Franz Schubert
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1875 oil painting by Wilhelm August
Rieder, after his own 1825 watercolor portrait
Franz Peter Schubert (German pronunciation: [ˈfʁants ˈʃuːbɛɐ̯t];
31 January 1797 – 19 November 1828) was an Austrian
composer.
Although he died at the age of 31,
Schubert was a prolific composer, having written some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies (including the famous "Unfinished
Symphony"), liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber
and solo piano music. Appreciation of Schubert's music during his lifetime was
limited, but interest in his work increased significantly in the decades
following his death. Franz Liszt, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms and Felix Mendelssohn, among others, discovered and championed his works in the
19th century. Today, Schubert is seen as one of the leading exponents of the
early Romantic era in music and he remains one of the most frequently
performed composers.
Early life and education
Schubert was born in Himmelpfortgrund
(now a part of Alsergrund), Vienna on 31 January 1797. His father, Franz Theodor
Schubert, the son of a Moravian peasant, was a parish schoolmaster; his mother, Elisabeth 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 fourteen
children (one illegitimate child was born in 1783),[1] nine 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.[2] He was not a musician of fame or
with formal training, but he taught his son some elements of music.[3]
At the age of five, Schubert began receiving regular instruction from his
father and a year later was enrolled at his father's school. His formal musical
education also started around the same time. His father continued to teach him
the basics of the violin,[3] and his brother Ignaz gave him
piano lessons.[4] At the age of seven, Schubert
began receiving lessons from Michael Holzer, the local church organist and
choirmaster. Holzer's lessons seem to have mainly consisted of conversations
and expressions of admiration[5] 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.[6] He also played the viola
in the family string quartet, with brothers Ferdinand
and Ignaz on violin and his father on the cello. Schubert wrote many of his
early string quartets for this ensemble.[7]
Schubert first came to the attention of Antonio Salieri, then Vienna's leading
musical authority, in 1804, when his vocal talent was recognized.[7] 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.[8] 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.[9] One important musical influence
came from the songs of Johann Rudolf
Zumsteeg, who was an important Lied
composer of the time, which, his friend Joseph von Spaun reported, he
"wanted to modernize".[10] Schubert's friendship with Spaun
began at the Stadtkonvikt and endured through his lifetime. In those early
days, the more well-to-do Spaun furnished the impoverished Schubert with
manuscript paper.[9]
Meanwhile, his genius began to show in his compositions. Schubert was
occasionally permitted to lead the Stadtkonvikt's orchestra, and Salieri
decided to begin training him privately in musical composition and theory in these years.[11] 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 of 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),[12] a cantata for guitar and male
voices (D. 110, in honor of his father's birthday in 1813), and his first symphony
(D. 82).
