Early life and education , today Nußdorfer Straße 54 Franz Peter Schubert was born in
Himmelpfortgrund (now a part of
Alsergrund), Vienna,
Archduchy of Austria, on 31 January 1797, and baptized in the Catholic Church the following day. He was the twelfth child of Franz Theodor Florian Schubert (1763–1830) and Maria Elisabeth Katharina Vietz (1756–1812). Schubert's immediate ancestors came originally from the province of
Zuckmantel in
Austrian Silesia. His father, the son of a
Moravian peasant, was a well-known parish
schoolmaster, and his school in
Lichtental (in Vienna's
ninth district) had numerous students in attendance. He came to Vienna from Zuckmantel in 1784 and was appointed schoolmaster two years later. nine died in infancy. At the age of five, Schubert began to receive regular lessons from his father, and a year later he was enrolled at his father's school. Although it is not known exactly when he received his first musical instruction, he was given piano lessons by his brother Ignaz, but they lasted for a very short time as Schubert excelled him within a few months. Ignaz later recalled: His father gave him his first
violin lessons when he was eight years old, training him to the point where he could play easy duets proficiently. Soon after, Schubert was given his first lessons outside the family by Michael Holzer, organist and choirmaster of the local parish church in Lichtental. Holzer would often assure Schubert's father, with tears in his eyes, that he had never had such a pupil as Schubert, Holzer gave the young Schubert instruction in piano and organ as well as in
figured bass. He also played
viola in the family string quartet, with his brothers
Ferdinand and Ignaz on first and second violin and his father on the
cello. Schubert wrote his earliest string quartets for this ensemble. Young Schubert first came to the attention of
Antonio Salieri, then Vienna's leading musical authority, in 1804. Salieri's previous pupils included
Beethoven. His exposure to these and other works, combined with occasional visits to the opera, laid the foundation for a broader musical education. Schubert's friendship with Spaun began at the Stadtkonvikt and lasted throughout his short life. In those early days, the financially well-off Spaun furnished the impoverished Schubert with much of his manuscript paper. In the meantime, Schubert's talent began to show in his compositions; Salieri decided to start training him privately in
music theory and composition. According to Ferdinand, the boy's first composition for piano was a
Fantasy for four hands; his first song,
Klagegesang der Hagar, was written a year later. Schubert was occasionally permitted to lead the Stadtkonvikt's orchestra, the first orchestra he wrote for. He devoted much of the rest of his time at the Stadtkonvikt to composing chamber music, several songs, piano pieces and, more ambitiously, liturgical choral works in the form of a "Salve Regina" (D 27), a "Kyrie" (D 31), in addition to the unfinished "Octet for Winds" (D 72, said to commemorate the 1812 death of his mother), the
cantata Wer ist groß? for male voices and orchestra (D 110, for his father's birthday in 1813), and his
first symphony (D 82).
Teacher at his father's school At the end of 1813, Schubert left the Stadtkonvikt and returned home for teacher training at the St Anna Normal-
hauptschule. In 1814, he entered his father's school as the teacher of the youngest pupils. For over two years, young Schubert endured severe drudgery. However, he found compensatory interests during this time. For example, Schubert continued to take private lessons in composition from Salieri, who provided him with more technical training than any of his other teachers, until they parted ways in 1817. 1814. requiring an aspiring bridegroom to show he had the means to support a family. In November 1816, after failing to gain a musical post in Laibach (now
Ljubljana,
Slovenia), Schubert sent Ms. Grob's brother Heinrich a collection of songs, which was retained by the family into the twentieth century. One of Schubert's most prolific years was 1815. He composed over 20,000 bars of music, more than half of which were for orchestra, including nine church works, a symphony, and about 140 Lieder. In that year, he was also introduced to
Anselm Hüttenbrenner and
Franz von Schober, who would become his lifelong friends. Another friend,
Johann Mayrhofer, was introduced to him by Spaun in 1815. Throughout 1815, Schubert lived at home with his father. He continued to teach at the school and give private musical instruction, earning enough money for his basic needs, including clothing, manuscript paper, pens, and ink, but with little to no money left over for luxuries. Spaun was well aware that Schubert was discontented with his life at the schoolhouse, and was concerned for Schubert's development intellectually and musically. In May 1816, Spaun moved from his apartment in Landskrongasse (in the inner city) to a new home in the
Landstraße suburb; one of the first things he did after he settled into the new home was to invite Schubert to spend a few days with him. This was probably Schubert's first visit away from home or school. Schubert's unhappiness during his years as a schoolteacher possibly showed early signs of
depression, and it is virtually certain that Schubert suffered from
cyclothymia throughout his life. In 1989, the musicologist
Maynard Solomon suggested that Schubert was erotically attracted to men, a thesis that has been heatedly debated. The musicologist and Schubert expert
Rita Steblin has said that he was "chasing women". The theory of Schubert's sexuality or "Schubert as Other" has continued to influence current scholarship. The biographer Lorraine Byrne Bodley is sceptical "...of Solomon’s "outing" of Schubert, saying this misunderstands the passionate "homosocial" friendships of 19th-century Europe."
