 R. Murray Schafer and the Musical Metaphor of Alzheimer’s Disease: An Analysis of Alzheimer’s Masterpiece
R. Murray Schafer, who passed away in 2021 due to complications from Alzheimer’s disease, left us a last work, his thirteenth string quartet, entitled Alzheimer’s Masterpiece, which was premiered in 2015 by the Molinari Quartet. This piece is singular in the composer’s production, marked by much less virtuosic and skilled writing than usual. However, Schafer manages to overcome his illness by deploying musical metaphors for behavioral and language disorders and the great cycle of life.