FRANZ PETER SCHUBERT: 1797 - 1828Early days (1797-1812)
1. Franz Peter Schubert was born in Vienna on 31 January 1797. His parents were Franz Theodor Schubert (1763-1839), and his wife, Elisabeth Vietz (1756-1812). The couple had 14 children but only five survived beyond infancy. Among these five, Franz Peter was the second youngest. Franz Theodor was a schoolteacher in a local school. The Schubert family was musical, with Franz Theodore playing the cello, and Franz's older brothers, Ignaz and Ferdinand, being violinists. They formed a string quartet in which young Franz played the viola. He received further musical instruction (counterpoint, singing, and keyboard) from Michael Holzer, choirmaster of the parish, although this was only of a limited nature. At the age of 11, Franz Peter passed an examination to enter a school known as "StadtKonvikt" run by Salieri, the composer, which trained choristers for the Imperial Court Chapel. He played the violin and studied counterpoint, and it was here that he began his first compositions dating from 1811.
Early Musical Career School Teaching Years (1813-1817)
2. In 1813, at the age of 16, Franz Peter returned to his father's home from the chorister school. At this time, he composed his first symphony. Because his family was unable to support him, he was compelled to adopt a profession, and he chose teaching. Following a period of training, in late 1814 he took up a post in his father's school, but he was very miserable doing this work. In his spare time he received further composition guidance from Salieri. Over the next three years he wrote a phenomenal amount of music: a further five symphonies, four Masses, six operas, the first piano sonatas, four string quartets, and 270 songs. In 1816 Schubert planned to marry a Teresa Grob, whom he first met two years previously, but the authorities on the grounds of his poverty rejected his marriage licence application.
Full-Time Composer (1818- 1821)
3. In early 1818, at the age of 21, he abandoned his financially secure career as a teacher and left the family home in order to devote himself completely to his music. He became friends with a number of admirers of his music, including the poet, Joseph von Spaun, a famous singer, Johann Michael Vogl (who was age 50 at that time), and several others including Franz Schober and two brothers Anselm Hüttenbrenner (who was a fellow composer) and Josef Hüttenbrenner. This group called themselves "Schubertians," and held frequent social evenings devoted to music, games, dancing and speeches - dubbed "Schubertiads". Schubert relied on these and other friends throughout his life for the provision of accommodation and financial and moral support.
4. It was not long before Schubert began to acquire a good reputation among Viennese musicians, and in early 1818 he was proposed as the music teacher to the noble Esterházy family. From July of that year he was hired as the family music teacher at their country estate in Zelész, Hungary. His main students were the two daughters of the Count. In this post he had much leisure time and he used it for composition. However, he left the post after four months, and his reasons for doing so are understood to be the fact that the remote location of the Esterházy estate caused him to miss his friends and the musical environment of Vienna.
5. Upon his return to Vienna in November 1818, he shared cramped living quarters with a friend, the poet Mayrhofer. Times were tough financially but matters slowly improved. He travelled to other parts of Austria with his singer friend and colleague, Michael Vogl, on musical tours. Vogl sang all of Schubert's songs and made them famous. Schubert wrote prolifically over the period 1819 - 1821, with major works including the Trout Quintet (in 1819), String Quartet No 12 "Quartettsatz" (D 703), and several operas such as "Die Zwillingsbrüder" and "Die Zauberharfe Lazaru" (1820-1821), and many more songs. In early 1822 the opera Alfonso und Estrella (D 732) was completed. Later that year he completed the Unfinished Symphony (D 759) and the Wanderer Fantasy (D 760). However, from all these activities, Schubert gained little financial reward, a feature that was to characterize all of his musical life, causing him to remain relatively poor and largely dependent on the continued hospitality and financial support of his friends. Picture below: Schubertiad.
1822- 1826 Illness and Beyond
6. Towards the end of 1822 Schubert contracted syphilis in circumstances that remain uncertain. In early 1823 he was admitted to the Vienna general hospital for several weeks. During his stay he composed his first song-cycle Die Schöne Müllerin (D 795). His health suffered subsequently, given the lack of any effective remedies. Later in 1823 he wrote the opera "Fierrabras" (D 796), but it was not successful because of its poor libretti, and this caused much personal despair and disappointment given the considerable wasted effort. In 1824 he again stayed with the Esterhazy family in Zelész, and fell in love with Caroline Esterhazy, the 17 year old middle child. It seems unlikely that his feelings were reciprocated, and any further advances were probably stopped by the Esterhazy family either because they may have been aware of his disease or because of his lower social status, and relative poverty. During his six month stay, he composed the String Quartet No 13 in A minor (Rosamunde) (D 804), and the "Grand Duo" for piano duet (D 812).