Support from friends (1825) Significant changes occurred in Schubert's life in 1816 when Schober, a student from an affluent family, invited him to lodge at his mother's house. The proposal was particularly opportune, for Schubert had just made the unsuccessful application for the post of
Kapellmeister at Laibach, and he had also decided not to resume teaching duties at his father's school. By the end of the year, he became 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 compose every morning, and when one piece is done, I begin another." During this year, he focused on orchestral and choral works, although he also continued to write Lieder. Much of this work was unpublished, but manuscripts and copies circulated among friends and admirers. In early 1817, Schober introduced Schubert to
Johann Michael Vogl, a prominent baritone twenty years Schubert's senior. Vogl, for whom Schubert went on to write a great many songs, became one of Schubert's main proponents in Viennese musical circles. Schubert also met Joseph Hüttenbrenner (brother of Anselm), who also played a role in promoting his music. These, and an increasing circle of friends and musicians, became responsible for promoting, collecting, and, after his death, preserving his work.
Heinrich Anschütz wrote in his memoirs that Schubert was an active member of the 1817–1818
Unsinnsgesellschaft (Nonsenses Society), and various scholars agree with this. und die
Draisine'',
Leopold Kupelwieser's caricature of himself and Franz Schubert for the
Unsinnsgesellschaft (16 July 1818) In late 1817, Schubert's father gained a new position at a school in
Rossau, not far from Lichtental. Schubert rejoined his father and reluctantly took up teaching duties there. In early 1818, he applied for membership in the prestigious
Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, intending to gain admission as an accompanist, but also so that his music, especially the songs, could be performed in the evening concerts. He was rejected on the basis that he was "no amateur", although he had been employed as a schoolteacher at the time and there were professional musicians already among the society's membership. Schubert spent the summer of 1818 as a music teacher to the family of Count Johann Karl
Esterházy at their château in Zselíz (now
Želiezovce, Slovakia). The pay was relatively good, and his duties teaching piano and singing to the two daughters, Marie and
Caroline, were relatively light, allowing him to compose happily. Schubert may have written his
Marches Militaire in D major (D 733 no. 1) for Marie and Caroline, in addition to other piano duets. On his return from Zselíz, he took up residence with his friend Mayrhofer. and
Johann Michael Vogl with Schubert singing at the piano During the early 1820s, Schubert was part of a close-knit circle of artists and students who had social gatherings together that became known as
Schubertiads. Many of them took place in
Ignaz von Sonnleithner's large apartment in the Gundelhof (Brandstätte 5, Vienna). The tight circle of friends with which Schubert surrounded himself was dealt a blow in early 1820. Schubert and four of his friends were arrested by the Austrian police who, in the aftermath of the
French Revolution and
Napoleonic Wars, were on their guard against revolutionary activities and suspicious of any gathering of youth or students. One of Schubert's friends,
Johann Senn, was put on trial, imprisoned for over a year, and then permanently forbidden to enter Vienna. The other four, including Schubert, were "severely reprimanded", in part for "inveighing against [officials] with insulting and opprobrious language". While Schubert never saw Senn again, he did set some of his poems,
Selige Welt (D 743) and
Schwanengesang (D 744), to music. The incident may have played a role in a falling-out with Mayrhofer, with whom he was living at the time. Schubert, who was only 1.52 m (5 feet) tall, was nicknamed "Schwammerl" by his friends, which Gibbs describes as translating to "Tubby" or "Little Mushroom". ("Schwamm" is "mushroom" in the Austrian and Bavarian dialects of German; the ending "-erl" makes it a diminutive.) Gibbs also claims he may have occasionally drunk to excess, noting that references to Schubert's heavy drinking "... come not only in later accounts, but also in documents dating from his lifetime."
