The life and work of Franz Schubert

Few composers accomplish so much in such a short lifetime as Franz Schubert, who died at 31 with a canon of more than 600 vocal works, seven complete symphonies (and one famously “unfinished” one), a large body of chamber music, piano music and song cycles (encompassing the beloved “Ave Maria”). Known for his richly melodic style, he was a bridge of sorts between the worlds of Classical and Romantic composers.

A few highlights of Schubert’s life

• Schubert was born in Austria in 1797 and showed rare musical talent from an early age. His father and his older brother, Ignaz, instructed him in the piano, the violin and viola before he overtook their abilities. Ignaz later said of young Franz’s violin playing, “His progress in a short period was so great that I was forced to acknowledge in him a master who had completely distanced and outstripped me, and whom I despaired of overtaking.”

• At 11, he was introduced to the works of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, inspiring him to begin composing his own music. He also studied music theory and composition with composer and music authority Antonio Salieri, who famously was well versed in prodigies, and who was among the first to recognize the breadth of the young Schubert’s talent. In 1815 alone, Schubert wrote nine church works, a symphony and about 150 songs (including eight in one day).

• In his late teenage years, inspired by the development of the piano and the plenitude of late 18th-century lyric poetry, Schubert delved into the works of such literary lions as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, reinventing the works in musical form. Schubert’s love of melody led to the composition of numerous lieder — that is, German songs of the Romantic period. Perhaps his most famous composition of these teenage years is “Erlkönig,” based on Goethe’s poem of the same name, a technically challenging piece for vocalists and instrumentalists.

• Even though he was lauded as a visionary and had many influential and supportive friends and patrons, Schubert encountered numerous failures in his 20s (a couple of operas that fared poorly and lack of interest from music publishers). He suffered serious health problems as well as financial woes throughout his 20s, but continued writing music at a ferocious pace.

• Perhaps Schubert’s greatest contribution to music was as a composer of lieder, a German song form (singular is lied) of the Romantic period. These 600 songs express every shade of human emotion, demonstrating a deep appreciation for the possibilities of the human voice.

• Schubert's first — and final — public concert on March 26, 1828, was successful enough that it allowed him to finally buy himself a piano. He was able to enjoy it only briefly, however, as he died on November 19 of that same year.

• It is said that when Ludwig van Beethoven was on his deathbed, he listened to some of Schubert's works and exclaimed, "Truly, the spark of divine genius resides in this Schubert!" Appreciation of Schubert’s music during his lifetime was limited to his small circle of Viennese admirers, but in the decades after his death, Schubert was a prime influence on such composers as Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt and Johannes Brahms.

A sampling of notable works

• “Gretchen am Spinnrade”: Composed when Schubert was 17, this work (“Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel”), set to a tale from Goethe’s Faust, is credited with creating the “art song.” Here is Renée Fleming’s interpretation.

• “Erlkönig”: The 18-year-old Schubert was said to have composed this lied in an afternoon. He revised it several times before it was first performed five years later. It was hailed at the time as a “masterpiece of musical painting,” “ingenious” and “indelible.” No other performance of Schubert's work during his lifetime would receive more attention than "Erlkönig.” Tenor Daniel Norman interprets it here.
  

• Trout Quintet : This work got its name because the fourth movement is a set of variations on an earlier Schubert song called “The Trout,” originally a warning to young women against being “caught” by “angling” young men. The music also evokes the image of the trout in water and the reaction to it being caught by a fisherman. Here is that fourth movement, played by the Schubert Ensemble.
  

• Symphony No. 8 (“Unfinished”)": This symphony was discovered more than three decades after the composer’s death, when Schubert’s friend, Anselm Huttenbrenner, revealed he had a work that Schubert had sent him 43 years earlier. The work includes two complete movements and an incomplete scherzo composed in 1822, six years before his death (so he had plenty of time to finish it, had he been so inclined). Some believe the symphony’s missing fourth movement is actually the Entr’acte from Schubert’s incidental music for the play Rosamunde. Listen to the iconic first movement, performed by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
  

  
  

• Symphony No. 9: Most Schubert devotees agree that this work deserves its nickname of the “Great Symphony.” Even Schubert knew it: In a letter written in March 1824, the composer says he was preparing to write “a grand symphony.” Composer Robert Schumann discovered the work in a chest after Schubert’s death. “The riches that lay here made me tremble with excitement,” he said. Here is the second movement, played by the Berlin Philharmonic.
  

Widespread acclaim eluded Franz Schubert during his abbreviated lifetime. But today, he is considered one of the greatest composers in the history of western classical music, and his work continues to be widely performed.