Franz Schubert, a supremely talented German composer of the Romantic era
His works included his Lieder (or songs for solo voice with accompaniment, often piano), of which he wrote more than 500. Two examples were Der Erlkonig (The Elf King) and Gretchen am Spinnrade (Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel).
Outstanding Schubert's song cycles included Die schoene Muellerin (The Beautiful Miller Girl) and Die Winterreise (The Winter Journey).
Schubert's other works included 9 symphonies (such as the Symphony in C Major and the Symphony in B Minor [The Unfinished]), 15 string quartets, a quintet with viola, the Trout piano quintet in A, chamber works (such as the Quartet in D Minor [Death and the Maiden]), piano sonatas, and other orchestral, choral and operatic works.
Schubert is one of the first great Romantic composers. His music is noted for its lyrical melody which is underlaid by a strain of melancholy. In early days, Schubert was influenced by Beethoven, especially in his symphonies and string quintets, but he soon developed his own distinctive style.
Erlkönig - poem by Goethe, music by Schubert
Schubert's "Diaries"
"Where other people keep diaries in which they record their momentary feelings, etc, Schubert simply kept sheets of music by him and confided his changing moods to them; and his soul being steeped in music, he put down notes when another man would resort to words."
-- Robert Schumann, letter to to Friedrich Wieck, 1829
Schubert: Gretchen am Spinnrade (Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel)
Singer: Renée Fleming. Conductor: Claudio Abbado
The Life of Schubert (Musical Lives)
The Life of Schubert (Musical Lives)
Amazon Price: $27.99 (as of 01/03/2010)
Poor Schubert! The Viennese-born composer was little appreciated in his day, even by the circle of close friends who periodically sponsored programs of his songs and chamber music. Despite the fact that several of his friends were writers, none seem to have thought to record their memories of the composer until decades later. After his death at age 31, the composer was turned into a Romantic symbol, a sentimentalized ideal of the tragic genius who's life was cut short, etc. In more recent times, Schubert has been the subject of intense scholarly debates about issues like gender, which also want to idealize the composer (as gay icon). Christopher Gibbs acknowledges all these issues and provides a clearly written and frequently insightful study of the composer's life, without taking sides in any of the academic debates that have consistently misinterpreted his significance. For example, Gibbs notes that 19th century writers often said (selfishly) "Alas, we have been denied more glorious examples of Schubert's work." Instead, Gibbs suggests that the real loss was that Schubert died just before he gained the popularity his music deserved, and before he had the chance to clearly distinguish between mature works and juvenalia. You will gain a sense of Schubert as a real flesh-and-blood artist with desires and problems (he sometimes drank too much, it seems), rather than as a romanticized image of "doomed youth." A very welcome addition to the literature!
Program Notes on Famous Schubert Works
- Symphony No 8, in B Minor ("Unfinished") (Schubert)
- Schubert's Eighth Symphony is but a fragment. The first two movements are complete. There are nine bars of a Scherzo, and with them the symphony stops; and yet among all of the composer's works not one is more beautiful in ideas or more perfect in form than this. No more of it has ever been found, and no one known why Schubert abandoned it...
CLICK ON ABOVE LINK TO READ FULL NOTES ON THIS WORK - Symphony No 9, in C Major (Schubert)
- The Symphony in C, the last and culminating work of Schubert's genius, is literally his swan song. It was begun in March, 1828, and on the nineteenth on November of the same year he passed away. On the twelfth of December following his death, it was produced at the Redouten-Saal in Vienna...
CLICK ON ABOVE LINK TO READ FULL NOTES ON THIS WORK
Schubert - Ave Maria
Sung by Luciano Pavarotti
Music by Franz Schubert on CD
Schubert: Greatest Hits
Amazon Price: $7.99 (as of 01/03/2010)
Schubert: Symphonies Nos. 8 "Unfinished" & 9 "The Great"
Amazon Price: $8.99 (as of 01/03/2010)
Schubert: 24 Lieder
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Horowitz Plays Schubert Impromptu
Interesting Internet Resources on Schubert
- Franz Schubert: The Supreme Melodist
- Humanities Web exploration of the music and melodies of Schubert.