Musical maturity Schubert's compositions of 1819 and 1820 show a marked advance in development and maturity of style. He began the ultimately unfinished
oratorio Lazarus (D 689) in February 1820. This was later followed by the hymn "Der 23. Psalm" (D 706), the octet "
Gesang der Geister über den Wassern" (D 714), the
Quartettsatz in C minor (D 703), the
Wanderer Fantasy in C major for piano (D 760), and additional smaller works. In 1820, two of Schubert's operas were staged:
Die Zwillingsbrüder (D 647) appeared at the
Theater am Kärntnertor on 14 June, and
Die Zauberharfe (D 644) appeared at the
Theater an der Wien on 21 August. Hitherto, his larger compositions (apart from his masses) had been restricted to the amateur orchestra at the Gundelhof (Brandstätte 5, Vienna), a society which grew out of the quartet-parties at his home. Now he began to assume a more prominent position, addressing a wider public. The first seven opus numbers, all songs, appeared on these terms; then the commission ceased, and he began to receive parsimonious royalties. The situation improved somewhat in March 1821 when Vogl performed the song "
Erlkönig" (D 328) at a concert that was extremely well received. That month, Schubert composed a Variation on a Waltz by Diabelli (D 718), being one of the fifty composers who contributed to the
Vaterländischer Künstlerverein publication. (1825) The production of the two operas turned Schubert's attention more firmly than ever in the direction of the stage, where, for a variety of reasons, he was almost completely unsuccessful. All in all, he embarked on twenty stage projects, each of them failures that were quickly forgotten. In 1822,
Alfonso und Estrella was rejected, partly owing to its libretto, written by Schubert's friend
Franz von Schober. In 1823,
Fierrabras (D 796) was rejected:
Domenico Barbaia,
impresario for the court theatres, largely lost interest in new German opera due to the popularity of
Rossini and the Italian operatic style, and the failure of
Carl Maria von Weber's
Euryanthe.
Die Verschworenen (
The Conspirators, D 787) was prohibited by the censor, apparently because of its title, and the play
Rosamunde, Fürstin von Zypern, for which Schubert had written incidental music (D 797), was withdrawn after two nights, due to the play's poor quality. Despite his operatic failures, Schubert's reputation was growing steadily on other fronts. In 1821, the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde finally accepted him as a performing member, and the number of performances of his music grew remarkably. These performances helped Schubert's reputation grow rapidly among the members of the Gesellschaft
Last years and masterworks Despite his preoccupation with the stage and subsequent official duties, Schubert wrote a significant amount of music during these years. He completed the
Mass in A major, (D 678) in 1822, and later that year embarked suddenly on a work which, more decisively than almost any other in those years, showed his maturing personal vision, the
Symphony in B minor, known as the
Unfinished Symphony (D 759). The reason he left it unfinished – after writing two movements and sketches some way into a third – continues to be discussed and written about, and it is also remarkable that he did not mention it to any of his friends, even though, as
Brian Newbould notes, he must have felt thrilled by what he was achieving. (1846) In 1823, Schubert wrote his first large-scale
song cycle,
Die schöne Müllerin (D 795), setting poems by
Wilhelm Müller. This series, together with the later cycle
Winterreise (D 911, also setting texts of Müller in 1827) is widely considered one of the pinnacles of Lieder. He also composed the song ''
Du bist die Ruh' (You are rest and peace'', D 776) during this year. Also in that year, symptoms of
syphilis first appeared. In 1824, he composed the Variations in E minor for flute and piano based on
Trockne Blumen –a song from
Die schöne Müllerin, as well as several string quartets. He also wrote the
Sonata in A minor for
arpeggione and piano (D 821) at the time when there was a minor craze over that instrument. In the spring of that year, he wrote the
Octet in F major (D 803), a sketch for a "Grand Symphony," and in the summer went back to
Zseliz. There he became attracted to Hungarian musical idiom and wrote the
Divertissement à la hongroise in G minor for piano duet (D 818) and the
