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Rita Steblin. Die Unsinnsgesellschaft. Franz Schubert, Leopold Kupelwieser und ihr Freundeskreis. Wien: Bohlau, 1998. xiv, 490 pp. ISBN 3-205-98820-5 (hardcover). Musicology belongs to those fields in the humanities that require a knowledge of foreign languages. Many of us opt to research the lives and works of composers who were active in non-English speaking countries, struggling more or less successfully with relevant primary sources and secondary literature. Difficulties tend to arise when scholars attempt to comprehend primary sources which date from earlier centuries. In the case of Rita Steblin's book Die Unsinnsgesellschaft. Franz Schubert, Leopold Kupelwieser und ihr Freundeskreis, readers should be comfortable with early nineteenth-century Viennese or at least have at hand a German-English dictionary published in Austria. In April 1994, Steblin, a Canadian musicologist based in Vienna, discovered twenty-nine hitherto-unknown, handwritten weekly issues of the magazine "Archiv des menschlichen Unsinns" ("Archive of Human Nonsense"). They were compiled by the "Unsinnsgescllschaft" ("Nonsense Society") and date from 1817 and 1818.1 Steblin's impeccable, obviously near-native knowledge of Viennese German enabled her to transcribe and examine in detail this important primary source held at the Vienna Stadt- und Landesbibliothek. The surviving twenty-nine booklets-less than one-third of the original production-draw attention to some of Franz Schubert's more lighthearted activities and shed light on his interesting, if not unusual, circle of friends. Readers will find detailed biographies of twenty-two members in good standing, based on new research in Vienna's archives, as well as transcriptions of the literary accounts written to commemorate two private celebrations ("Feste") which offer further insights into the Society's membership and projects (p. 14).2 Additional visual stimuli include excellent reproductions of portraits in black and white and in colour, revealing each member's respective disguise and nickname. As Steblin points out in her lengthy and highly informative introduction, each of the "Archive of Human Nonsense" booklets consists of at least eight pages of text with humorous essays on a variety of topics such as politics, fine literature, science, and advertisements. The articles were prepared by members using their nicknames only, with paintings and caricature drawings interspersed, many by famous painter Leopold Kupclwieser. Once a week members met at the Gasthaus "Zum roten Hahn," including one female, Thcrese Fellner, the restaurant' s proprietress. The finished booklets were then circulated among members. At this point allow me to comment briefly on Schubert's and the other "Nonsense Society" members' humourous nicknames. Evidently, the "Archiv des menschlichen Unsinns" provided these young Viennese artists with a written forum in which to examine contemporary nineteenth-century events and simultaneously poke fun at themselves and others. The nicknames "Schnautze, Redacteur" ("snout, editor," Eduard Anschutz) and "Sebastian Haarpuder" ("Sebastian Hairpowder," Gustav Anschutz), were clearly conceived to make the reader chuckle, while the rhyming nicknames of the three Kupclwieser brothers exude typical Viennese charm. Josef ("Blasius Leeks"), for example, would later prepare the textbook for Schubert's opera Fierrabras in 1823, and Leopold ("Damian Klex"), the famous painter, was a close friend of Schubert. When trying to grasp the meaning of the nicknames English readers-and for that matter native Germans-are strongly urged to consult Steblin's explanations at the end of each biographical section (p. 51 ff). One is bound to translate the nickname of the third Kupelwieser brother, Johann "Chrisostomus Schmccks"-as "Goldmouth Delicious" without knowledge of early nineteenth-century Viennese dialect. According to a contemporary source from 1824, however, "Schmecks" is a vulgar expression with an insulting, sometimes humourous connotation (p. …

canadian university music review

Rita Steblin. Die Unsinnsgesellschaft. Franz Schubert, Leopold Kupelwieser und ihr Freundeskreis. Wien: Böhlau, 1998. xiv, 490 pp. ISBN 3-205-98820-5 (hardcover)