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Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms and other 19th-century composers discovered and championed his works. Today, Schubert is considered one of the greatest composers in the history of Western classical music and his music continues to be widely performed.
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Franz Schubert was a 19th-century Austrian music composer and key figure in bridging the Classical and Romantic periods. He is noted for the melody and harmony in his songs and chamber music. He also produced several symphonies, masses, and piano works.
What was Franz Schubert’s early life like?
Franz Schubert was born on January 31, 1797, near Vienna, Austria. He was one of five children of Franz Theodor and Elisabeth Schubert. Schubert received his music education foundation from his father and his eldest brother, playing the viola and the organ and studying music theory under the instruction of a parish church organist.
What changes did Franz Schubert make to classical harmony?
Franz Schubert purposefully disavowed modulation via the smooth succession of pivot chords. He preferred to drop suddenly into unrelated, and therefore unexpected, keys, as in the transition from C major to E minor in the opening movement of his Symphony No. 9 in C Major, which he began in 1825.
What are some of Franz Schubert’s most famous compositions?
Schubert’s father, Franz Theodor Schubert, was a schoolmaster; his mother, Elisabeth, whose maiden name was Vietz, was in domestic service at the time of her marriage. Franz was their fourth surviving son. His elder brothers were Ignaz, Karl, and Ferdinand, and there was a younger sister, Maria Theresa. The elder Franz Schubert was a man of character who had established a flourishing school. The family was musical and cultivated string quartet playing in the home, the boy Franz playing the viola. He received the foundations of his music education from his father and his brother Ignaz, continuing later with organ playing and music theory under the instruction of the parish church organist. In 1808 he won a scholarship that earned him a place in the imperial court chapel choir and an education at the Stadtkonvikt, the principal boarding school for commoners in Vienna, where his tutors were Wenzel Ruzicka, the imperial court organist, and, later, the composer Antonio Salieri, then at the height of his fame. Schubert played the violin in the students’ orchestra, was quickly promoted to leader, and in Ruzicka’s absence conducted. He also attended choir practice and, with his fellow pupils, cultivated chamber music and piano playing.
From the evidence of his school friends, Schubert was inclined to be shy and was reluctant to show his first compositions. His earliest works included a long Fantasia for Piano Duet, a song, several orchestral overtures, various pieces of chamber music, and three string quartets. An unfinished operetta on a text by August von Kotzebue, Der Spiegelritter (The Looking-glass Knight), also belongs to those years. The interest and encouragement of his friends overcame his shyness and eventually brought his work to the notice of Salieri. In 1812 Schubert’s voice broke; he left the college but continued his studies privately with Salieri for at least another three years. During this time he entered a teachers’ training college in Vienna and in the autumn of 1814 became assistant in his father’s school. Rejected for military service because of his short stature, he continued as a schoolmaster until 1818.
The numerous compositions he wrote between 1813 and 1815 are remarkable for their variety and intrinsic worth. They are the products of young genius, still short of maturity but displaying style, originality, and imagination. Besides five string quartets, there were three full-scale masses and three symphonies. His first full-length opera, Des Teufels Lustschloss (The Devil’s Palace of Desire), was finished while he was at the training college. But at this period song composition was his chief, all-absorbing interest. On October 19, 1814, he first set to music a poem by Goethe, “Gretchen am Spinnrade” (“Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel”), from Faust; it was his 30th song and in this masterpiece he created at one stroke the German lied (art song). The following year brought the composition of more than 140 songs.
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Composers & Their Music
The many unfinished fragments and sketches of songs left by Schubert provide some insight into the working of his creative mind. Clearly, the primary stimulus was melodic. The words of a poem engendered a tune. Harmony (chordal structure of a composition) and modulation (change of key) were then suggested by the contours of the melody. But the external details of the poet’s scene—natural, domestic, or mythical—prompted such wonderfully graphic images in the accompaniments as the spinning wheel, the ripple of water, or the “shimmering robe” of spring. These features were fully present in the songs of 1815. The years that followed deepened and enriched but did not revolutionize these novel departures in song. During 1815 Schubert also continued to be preoccupied with his ill-fated operas: between May and December he wrote Der vierjährige Posten (A Sentry for Four Years), Fernando, Claudine von Villa Bella, and Die Freunde von Salamanka (The Friends of Salamanca).
- Piano Quintet In A, D667 – ‘Trout’ Quintet. Schubert is at his most buoyant and delightful in his ‘Trout’ Quintet, one of his best works. By adding a double bass to the piano quartet, he not only underpinned his rhythms with a bounce, but liberated the cello as a lyric tenor: no one before or since has matched his achievement with these forces.
- Symphony No.8 In B minor, D759 – ‘Unfinished’ Symphony. Schubert’s early symphonies are breezy and Classical, barely hinting at the indelible voice of the mature composer.
- Die Schöne Müllerin, D795. The poet Wilhelm Müller’s cycle of poems about a lovelorn apprentice and the fair maid at the mill is, on the surface, a traditional tale of unrequited love.
- String Quartet No.14 In D Minor, D810 – ‘Death And The Maiden’ All Schubert’s quartets are exceptional, from the achingly beautiful Rosamunde to the short, sharp, one-movement Quartettsatz.
The complete piano sonatas of Franz Schubert, performed by a wealth of great pianists.Composer: Franz Schubert🎵 Purchase or streaming (Spotify, Apple Music,...
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Apr 2, 2014 · Franz Schubert is considered the last of the classical composers and one of the first romantic ones. Schubert's music is notable for its melody and harmony.
Learn about Franz Schubert, an Austrian romantic composer who wrote over 600 lieder and nine symphonies. Discover his top pieces, such as Piano Quintet, Symphony No.5 and Ave Maria, and explore his life and legacy.