7. Upon his return to Vienna in late 1824, little is known of the personal aspects of this part of Schubert's life, except that he resumed his former "bohemian" life-style. He had a further spell in hospital in early 1825. Later in the year he began new travels around Austria with Vogl. A flow of further masterpieces was produced: Rosamund incidental music (D 797), the song cycle, Die Schöne Müllerin, the Octet D 803, String Quartet No 14 (Death and the Maiden) (D 810).
1827 - 1828 Last Two Years
8. During 1827 he wrote more large-scale works: the piano trios, a further opera "Graf von Gleichen", the Moments Musicaux for piano, some of his most poignant individual lieder, and the truly magnificent song cycle, 'Die Winterreise' (A Winter's Journey). The latter is perhaps one of Schubert's greatest works. It is based on a setting of 24 poems by Wilhelm Müller concerning the story of a young man who, after being rejected by his lover, set off on a journey into a desolate winter wasteland, sinking deeper into despair with each song. This major work is sometimes seen as typifying the sad drama that Schubert could see unfolding in his own life.
9. During 1828, the last year of Schubert's life, he remained very busy even through his worsening illness. He completed Symphony 9 in C Major ("The Great") (D 944) in early 1828. Work on this first began in 1825 and continued into 1826. This was clearly conceived on a grand scale, probably to match Beethoven's last symphony, but there is no record of it ever being performed at any stage in Schubert's lifetime. To this period also belongs various magnificent works: Mass 6 in E-flat (D 950), the C major String Quintet (D 956), the song cycle Schwanengesang (D 957) and the last three piano sonatas D 958, D 959, D 960.
10. From September 1827, Schubert's health began to decline sharply. Debate is unsettled on whether Schubert realised that his death was imminent but he continued to work on his music. As an occasional alternative to composing, he developed an interest in the novels of James Fenimore Cooper. Some accounts suggest that he believed he might make a sufficient recovery to continue his composing. Alas, it was not to be. After battling with syphilis since 1822, he died at 3 pm on 19 November 1828, aged 31, at his bother Ferdinand's apartment in Vienna. The cause of death was possibly from typhoid fever or from mercury poisoning administered at various stages to deal with his syphilis.
11. His dying, heartfelt wish was to be buried close to Beethoven. This wish was granted, and following his funeral at St Joseph's Church on 21 November he was buried in a grave beside that of Beethoven at the small Wahring cemetery. Both were transferred in September 1888 to the Musician's Grove of Honour in the newly-opened central cemetery Vienna. In the same cemetery, next to Beethoven and Schubert, lies Brahms. Franz Schubert's tombstone reads:
"Music has here entombed a rich treasure, but still fairer hopes. Franz Schubert lies here. Born January 31, 1797. Died November 19, 1828. 31 years old."
Appearance and Personal characteristics
12. Franz Peter Schubert was raised as a Roman Catholic. He was not of a very striking appearance, being very short (5 feet 1 and a half inches), somewhat corpulent, with a full, round face. He was near-sighted and always wore eyeglasses which evidently he never removed, not even while sleeping. Throughout his full-time composing life he lived largely a "bohemian" style of existence. He seldom concerned himself with his dress. He had a large circle of friends and was much liked. He normally had a cheerful mood, and among his friends he had various nick-names like "Schwammerl," meaning "Tubby". Some biographical accounts suggest the nickname of "Little Mushroom" was used for a while because of his short stature. He was something of a practical jokester, frequently delighting his friends by whistling his own songs through the teeth of a comb. He was fond of smoking his assortment of pipes, keen on dancing and enjoyed the eating and drinking establishments of his City.
13. He was talkative, and his opinions on music were pointed, brief and penetrating. About his own works, Schubert spoke rarely. He was not a public virtuoso and did not perform for large crowds. Outside his close circle of friends, he was a shy man. Relatively little is known of many details of the more private aspects of his personal life, and uncertainties exist about his sexuality. Although he lived largely in male company, this was not unusual as bachelorhood and male friendships were normal during the 19th Century. Moreover, he was fond of women, but his self-consciousness made it very difficult for him to associate with them. Indeed, it has been suggested that some of his four-hand piano material was partly conceived to enable him to touch hands with female students. Moreover, there is the evidence about his failed marriage application in 1816, and his known attraction to one of Count Esterhazy's daughters, as mentioned earlier.
