Franz Schubert

:Schubert redirects here. For other uses, see Schubert (disambiguation).

Supported by friends

As 1815 was the most-prolific period of Schubert's life, so 1816 saw the first real change in his fortunes. Somewhere about the turn of the year Spaun surprised him in the composition of Erlkönig (D.328, published as Op.1) -- Goethe's poem propped among a heap of exercise books, and the boy at white-heat of inspiration "hurling" the notes on the music-paper. A few weeks later Franz von Schober, a student of good family and some means, who had heard some of Schubert's songs at Spaun's house, came to pay a visit to the composer and proposed to carry him off from school-life and give him freedom to practice his art in peace. The proposal was particularly opportune, for Schubert had just made an unsuccessful application for the post of Kapellmeister at Laibach (now Ljubljana), and was feeling more acutely than ever the slavery of the classroom. His father's consent was readily given, and before the end of the spring he was installed as 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 write all day," he said later to an inquiring visitor, "and when I have finished one piece I begin another."

Related Topics:
1816 - Erlkönig - Ljubljana

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The works of 1816 include three ceremonial cantatas, one written for Salieri's Jubilee on June 16 (D.407/441); the "Prometheus" cantata (D.451) eight days later, for students of professor Heinrich Joseph Watteroth who paid the composer an honorarium ("the first time," said the journal, "that I have composed for money"), and one, on a foolish philanthropic libretto, for Herr Joseph Spendou "Founder and Principal of the Schoolmasters' Widows' Fund" (D.472). Of more importance are two new symphonies, No. 4 in C minor (D.417), called the "Tragic symphony", with a striking andante, No. 5 in B-flat (D.485), as bright and fresh as a symphony of Mozart: some numbers of church music, fuller and more mature than any of their predecessors, and over a hundred songs, among which are some of his finest settings of Goethe and Schiller. There is also an opera, "Die Bürgschaft" (D.435), spoiled by an illiterate libretto, but of interest as showing how continually his mind was turned towards the theatre.

Related Topics:
No. 4 in C minor - No. 5 in B-flat - Goethe - Schiller

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All this time his circle of friends was steadily widening. Mayrhofer introduced him to Johann Michael Vogl, a famous baritone, who did him good service by performing his songs in the salons of Vienna; Anselm Hüttenbrenner and his brother Joseph ranged themselves among his most devoted admirers; Joseph von Gahy, an excellent pianist, played his sonatas and fantasias; the Sonnleithners, a burgher family whose eldest son had been at the Convict, gave him free access to their home, and organized in his honor musical parties which soon assumed the name of Schubertiaden. The material needs of life were supplied without much difficulty. No doubt Schubert was entirely penniless, for he had given up teaching, he could earn nothing by public performance, and, as yet, no publisher would take his music at a gift; but his friends came to his aid with true Bohemian generosity-- one found him lodging, another found him appliances, they took their meals together and the man who had any money paid the score. Schubert was always the leader of the party, and was known by half a dozen affectionate nicknames, of which the most characteristic is kann er 'was? ("Is he able?"), his usual question when a new acquaintance was proposed.

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1818, though, like its predecessor, comparatively unfertile in composition, was in two respects a memorable year. It saw the second public performance of a work of Schubert's (the first one had been the performance of the Mass in F-major in September 1814 in Lichtental)-- an overture in the Italian style written as an avowed burlesque of Rossini, and played in all seriousness at a Jail concert on March 1. It also saw the beginning of his only official appointment, the post of music-master to the family of Count Johann von Esterhazy at Zelesz, where he spent the summer amid pleasant and congenial surroundings. The compositions of the year include a symphony in C major (D.589), a certain amount of four-hand pianoforte music for his pupils at Zelesz and a few songs, among which are Einsamkeit (D.620), Marienbild (D.623) and the Litaney. On his return to Vienna in the autumn he found that von Schober had no room for him, and took up his residence with Mayrhofer. There his life continued on its accustomed lines. Every morning he began composing as soon as he was out of bed, wrote till two o'clock, then dined and took a country walk, then returned to composition or, if the mood forsook him, to visits among his friends. He made his first public appearance as a song-writer on February 28, 1819, when the Schäfers Klagelied was sung by Jager at a Jail concert. In the summer of the same year he took a holiday and travelled with Vogl through Upper Austria. At Steyr he wrote his brilliant Piano Quintet in A (The Trout) (D.667). In the autumn he sent three of his songs to Goethe, but, so far as we know, received little acknowledgment.

Related Topics:
1818 - Rossini - Johann von Esterhazy - Zelesz - 1819 - Upper Austria - Steyr - Piano Quintet in A

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The compositions of 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, the 23rd Psalm (D.706), the Gesang der Geister (D.705/714), the Quartettsatz in C minor (D.703) and the great "Wanderer Fantasy" for piano (D.760). But of almost more biographical interest is the fact that in this year two of Schubert's operas appeared at the Kärthnerthor theatre, Die Zwillingsbrüder (D.647) on June 14, and Die Zauberharfe (D.644) on August 19. Hitherto his larger compositions (apart from Masses) had been restricted to the amateur orchestra at the Gundelhof, a society which grew out of the quartet-parties at his home. Now he began to assume a more prominent position and address a wider public. Still, however, publishers held obstinately aloof, and it was not until his friend Vogl had sung Erlkönig at a concert in the Kärnthnerthor (Feb. 8, 1821) that Anton Diabelli hesitatingly agreed to print some of his works on commission. The first seven opus numbers (all songs) appeared on these terms; then the commission ceased, and he began to receive the meagre pittances which were all that the great publishing houses ever accorded to him. Much has been written about the neglect from which he suffered during his lifetime. It was not the fault of his friends, it was only indirectly the fault of the Viennese public; the persons most to blame were the cautious intermediaries who stinted and hindered him from publication.

Related Topics:
1820 - Quartettsatz - Anton Diabelli

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The production of his two dramatic pieces turned Schubert's attention more firmly than ever in the direction of the stage; and towards the end of 1821 he set himself on a course which for nearly three years brought him continuous mortification and disappointment. Alfonso und Estrella was refused, and so was Fierabras (D.796); Die Verschworenen (D.787) was prohibited by the censor (apparently on the ground of its title); Rosamunde (D.797) was withdrawn after two nights, owing to the badness of its libretto. Of these works the two former are written on a scale which would make their performances exceedingly difficult (Fierabras, for instance, contains over 1000 pages of manuscript score), but Die Verschworenen is a bright attractive comedy, and Rosamunde contains some of the most charming music that Schubert ever composed. In 1822 he made the acquaintance both of Weber and of Beethoven, but little came of it in either case, though Beethoven cordially acknowledged his genius. Schober was away from Vienna; new friends appeared of a less desirable character; on the whole these were the darkest years of his life.

Related Topics:
1821 - 1822 - Weber - Beethoven

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