Franz Schubert

Franz Schubert passed away at just 31 years old. Already weakened by a disease he had contracted in the early 1820s, he passed away two weeks after catching typhus. He left behind an enormous body of work: more than 600 Lieder, nine symphonies, and countless piano sonatas, masses, and chamber music pieces. Standing just over five feet tall, with a stocky build and a mass of unruly curly hair, Schubert was often nicknamed “Schwammerl,” or “the little mushroom.” But do not be fooled by this playful nickname — it belies fierce ambition and undeniable genius. Schubert was one of the first composers to attempt to make a living solely from his art. At age 19, he gave up his job as a teacher to devote himself to music, without accepting regular commissions. Consequently, his refusal to fit into the prescribed societal model meant that he would never become wealthy. Nowadays, he holds the title of “Master of the Lied” and audiences worldwide honor his work, considered by many to be the most prolific of the Romantic era and arguably in the entire history of classical music. “What is there to do after Beethoven?” he said to his friend Joseph von Spaun as a young adult, when the latter predicted a bright future for him. Little did he know that one day Beethoven himself would say that Schubert possessed “truly divine intelligence.”

Franz Schubert: the unassuming prodigy

Birth and background

January 31, 1797. Schubert was born in a Vienna suburb, in a tiny family apartment behind the famous “Red Crab” façade. As the twelfth of fourteen children, his father immersed him in music at a young age and taught him to play the violin. Given his family’s modest income, Schubert’s talent created opportunities for funding his studies. Under the tutelage of Michael Holzer, organist at the Lichtenthal church, he learned to sing and play the organ, as well as the art of basso continuo, and became the choir’s first soprano. At age eleven, his teacher ran out of material to teach him: it was time for Schubert to move to the capital.

Education and influences

At age eleven, Schubert passed the Imperial Chapel Choir entrance exam with flying colors and enrolled at the Stadtkonvikt, a renowned — albeit strict — religious boarding school. Introverted and uncomfortable at school, he lived only for composition. He quickly excelled in Lieder, fantasies, and overtures, and, by the age of fourteen, was composing quartets for his family circle. Among his teachers was Antonio Salieri, the music director of the Imperial Court at the time and famous rival of Mozart. Schubert also joined the Konvikt orchestra as a second violinist, later becoming its conductor. As part of the orchestra, he met Albert Stadler, Josef Kenner, and Joseph von Spaun, who would form the core of the future Schubert circle. At sixteen, Franz Schubert had already composed his Symphony No. 1 in D major. He hunkered down in his study and wrote day and night, often in secret, with his schoolwork suffering as a result. His father, a schoolteacher himself, looked down upon this all-consuming obsession with music and immediately sent Schubert back home to train as a teacher at the St. Anne Teacher Training College. Schubert practiced as his father’s assistant until 1816.

Early compositions, early successes

Despite his family’s lack of support for his passion, between 1813 and 1815 Schubert’s ideas were flying off the page: he composed five string quartets, three masses, three symphonies, and his first major operatic work, Des Teufels Lustschloss. But it was the Lied that spoke to him most of all. On October 19, 1814, he set “Gretchen am Spinnrade,” a poem by Goethe, to music and created the work now considered the founding keystone of the German Lied. The following year, he wrote over a hundred songs, including Erlkönig, Heidenröslein, and An die Musik. Lacking institutional recognition, one could say that Schubert became the king of networking. He would first premiere his works at informal listening parties nicknamed Schubertiades, organized by his friends. Over time, his following grew and he would perform works even before their publication, giving eager audiences a reason to go. In this way, his early successes took place in the intimate settings of his small gatherings. However, operas like Der vierjährige Posten, Fernando, Claudine von Villa Bella, and Die Freunde von Salamanka were rarely performed at the time. Schubert also struggled to establish himself in Vienna’s official musical circles, but his fame slowly grew, more thanks to his friends more than official channels.

The work of Franz Schubert: a colossal oeuvre

Song cycles

Over the course of his short life, Schubert composed more than 600 Lieder (songs). The Lied became his preferred medium and he set texts to a variety of poems, with a particular fondness for Goethe (Gretchen am Spinnrade, Erlkönig). Schubert explored the figure of the romantic and melancholic Wanderer, a wandering traveler, with his 1816 music for Der Wanderer, a poem by Schmidt von Lübeck. The wanderer theme comes back six years later in the Wanderer-Fantasie. In the 1820s, he further developed the song cycle form with Die schöne Müllerin (1823), which explores the wanderings and romantic disappointments of a young traveler, while Winterreise (1827) is a meditation on solitude and melancholy. Schwanengesang, a collection of fourteen Lieder based on poems by Rellstab, Heine, and Seidl, was published posthumously. Compiled by his publisher, this song cycle reveals the full emotional arsenal of the composer’s artistry. Remembered today as the undisputed master of the Lied, Schubert’s genius remains linked to the splendor of his vocal works.

Symphonies

Although never daring to meet him, Franz Schubert was a fervent admirer of Beethoven. Like his role model, Schubert was a victim of the curse of the Ninth Symphony, leaving the Tenth barely sketched out (it is now reconstructed from fragments). Among his nine symphonies, two stand out as absolute masterpieces: Symphony No. 8, “The Unfinished,” and Symphony No. 9, the “Great Symphony.” While it may not sound like it, both were composed during his final, tormented years. He contracted syphilis as early as 1822, and the last five years of his life were marked by successive hospitalizations, interspersed with periods of remission. The Austrian composer captured the sense of his unstable health and inner psyche in “The Unfinished.” In 1827, he was among the torchbearers in Beethoven’s funeral procession. He followed Beethoven’s fate a year later and was buried beside him, as he had wished. Unveiled shortly before his death, the legendary “Great Symphony” astonished audiences with its density, depth, and audacity. Alongside his late works, his early symphonies (Nos. 1-6) are luminous and elegant, drawing on the legacy of Haydn and Mozart, with his Fourth already displaying a dramatic tension foreshadowing the sublimity of his late masterpieces.

Chamber music

Long before his vocal or symphonic works, Schubert’s oeuvre was composed primarily of chamber music. From his youth, his family and friends regularly performed in quartets. He played the viola with his brothers and father and he played the violin at the Konvikt. Later still, he accompanied friends and relatives on the piano. This music began without serious intention before becoming the lifeblood of the Schubertiades in 1815. Among his masterpieces, the “Trout” Quintet, described by Schubert as “music for amateurs on vacation,” exemplifies this blend of lightheartedness and conviviality. From the 1820s onward, his chamber music took on a more serious tone. More intense and assertive, the “Quartettsatz” in C minor heralded his more mature works, followed by String Quartet No. 14 “Death and the Maiden” (1824) and the Quintet for Two Cellos (1825). The latter work is now heralded as the acme of quintet writing, where instruments and voices engage in a profound dialogue. As his works became more profound, chamber music for Schubert became a rare space for introspection, where he reveals the most intimate aspect of his art.

Schubert’s works on medici.tv

From his most intimate Lieder to his most grandiose symphonies, medici.tv has it all. With the same enthusiasm for Schubert as the Schubertiades, we bring you exceptional performances of his masterpieces, performed by the greatest artists. Watch his Symphony No. 9, “The Great,” with Jane Glover and the Aspen Chamber Symphony, and the Fantasy in F minor for piano four hands performed by Leif Ove Andsnes and Bertrand Chamayou in Düsseldorf. On the Lieder front, mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter lends her voice to Schubert’s poems in a magnificent production directed by Christof Loy, featuring Schwanengesang, Die schöne Müllerin, and Winterreise.