Franz Peter Schubert (January 31, 1797 – November 19, 1828) was an Austrian composer. He wrote some 600 lieder, nine symphonies (including the famous "Unfinished Symphony"), liturgical music, operas, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music. He is particularly noted for his original melodic and harmonic writing.
Schubert was born into a musically knowledgeable family, and received formal musical training through much of his childhood. While Schubert had a close circle of friends and associates who admired his work (including his teacher Antonio Salieri, and the prominent singer Johann Michael Vogl), wide appreciation of his music during his lifetime was limited at best. He was never able to secure adequate permanent employment, and for most of his career he relied on the support of friends and family. He made some money from published works, and occasionally gave private musical instruction. In the last year of his life he began to receive wider acclaim. He died at the age of 31, apparently of complications from syphilis.
Interest in Schubert's work increased dramatically in the decades following his death. Composers like Franz Liszt, Robert Schumann and Felix Mendelssohn discovered, collected, and championed his works in the 19th century, as did musicologist Sir George Grove. Franz Schubert is now widely considered to be one of the greatest composers in the Western tradition.
Biography
Early life and education
Schubert was born in Vienna on January 31, 1797. His father, Franz Theodor Schubert, the son of a Moravian peasant, was a parish schoolmaster; his mother, Elizabeth Vietz was the daughter of a Silesian master locksmith, and had also been a housemaid for a Viennese family prior to her marriage. Of Franz Theodor's sixteen children (one illegitimate child was born in 1783), eleven died in infancy; five survived. Their father was a well-known teacher, and his school in Lichtental, a part of Vienna's 9th district, was well attended. He was not a famous musician, but he taught his son what he could of music.
At the age of five, Schubert began receiving regular instruction from his father and a year later was enrolled at the Himmelpfortgrund school. His formal musical education also began around the same time. His father continued to teach him the basics of the violin. At seven, Schubert was placed under the instruction of Michael Holzer, the local church organist and choirmaster. Holzer's lessons seem to have mainly consisted of conversations and expressions of admiration and the boy gained more from his acquaintance with a friendly joiner's apprentice who used to take him to a neighboring pianoforte warehouse where he had the opportunity to practice on better instruments.
In October 1808, he became a pupil at the Stadtkonvikt (Imperial seminary) through a choir scholarship. At the Stadtkonvikt, Schubert was introduced to the overtures and symphonies of Mozart. His exposure to these pieces and various lighter compositions, combined with his occasional visits to the opera set the foundation for his greater musical knowledge. At the Stadtkonvikt he would also form a number of close friendships that would last the rest of his life, notably with Joseph von Spaun, who, in those early days, furnished the impoverished Schubert with manuscript paper.
Meanwhile, his genius began to show in his compositions. Schubert was occasionally permitted to lead the Stadtkonvikt's orchestra. Antonio Salieri, a leading composer of the period, became aware of the talented young man and decided to train him in musical composition and music theory. Schubert's early essay in chamber music is noticeable, since at the time a regular quartet-party was established at his home "on Sundays and holidays," in which his two brothers played the violin, his father the cello and Franz himself the viola. It was the first germ of that amateur orchestra for which, in later years, many of his compositions were written. During the remainder of his stay at the Stadtkonvikt he wrote a good deal more chamber music, several songs, some miscellaneous pieces for the pianoforte and, among his more ambitious efforts, a Kyrie (D.31) and Salve Regina (D.27), an octet for wind instruments (D.72/72a, said to commemorate the 1812 death of his mother), a cantata for guitar and male voices (D.110, in honor of his father's birthday in 1813), and his first symphony (D.82).
Teacher at his father's school
At the end of 1813 he left the Stadtkonvikt, and returned home for studies at the Normalhauptschule to train as a teacher. In 1814 he entered his father's school as teacher of the youngest students. For over two years the young man endured the drudgery of the work, which he performed with very indifferent success. There were, however, other interests to compensate. He continued to receive private lessons in composition from Salieri, who did more for Schubert’s musical training than any of his other teachers. Salieri and Schubert would part ways in 1817.
In 1814 Schubert met a young soprano named Therese Grob, the daughter of a local silk manufacturer. Several of his songs ( Salve Regina and Tantum Ergo ) were composed for her voice, and she also premiered his first Mass in F in October 1814. In 1994 musicologist Rita Steblin discovered the marriage petition of Schubert's brother Karl on the attic floor of the Lichtental church. She interpreted this document to show that Schubert had wanted to marry Grob, but was hindered by the harsh marriage consent law of 1815, however more prosaic reasons, such as the lack of means to support a wife appear more likely. In November 1816, after failing to gain a position at Laibach, Schubert sent Grob a collection of songs, which were retained by her family into the 20th century.
1815 probably was the most prolific period of Schubert's life. He composed over 20,000 bars of music, more than half for orchestra, including nine church works, a symphony, and about 140 lieder. His schoolfriend Joseph von Spaun once surprised him amid composition of Erlkönig (D.328, published as Op.1.) In that year he was also introduced to Anselm Hüttenbrenner and Franz von Schober, who would become lifelong friends. Another friend, Johann Mayrhofer, was introduced to him by Spaun in 1814.
Supported by friends
The year 1816 saw some real change in his fortunes. Schober, a student of good family and some means, invited Schubert to room with him at his mother's house. The proposal was particularly opportune, for Schubert had just made an unsuccessful application for the post of Kapellmeister at Laibach, and had also decided not to resume teaching duties at his father's school. By the end of the year he became a guest in Schober's lodgings. For a time he attempted to increase the household resources by giving music lessons, but they were soon abandoned, and he devoted himself to composition. "I compose every morning, and when one piece is done, I begin another." During this year, he focused on orchestral and choral works, although he continued to write lieder.
In early 1817, Schober introduced Schubert to Johann Michael Vogl, a prominent baritone 20 years Schubert's senior. Vogl, for whom Schubert wrote a great many songs, went on to become one of Schubert's main proponents in Viennese musical circles. He also met Joseph Hüttenbrenner (brother to Anselm), who would also play a role in promoting Schubert's music. These, and an increasing circle of friends and musicians, became responsible for promoting, collecting, and, after his death, preserving, his work.
In late 1817, his father gained a new position at a school in Rossau (not far from Lichtental), and Schubert rejoined his father and reluctantly took up teaching duties there. In early 1818 he was rejected for membership in the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, something that might have furthered his musical career. Schubert spent the summer of 1818 as music teacher to the family of Count Johann Karl Eszterházy at their chateau in Zseliz, Hungary. His duties were relatively light (teaching piano and singing to the two daughters, Marie and Karoline), and the pay comparably good. As a result, he happily continued to compose during this time. On his return from Zseliz, he took up housing with his friend Mayrhofer. The respite at Zseliz led to a succession of compositions for piano duet.
The Wanderer Fantasy D.760
The compositions of 1819-1820 are remarkable, and show a marked advance in development and maturity of style. The unfinished oratorio "Lazarus" (D.689) was begun in February; later followed, amid a number of smaller works, by the 23rd Psalm (D.706), the Gesang der Geister (D.705/714), the Quartettsatz in C minor (D.703), and the "Wanderer Fantasy" for piano (D.760). But of almost more biographical interest is the fact that in 1820 two of Schubert's operas were staged: Die Zwillingsbrüder (D.647) appeared at the Theater am Kärntnertor on June 14, and Die Zauberharfe (D.644) appeared at the Theater an der Wien
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