. This book is not only a model of work in its field, but a stimulating and timely reminder of what we should all aspire towards.

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