14. His intellectual horizon was limited in that he knew little of painting, literature, philosophy or politics. He travelled little outside his native Austria. By nature, he was largely care-free, and did not write music primarily for fame and profit. On business matters, he left his friends to manage all of his affairs. He shied away from high society and only made rare, uncomfortable ventures into their company. Had he tried, he could have progressed very much further in their company, and made a substantially better living, but he simply lacked any kind of enthusiasm for this kind of activity. The only notable public position he sought was in 1826 when he was unsuccessful in applying for the vacant post of Vice-Kapellmeister of the Imperial Court.
Reverences
15. Schubert spent his life largely focused on music. He held the highest esteem for Handel, Mozart and Beethoven. Somewhat curiously, perhaps, he also held a high regard for Michael Haydn (younger brother of the more famous Joseph Haydn). As noted earlier, he especially worshipped Beethoven. There are conflicting reports on whether he and Beethoven ever met. Beethoven was some 27 years older than Schubert and had lived in Vienna since about 1792. Apart from possible occasional fleeting encounters, one report suggests they met in 1822 to discuss a piece of work by Schubert, and that this resulted in a misunderstanding that left Schubert somewhat deflated. However, the authenticy of this encounter is not supported by other accounts
16. At this time Beethoven's reputation was immense, and Schubert's minute in comparison. Any encounter that might have taken place would most certainly have been on a highly unequal basis. Later, however, there is little doubt that Beethoven was aware of Schubert's growing reputation, and it is reported that Beethoven commented very favourably on some of Schubert's song material shown to him in 1825. This gap in reputation was, of course destined to become very substantially narrowed by Schubert's enormous posthumous gain in popularity. As he contemplated the greatness of Beethoven, Schubert could hardly have realised that one day his name too would be held in the highest regard by countless later generations.
17. Another account suggests that when Schubert heard of Beethoven's terminal illness in early 1827 he and some of his close friends together visited the sickbed of the great composer in his last days, and stood in silent veneration for several hours. However, this story too is subject to some uncertainty, as there is a conflicting account which suggests that no such encounter took place, at least not in those terms. What is known for sure is that at Beethoven's funeral on 29 March 1827 Schubert was one of the torch bearers.
18. The situation of two of history's most outstanding composers living and working side by side in the same City over 10 simultaneous years of their productive lives, not ever meeting except only possibly and even then only very briefly, with a largely one-way admiration of each other, is the stuff of legends. And what an ending: being buried next to each other within 20 months of Beethoven's death.
Schubert's Style and Musical Achievements
19. Melody: Schubert's greatness as a composer rests principally upon his astounding lyrical gift. In the history of music, arguably no composer ever displayed greater genius for melodic writing than Franz Schubert. His distinctive and unique gift for spontaneous, lyrical and charming melodic invention resulted in compositions that offer a seemingly inexhaustible variety of moods. This is particularly the case in his late period works where occasional joy is invariably heavily tinged with a degree of sadness, meditation and introspection that so clearly reflects the contemplation of his own sorry state.
20. Harmony: In terms of harmonic originality, Schubert is considered among the very best composers in the history of music. His sudden shifts between the major and minor modes in his instrumental music and the subtle way he often explored unusual key relationships, was one of his chief characteristics. His orchestration abilities were substantial, which is all the more incredible given the very limited, often non-existent, resources at his disposal for such works.
21. Form: Schubert stretched Classical sonata form to its limits. His symphonic style was in late Classical form, but his lieder and keyboard works were Romantic in tone. He was one of the most outstanding pioneers of the Romantic Movement.
22. Quantity: Schubert wrote music very quickly with such a degree of perfection that his ability to produce many works in a short space of time is legendary. His output was enormous, especially taking account of the comparatively short period of time over which it was composed, of about 15 years. His age at death, 31, was the youngest by far of all the great composers. Even many years after his death, a great number of his masterpieces lay neglected on dusty shelves in obscure attics. It was, for example, Robert Schumann, who in 1840, 12 years after Schubert's death, found the Symphony in C Major ("Great") along with very many other works, in a hidden chest. It took many decades of painstaking research by later workers and composers to identify and categorise all of Schubert's works, which number around 1000.
23. Range and quality: Except for opera, he excelled in all of the forms that he attempted. As regards opera, the problem here was that Schubert proved to be a bad judge of libretti, and merely worked on whatever commissions came his way. Of course, this may have been unavoidable given his lack of notoriety. While the quality of libretti was mostly poor, much of the opera music he composed was very good. Both as a symphonist and in much of his religious choral music he was very impressive. Along with Beethoven, he was the most accomplished symphonist of his day. He wrote some of the best liturgical music for the Catholic Church of the early 19th Century. Much of his chamber music is sublime, and some of his piano miniatures, such as his Impromptus and Moment Musicals for piano, arguably match in quality the best of other illustrious piano composers both before and after. His late piano sonatas are among the very finest of that genre.
