Considered the greatest melodist of all time, Austrian composer Franz Schubert showed extraordinary aptitude for music. He was renowned for his songs or German 'lied' (solo voice with accompaniment, usually, piano), one of the most highly respected forms of Western music.
Among the prominent composers associated with Vienna – Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven – only Schubert was born there, a true blue-blooded Viennese.
Schubert Early Life and Training
Schubert was the son of a schoolmaster, his father an amateur but a keen musician. He was born in Vienna on January 31, 1797, initially learned violin from his father and piano from his elder brother. He showed great talent and interest in music that aged 11, he was accepted as a choir boy in the court chapel. He later became a school teacher, composing whenever time allowed.
As his talent for composing songs became more known, later gave up teaching to concentrate in composition. As a teenager, he produced piano pieces and string quartets. He also composed his first symphony, a three-act opera Des Teufels Lustschloss (The Devil’s Pleasure Palace) and his first song, Gretchen am Spinnerade (Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel.)
At 19 years old, he left school and joined his friend Schober in gathering a circle of literary and artistic friends around him rather than his musical colleagues and friends.
Schubert's Compositions
By 1820 he had written some of his finest instrumental works, including the fourth and fifth symphonies, and the delightful Trout Quintet, a favorite to this day.
Franz Schubert composed more than 600 German lieder / songs (the most enduring being Ave Maria, Serenade, The Erlking, Who is Sylvia and Hark, Hark the Lark) embodying the Romantic expression of emotion with pure melody.
Major Works
- Symphony No.1 in D major 1813
- Des Teufels Lustschloss (The Devil's Pleasure Palace), opera, 1813
- Song, Gretchen am Spinnerade (Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel) 1814
- Symphony No.4 'Tragic' 1816
- Symphony No.5 in B flat major 1816
- Quintet, 'Die Forelle' 1819
- Alfonso und Estrella (Alfonso and Estrella), opera, 1821
- Symphony No. 8 in B minor, Unfinished 1822
- Song cycle Die schone Mullerin (The Pretty Miller) 1823
- Song cycle Die Winterreise (The Winter’s Journey) 1827
- Fierrabras, opera 1823
- Rosamunde, incidental music 1823
- Song cycle Schwanengesang ( Swan Song) 1828
- Symphonies No 9 in C major, The Great 1828
- Symphony No. 10 ('unfinished') 1828
- Chamber music in strings
- Piano sonatas
- Masses
- Incidental music
Schubert's Final Years
At 25, he became ill with syphilis, but it was typhoid that killed him. He died at the young age of 31 with majority of his successful compositions posthumous. Unlike other prominent composers who travelled a lot to other places to perform or eventually migrate, Franz Schubert lived in Vienna all his life, except for some summer excursions and two visits to Hungary as domestic musician to the Esterhazy family in his early 20s.
Franz Schubert paved the way of Romantic era German 'lieder' for Schumann, Richard Strauss and Mahler.
Recommended Works by Schubert
- Symphony No. 9 in C, 'The Great'
- Trout Quintet, D667
- Die Winterreise, D911
- Short pieces, e.g. Impromptus, D899 and D935
- CDs with various 'Lieder'
Sources:
Classical Music by John Stanley, Mitchell Beazley, 1994
The Grove Dictionary of Music, edited by Standley Sadie, Macmillan, 1994
The Oxford companion to Music, edited by Alison Latham, OUP, 2002
