Schubert, noted for harmony

Born on January 31, 1797 in Himmelpfortgrund, Austria, Franz Peter Schubert, the son of a schoolmaster, received a thorough musical education and won a scholarship to boarding school. Although he was never rich, the composer's work gained recognition and popularity, noted for bridging classical and romantic composition. He died in 1828 in Vienna, Austria.

Schubert demonstrated an early gift for music. As a child, his talents included an ability to play the piano, violin and organ. He was also an excellent singer.

Franz was the fourth surviving son of Franz Theodor Schubert, a schoolmaster, and his wife, Elisabeth, a homemaker. His family cultivated Schubert's love of music. His father and older brother, Ignaz, both instructed Schubert early in his musical life.

Scholarship

Eventually, Schubert enrolled at the Stadtkonvikt, which trained young vocalists so they could one day sing at the chapel of the Imperial Court, and in 1808 he earned a scholarship that awarded him a spot in the court's chapel choir. His educators at the Stadtkonvikt included Wenzel Ruzicka, the imperial court organist, and later the esteemed composer Antonio Salieri, who lauded Schubert as a musical genius.

Schubert played the violin in the students' orchestra, was quickly promoted to leader, and conducted in Ruzicka's absence. He also attended choir practice and, with his fellow pupils, practised chamber music and piano playing.

In 1812, however, Schubert's voice broke, forcing him to leave the college, though he did continue his instruction with Antonio Salieri for three more years. In 1814, under pressure from his family, Schubert enrolled at a teacher's training college in Vienna and took a job as an assistant at his father's school.

Franz Peter Schubert was among the first of the Romantics, and the composer who, more than any other, brought the art song to artistic maturity. During his short but prolific career, he produced masterpieces in nearly every genre, all characterised by rich harmonies, an expansive treatment of classical forms and a seemingly endless gift for melody. He had written more than 100 songs as well as numerous symphonic, operatic, and chamber music scores, before he reached the age of 20.

Schubert finally left his teaching position to dedicate himself completely to musical pursuits. During the summer of 1818, the young composer worked as a private music teacher to the aristocratic Esterházy family. When he left that post in the fall, Schubert lived a somewhat bohemian lifestyle, composing and spending time with a group of friends that acted as his personal support system. In 1820, Schubert was commissioned by two opera houses, the Karthnerthor Theatre and Theatre-an-der-Wein, to compose a pair of operas. He wrote Zwillingsbruden and Zauberharfe, both of which were unenthusiastically received.

Schubert failed to secure a contract with a publisher, as none were willing to take a chance on a relatively unknown composer who wrote (harmonically) untraditional music. Schubert, along with the support of his artistic friends, published his own work for a collection of roughly 100 subscribers.

These efforts, however, were financially unrewarding, and Schubert struggled to sustain himself. His work garnered little attention and contemporary composers dismissed his music as presumptuous and immature.

Reward

In 1823, Schubert was elected to the Musikverein of Graz, as an honorary member. Though this brought no financial reward and was an inconsequential appointment, Schubert relished its slight recognition, and to show his gratitude, composed his famous Unfinished Symphony.

Five years later, Schubert's music was featured at a concert at Vienna's Musikverein. His work was received quite enthusiastically, and to much critical acclaim. This marked the only time during the composer's life that he enjoyed such success. This seemed to provide Schubert with a renewed sense of optimism, and despite illness, the composer continued to produce at an incredible rate.

He began to organise a scheme to increase his artistic popularity, by continuing to evaluate his work and progress as a musician, perhaps even planning to study harmony privately. Schubert's health did not improve and he soon found himself at death's door. During the composer's last moments, he instructed his brother Ferdinand to ensure that he would be buried alongside Ludwig van Beethoven's grave.

Symphonies

Schubert revered the legendary composer, and was grateful to him, as Beethoven had praised his work after hearing a selection of songs. Schubert also highly regarded the work of both Franz Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Franz Schubert died of syphilis.

Despite his short life, Schubert produced a wealth of symphonies, operas, masses, chamber music pieces, and piano sonatas, most of which are considered standard repertoire. He is known primarily for composing hundreds of songs including Gretchen am Spinnrade, and Erlkonig. He pioneered the song cycle with such works as Die Schöne Müllerin and Die Winterreise, and greatly affected the vocal writing of both Robert Schumann and Gustav Mahler.

For a composer of over 600 mostly brief-songs, Schubert's sense of structure for orchestral works was monumental by comparison. Each of his final symphonies, piano trios, quartets, quintets, and piano sonatas, when played with all his designations for repeated sections, lasts upward of 40 to 45 minutes.

This makes his achievement with the string quartet in D Minor all the more remarkable, for the ferocious energy in Schubert's confrontation with death in this masterpiece never falters or flags. A performance of this quartet, from a composer not yet thirty years old, leaves both the performers and audience exhausted yet profoundly moved. And to think that all of this inspiration came from a song of no more than three minutes duration! (The song, Death and the Maiden, serves as the basis for the theme and variations in the second movement.)

This quartet rightly takes its place alongside the greatest of Beethoven, Mozart, and Bartok at the pinnacle of the chamber music repertoire.

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