24. Lieder: Schubert completely revolutionised the German art song genre, and was arguably the greatest song-writer who ever lived. Among his one thousand compositions that survive, his art songs or Lieder comprise the largest portion of his works, over 600 in total. This is not surprising since some of the greatest singers of his native Vienna were among his circle of friends and musical collaborators, and who provided a good deal of the support and backing that the shy and self-conscious Schubert needed to sustain his life.
25. Legacy: Until the end of his life, Schubert remained a comparatively obscure and unknown composer. His fame rose after his death and grew rapidly later in the century as the enormous scale of his achievements was slowly revealed. This fame has continued to this day. Among his particularly famous later composer admirers were Schumann and Brahms, but he also influenced the works of Bruckner, Dvorak and Wolf.
Quotes about Schubert
Beethoven: "Truly, the spark of Divine genius resides in this Schubert".
Schumann: "Schubert, whose name, I thought, should only be whispered at night to the trees and stars … will always remain the favourite of youth … Time, though producing much that is beautiful, will not soon produce another Schubert".
Franz Liszt: "...the most poetic musician that ever lived".
Anton Rubinstein: "Once more, and a thousand times more, Bach, Beethoven, and Schubert are the highest summits in music".
Dvorak: "In his gift of orchestral colouring, Schubert has had no superior".
Richard Strauss: "Lucky Schubert, who could compose what he wanted, whatever his genius made him do".
Artur Schnabel: " .. the composer nearest to God".
Some of my favourite Schubert works (in very approximate order)Schumann: "Schubert, whose name, I thought, should only be whispered at night to the trees and stars … will always remain the favourite of youth … Time, though producing much that is beautiful, will not soon produce another Schubert".
Franz Liszt: "...the most poetic musician that ever lived".
Anton Rubinstein: "Once more, and a thousand times more, Bach, Beethoven, and Schubert are the highest summits in music".
Dvorak: "In his gift of orchestral colouring, Schubert has had no superior".
Richard Strauss: "Lucky Schubert, who could compose what he wanted, whatever his genius made him do".
Artur Schnabel: " .. the composer nearest to God".
1. Small Selection of Lieder:
- Nahe Des Geliebten (D 162)
- Erlkonig (D 328)
- Litanei Auf Das Fest Allerseelan (D 343)
- Lied eines Schiffers An Die Dioskuren (D 360)
- An Die Musik (D 547)
- Im Abendrot (D 799)
- Nacht und Traume (D 827)
- Die Junge Nonne (D 828)
- Ellens Gesang III (Ave Maria) (D 839)
- Im Fruhling (D 882)
- Standchen (D 889)
- An Silvia (D 891)
- Das Lied Im Grunen (D 917)
- Leise flehen meine (D 957/4)
- Der hirt auf dem felsen (D 965)
3. Winterreise, D 911
4. Trio for Piano and Strings No 2 in E Flat, D 929 + "notturno" (Op. 148)
5. Symphony No. 8 in B minor "Unfinished", D 759
6. Piano Sonata No 21 in B Flat Major, D 960
7. Impromptu No. 4 in A Flat, D 899
8. Piano Sonata No. 17 in G Major, D 850
9. Mass 6 In E Flat, D 950
10. Quintet for Strings in C Major, D 956
11. Symphony No. 9 in C major "The Great", D 944
12. Piano Quintet in A, "Trout", D 667
13. Quartet for Strings No. 14 in D minor "Death and the Maiden", D 810
14. Piano Sonata No. 20 in A Major, D 959
15. Impromptu No. 2 in A flat Major, D 935
16. Moment Musical No. 3 in F minor, D 780
17. Symphony No. 5 in B Flat major, D 485
18. Trio for Piano and Strings No. 1 in B Flat major, D 898
19. String Quintet in C Major, D956
20. Fantasy in C major "Wanderer", D 760
21. Quartet for Strings No. 13 in A Minor "Rosamunde", D 804
22. Sonata for Arpeggione in A minor, D 821
23. Fantaisie for Violin and Piano In C Major, D 934
24. Symphony No. 3 in D Major, D 200
25. Klavierstucke No. 2 in E Flat Major, D 946
26. Rosamund Entr'acte No. III in E Flat Major, D 797
27. Octet in F, D 803
28. Mass 2 in G Major, D 167
29. Piano Sonata No. 20 in A Flat, D 959
30. Piano Sonata No. 18 in G Major, D 894