String Quartet in A minor Rosamunde (D 804). It has been said that he held a hopeless passion for his pupil, the Countess
Caroline Esterházy, but the only work that bears a dedication to her is his
Fantasia in F minor for piano duet (D 940). This dedication, however, can only be found in the first edition and not in Schubert's
autograph. His friend
Eduard von Bauernfeld penned the following verse, which appears to reference Schubert's unrequited sentiments: The setbacks of previous years were compensated by the prosperity and happiness of 1825. Publication had been moving more rapidly, the stress of poverty was for a time lightened, and in the summer he had a pleasant holiday in
Upper Austria where he was welcomed with enthusiasm. It was during this tour that he produced the seven-song cycle
Fräulein am See, based on
Walter Scott's
The Lady of the Lake, and including "
Ellens Gesang III" ("Hymn to the Virgin") (D 839, Op. 52, No. 6); the lyrics of Adam Storck's German translation of the Scott poem are now frequently replaced by the full text of the traditional Roman Catholic prayer
Hail Mary (
Ave Maria in Latin), but for which the Schubert melody is not an original setting. The original only opens with the greeting "Ave Maria", which also recurs only in the refrain. In 1825, Schubert also wrote the
Piano Sonata in A minor (D 845, first published as op. 42), and began the
Symphony in C major (
Great C major, D 944), which was completed the following year. : Oil painting, 1875, after Rieder's watercolor painting of 1825. From 1826 to 1828, Schubert resided continuously in Vienna, except for a brief visit to
Graz, Austria, in 1827. In 1826, he dedicated
a symphony (D 944, that later came to be known as the
Great C major) to the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde and received an honorarium in return. The
String Quartet No. 14 in D minor (D 810), with the variations on
Death and the Maiden, was written during the winter of 1825–1826, and first performed on 25 January 1826. Later in the year came the
String Quartet No. 15 in G major, (D 887, first published as op. 161), the
Rondo in B minor for violin and piano (D 895),
Rondeau brillant, and the
Piano Sonata in G major, (D 894, first published as
Fantasie in G, op. 78). He also produced in 1826 three
Shakespearean songs, of which "
Ständchen" (D 889) and "" (D 891) were allegedly written on the same day; the former composed at a tavern where he broke his afternoon's walk, the latter on his return to his lodging in the evening. The works of his last two years reveal a composer entering a new professional and compositional stage. Although parts of Schubert's personality were influenced by his friends, he nurtured an intensely personal dimension in solitude; it was out of this dimension that he wrote his greatest music. The death of Beethoven affected Schubert deeply, and may have motivated Schubert to reach new artistic peaks. In 1827, Schubert wrote the song cycle
Winterreise (D 911), the Fantasy in C major for violin and piano (D 934, first published as op. post. 159), the
Impromptus (D 899 and D 935, two sets of four pieces in which the latter was published posthumously) for piano, and the two piano trios (
the first in B major (D 898), and
the second in E major, (D 929); in 1828 the cantata
Mirjams Siegesgesang (
Victory Song of Miriam, D 942) on a text by
Franz Grillparzer, the
Mass in E major (D 950), the
Tantum Ergo (D 962) in the same key, the
String Quintet in C major (D 956), the second "Benedictus" to the
Mass in C major (D 961),
the three final piano sonatas (D 958, D 959, and D 960), and the collection
13 Lieder nach Gedichten von Rellstab und Heine for voice and piano, also known as
Schwanengesang (
Swan-song, D 957). (This collection – which includes settings of words by
Heinrich Heine,
Ludwig Rellstab, and
Johann Gabriel Seidl — is not a true song cycle like
Die schöne Müllerin or
Winterreise, as its songs were collected posthumously – Schubert might not have intended it as a song cycle.) The
Great C major symphony is dated 1828, but Schubert scholars believe that it was largely written in 1825–1826 (being referred to while he was on holiday at Gastein in 1825—that work, once considered lost, is now generally seen as an early stage of his C major symphony) and was revised for prospective performance in 1828. The orchestra of the Gesellschaft reportedly read through the symphony at a rehearsal, but never scheduled a public performance of it. The reasons continue to be unknown, although the difficulty of the symphony is a possible explanation. In the last weeks of his life, he began to sketch three movements for a new
