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Three symphonies
- Besides five string quartets, there were three full-scale masses and three symphonies.
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Jan 30, 2017 · The number (and numbering) of Schubert's symphonies is still a thorny question, but we know that between the ages of 14 and 31, he attempted to write a symphony on at least 13 separate occasions. He completed eight. (Nine if you side with the argument that says the Unfinished has a singularly inappropriate nickname.)
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Franz Schubert was a 19th-century Austrian music composer and key figure in bridging the Classical and Romantic periods. He is noted for the melody and harmony in his songs and chamber music. He also produced several symphonies, masses, and piano works.
What was Franz Schubert’s early life like?
Franz Schubert was born on January 31, 1797, near Vienna, Austria. He was one of five children of Franz Theodor and Elisabeth Schubert. Schubert received his music education foundation from his father and his eldest brother, playing the viola and the organ and studying music theory under the instruction of a parish church organist.
What changes did Franz Schubert make to classical harmony?
Franz Schubert purposefully disavowed modulation via the smooth succession of pivot chords. He preferred to drop suddenly into unrelated, and therefore unexpected, keys, as in the transition from C major to E minor in the opening movement of his Symphony No. 9 in C Major, which he began in 1825.
What are some of Franz Schubert’s most famous compositions?
Schubert’s father, Franz Theodor Schubert, was a schoolmaster; his mother, Elisabeth, whose maiden name was Vietz, was in domestic service at the time of her marriage. Franz was their fourth surviving son. His elder brothers were Ignaz, Karl, and Ferdinand, and there was a younger sister, Maria Theresa. The elder Franz Schubert was a man of character who had established a flourishing school. The family was musical and cultivated string quartet playing in the home, the boy Franz playing the viola. He received the foundations of his music education from his father and his brother Ignaz, continuing later with organ playing and music theory under the instruction of the parish church organist. In 1808 he won a scholarship that earned him a place in the imperial court chapel choir and an education at the Stadtkonvikt, the principal boarding school for commoners in Vienna, where his tutors were Wenzel Ruzicka, the imperial court organist, and, later, the composer Antonio Salieri, then at the height of his fame. Schubert played the violin in the students’ orchestra, was quickly promoted to leader, and in Ruzicka’s absence conducted. He also attended choir practice and, with his fellow pupils, cultivated chamber music and piano playing.
From the evidence of his school friends, Schubert was inclined to be shy and was reluctant to show his first compositions. His earliest works included a long Fantasia for Piano Duet, a song, several orchestral overtures, various pieces of chamber music, and three string quartets. An unfinished operetta on a text by August von Kotzebue, Der Spiegelritter (The Looking-glass Knight), also belongs to those years. The interest and encouragement of his friends overcame his shyness and eventually brought his work to the notice of Salieri. In 1812 Schubert’s voice broke; he left the college but continued his studies privately with Salieri for at least another three years. During this time he entered a teachers’ training college in Vienna and in the autumn of 1814 became assistant in his father’s school. Rejected for military service because of his short stature, he continued as a schoolmaster until 1818.
The numerous compositions he wrote between 1813 and 1815 are remarkable for their variety and intrinsic worth. They are the products of young genius, still short of maturity but displaying style, originality, and imagination. Besides five string quartets, there were three full-scale masses and three symphonies. His first full-length opera, Des Teufels Lustschloss (The Devil’s Palace of Desire), was finished while he was at the training college. But at this period song composition was his chief, all-absorbing interest. On October 19, 1814, he first set to music a poem by Goethe, “Gretchen am Spinnrade” (“Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel”), from Faust; it was his 30th song and in this masterpiece he created at one stroke the German lied (art song). The following year brought the composition of more than 140 songs.
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Composers & Their Music
The many unfinished fragments and sketches of songs left by Schubert provide some insight into the working of his creative mind. Clearly, the primary stimulus was melodic. The words of a poem engendered a tune. Harmony (chordal structure of a composition) and modulation (change of key) were then suggested by the contours of the melody. But the external details of the poet’s scene—natural, domestic, or mythical—prompted such wonderfully graphic images in the accompaniments as the spinning wheel, the ripple of water, or the “shimmering robe” of spring. These features were fully present in the songs of 1815. The years that followed deepened and enriched but did not revolutionize these novel departures in song. During 1815 Schubert also continued to be preoccupied with his ill-fated operas: between May and December he wrote Der vierjährige Posten (A Sentry for Four Years), Fernando, Claudine von Villa Bella, and Die Freunde von Salamanka (The Friends of Salamanca).
Jul 7, 2023 · The most popular works by Franz Schubert include: 8 Symphonies 11 completed piano sonatas Over 600 songs Die Forelle – The Trout Piano Quintet (1819) The Wanderer Fantasy for Piano (1822) Die schöne Müllerin – The Fair Maid of the Mill song cycle (1823) Octet in F (1824) Death & the Maiden String Quartet (1824) Winterreise – Winter ...
- Mark Cartwright
- Franz Schubert's most famous piece is probably his Ninth Symphony, composed in 1828. Other popular works include the song Der Erlkönig (The Elf-Kin...
- Schubert and Beethoven did meet once, and Schubert was a torch-bearer at Beethoven's funeral.
- Franz Schubert never married.
- Franz Schubert was diagnosed with syphilis around 1823.
If there’s a second thing folk remember about Franz Schubert, it’s that he only wrote nine symphonies. But if you look carefully at the list, you’ll notice two oddities. Symphony No. 1 in D major, D 82. Symphony No. 2 in B-flat major, D 125. Symphony No. 3 in D major, D 200. Symphony No. 4 in C minor, “Tragic” D 417.
Schubert was born in 1797 and died in 1828. With the possible exception of Mozart, had any other of the great composers lived so briefly he would barely be remembered, and then only as little more than a sadly unfulfilled promise. Take Beethoven. Had he died at Schubert's tender age, he would have written only his first symphony, his first two ...
Apr 5, 2017 · April 5, 2017 by Timothy Judd. Take a moment, hook in your best pair of headphones, maybe even close your eyes, and listen to the first haunting bars of Franz Schubert’s “Unfinished” Eighth Symphony. It begins with a single, hushed melodic line in the low strings which quickly gives way to shivering violins and darkly pulsating bass ...
Franz Schubert’s symphonic oeuvre has often been neglected in comparison with his chamber and piano works and – of course – his six hundred Lieder. Today, his symphonies are generally held to be an important link between Beethoven (his elder contemporary) and Bruckner, an ardent admirer.