- Franz Schubert (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page)
- Original German texts and English translations for many of Schubert's songs.
- Franz Schubert
- Life and works of Franz Schubert.
Franz Schubert (painting by Wilhelm August Rieder)
Franz Schubert (article)
Schubert was born into a musically knowledgeable family, and received formal musical training through much of his childhood.
While Schubert had a close circle of friends and associates who admired his work (including his teacher Antonio Salieri, and the prominent singer Johann Michael Vogl), wide appreciation of his music during his lifetime was limited at best. He was never able to secure adequate permanent employment, and for most of his career he relied on the support of friends and family. He made some money from published works, and occasionally gave private musical instruction. In the last year of his life he began to receive wider acclaim. He died at the age of 31, apparently of complications from syphilis.
Interest in Schubert's work increased dramatically in the decades following his death. Composers like Franz Liszt, Robert Schumann and Felix Mendelssohn discovered, collected, and championed his works in the 19th century, as did musicologist Sir George Grove. Franz Schubert is now widely considered to be one of the greatest composers in the Western tradition.
Source: Wapedia
Schubert: Trout quintet - 1.Allegro vivace (Part 1)
Franz Schubert (posthumous lithograph)
Schubert - "Unfinished Symphony"
Derek Gleeson conducting
Latest News on Franz Schubert
Fetching RSS feed... please stand bySchubert -- Die schöne Müllerin (Part 1 of 8)
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone. Christoph Eschenbach, piano
Schubert -- Die schöne Müllerin, part 1/8
"Das Wandern" ("To wander"; B flat major) "Wohin?" ("Whither?"; G major) "Halt!" ("Stay!"; C major) "Danksagung an den Bach" (" "Das Wandern" ("To wander"; B flat major) "Wohin?" ("Whither?"; G major) "Halt!" ("Stay!"; C major) "Danksagung an den Bach" ("Thanks to the brook"; G major) Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone. Christoph Eschenbach, piano Die schöne Müllerin (op. 25, D. 795). Song cycle by Franz Schubert on poems by Wilhelm Müller. Filmed at the Salle Pleyel, Paris, 2 April 1992 the profile of DFD at andante.com reports: "Fischer-Dieskau ended his more than 45 years of concert activity at the beginning of 1993. He made his unannounced farewell to public performance with his participation in a gala concert at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich on December 31, 1992. Since that time he has kept himself fully occupied as a teacher, conductor, reciter and author." He was born May 28, 1925. Thus, he was just under two months from his 67th birthday when this "schöne Müllerin" was filmed. To see him sing "Der Erlkönig" in his prime, view this clip! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5B6nysheec
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Schubert: Die schöne Müllerin (Cambridge Music Handbooks)
Schubert: Die schöne Müllerin (Cambridge Music Handbooks)
Amazon Price: $24.99 (as of 01/03/2010)
This is a guide to both the music and the poetry of Schubert's much-loved song cycle, set to poems by the Prussian poet Wilhelm Muller. Composed in 1823, this work is one of the greatest masterpieces of the song repertoire. The genesis of both the poetry and the music, composed soon after Schubert discovered that he had contracted syphilis, is discussed in the first two chapters. A chapter on the poetry considers Muller's uneasy relationship to the tenets of Romanticism; the influence of Goethe, folk poems, and medieval poetry on Die schone Mullerin; and a reading of each of the poems, which are reproduced in German and in English translation. The final chapter provides commentary on each of the twenty songs in the cycle.
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- ViolinStudent ViolinStudent Sep 3, 2009 @ 12:02 am
- Good information here. Schubert was a genius. I could listen to and play his work all day every day. Thanks for all your hard work.
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