Symphony in D major (D 936A); In this work, he anticipates
Gustav Mahler's use of folksong-like harmonics and bare soundscapes. Schubert expressed the wish, were he to survive his final illness, to further develop his knowledge of harmony and counterpoint, and had actually made appointments for lessons with the counterpoint master
Simon Sechter. On 26 March 1828, the anniversary of Beethoven's death, Schubert gave, for the only time in his career, a public concert of his own works. The concert was a success popularly and financially,
Final illness and death In the midst of this creative activity, Schubert's health deteriorated. By the late 1820s, his health was failing and he confided to some friends that he feared that he was near death. In the late summer of 1828, he saw the physician Ernst Rinna, who may have confirmed Schubert's suspicions that he was ill beyond cure and likely to die soon. At the beginning of November, he again fell ill, experiencing headaches, fever, swollen joints, and vomiting. He was generally unable to retain solid food and his condition worsened. Five days before Schubert's death, his friend the violinist
Karl Holz and his string quartet visited to play for him. The last musical work he had wished to hear was Beethoven's
String Quartet No. 14; Holz commented: "The King of Harmony has sent the King of Song a friendly bidding to the crossing". Schubert died in Vienna, aged 31, on 19 November 1828, at the apartment of his brother Ferdinand. The cause of his death was officially diagnosed as typhoid fever, though other theories have been proposed, including the
tertiary stage of syphilis. The symptoms of his final illness, however, did not match those of tertiary syphilis (despite existing accounts from his friends indirectly suggesting that he had contracted the disease earlier). Six weeks before his death, he walked 68 km (42 miles) in three days, ruling out musculoskeletal syphilis. In the months before his death, he composed his last work, "
Der Hirt auf dem Felsen", making
neurosyphilis unlikely. Meningovascular syphilis is also unlikely because it presents a progressive stroke-like picture, and Schubert had no neurological manifestation until his final delirium, which started only two days before his death. Lastly, his final illness was characterized by gastrointestinal symptoms (namely vomiting). These issues all led Robert L. Rold to argue that (although he believed Schubert had syphilis), the fatal final illness was a gastrointestinal one such as
salmonella or indeed typhoid fever. Rold also pointed out that during Schubert's final illness, his close friend Schober avoided visiting him "out of fear of contagion". However, Schober had known of his earlier possible syphilis and had never avoided Schubert in the past. Eva M. Cybulska goes further and says that Schubert's syphilis is a conjecture. His multi-system signs and symptoms, she says, could point towards a number of different illness such as
leukaemia,
anaemia, or
Hashimoto's thyroiditis, and that many tell-tale signs of syphilis—
chancre, mucous plaques, rash on the thorax, pupil abnormality,
dysgraphia—were absent. She argues that the syphilis diagnosis originated with Schubert's biographer Otto Deutsch in 1907, based on the aforementioned indirect references by his friends, and uncritically repeated ever since. At his own request, Schubert was buried near the grave of Beethoven (whom he had admired all his life) in the village cemetery of
Währing on the edge of the
Vienna Woods. In 1888, both Schubert's and Beethoven's graves were moved to the
Zentralfriedhof where they are next to the later graves of
Johann Strauss II and
Johannes Brahms.
Anton Bruckner was present at both exhumations, and he reached into both coffins and held the revered skulls in his hands. The cemetery in Währing was converted into a park in 1925, called the Schubert Park, and his former grave site was marked by a bust. His epitaph, written by his friend the poet
Franz Grillparzer, reads:
Die Tonkunst begrub hier einen reichen Besitz, aber noch viel schönere Hoffnungen ("The art of music has here interred a precious treasure, but yet far fairer hopes"). ==Music==