Franz Schubert

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

Teacher at his father's school

At the end of 1813 he left the Convict, and, to avoid military service, entered his father's school as teacher of the lowest class. His father had remarried in the meantime, to Anna Kleyenboeck, the daughter of a silk dealer from the suburb Gumpendorf. For over two years the young man endured the drudgery of the work, which, we are told, he performed with very indifferent success. There were, however, other interests to compensate. He received private lessons in composition from Salieri, who did more for Schubert´s training than any of his other teachers. As Salieri was one of the first composers to add the specific sonority of the Biedermeier period to Viennese church music, it is not surprising that Schubert´s early sacred works are directly linked to his teacher´s church music of these days. Also, Salieri´s great amount of songs in several languages echo in Schubert´s early song output.

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His first completed opera-- Des Teufels Lustschloss (D.84) -- and his first Mass -- in F major (D.105) -- were both written in 1814, and to the same year belong three string quartets, many smaller instrumental pieces, the first movement of the Symphony no.2 in B-flat major (D.125) and seventeen songs, which include such masterpieces as Der Taucher (D.77/111) and Gretchen am Spinnrade (D.118, published as Op.2). But even this activity was far outpaced by that of the year 1815. In this year, despite his schoolwork, his lessons with Salieri and the many distractions of Viennese life, he produced an amount of music the record of which is almost incredible. Schubert's second symphony in B-flat (D.125) was finished, and a third, in D major (D.200), added soon afterwards. The composer also completed two Masses, in G (D.167) and B-flat (D.324), the former written within six days, a new Dona Nobis for the Mass in F, a Stabat Mater and a Salve Regina (D.223).

Related Topics:
Des Teufels Lustschloss - 1814 - String quartet - Der Taucher - Gretchen am Spinnrade - 1815 - Second symphony

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Opera was represented by no less than five works, of which three were completed-- Der vierjährige Posten (D.190), Fernando (D.220) and Claudine von Villabella (D.239)-- and two, Adrast (D.137) and Die Freunde von Salamanka (D.326), apparently left unfinished. Besides these the list includes a string quartet in G minor, four sonatas and several smaller compositions for piano, and, by way of climax, 146 songs, some of which are of considerable length, and of which eight are dated Oct. 15, and seven Oct. 19.

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In December 1814 Schubert made acquaintance with the poet Johann Mayrhofer: an acquaintance which, according to his usual habit, soon ripened into a warm and intimate friendship. They were singularly unlike in temperament: Schubert frank, open and sunny, with brief fits of depression, and sudden outbursts of boisterous high spirits; Mayrhofer grim and saturnine, a silent man who regarded life chiefly as a test of endurance. The friendship, as will be seen later, was of service to Schubert in more than one way.

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