Franz Peter Schubert ( / ˈ ʃ uː b ər t / ; German: [fʁants ˈpeːtɐ ˈʃuːbɐt] ; 31 January 1797 – 19 November 1828) was an Austrian composer from the late Classical and early Romantic periods. Even though he lived a short life, Schubert created many musical works, including more than 600 Lieder (German art songs), seven complete symphonies, sacred music, operas, incidental music, and a large collection of piano and chamber music. Some of his famous works include the songs "Gretchen am Spinnrade," "Erlkönig," and "Ave Maria"; the Trout Quintet; the Symphony No. 8 in B minor (Unfinished); the Symphony No. 9 in C major (The Great); the String Quartet No. 14 in D minor (Death and the Maiden); the String Quintet in C major; the Impromptus for solo piano; the last three piano sonatas; the Fantasia in F minor for piano four hands; the incidental music to the play Rosamunde; the song cycles Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise; and the song collection Schwanengesang.
Schubert was born in the Himmelpfortgrund suburb of Vienna. He showed a strong talent for music from a young age. His father taught him violin, and his older brother taught him piano. Schubert quickly became better than both of them. In 1808, at age eleven, he became a student at the Stadtkonvikt school, where he learned about the orchestral music of Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven. He left the school in 1813 and returned home to live with his father, where he began training to be a schoolteacher. Even so, he continued studying composition with Antonio Salieri and kept creating music regularly. In 1821, Schubert was accepted as a performing member of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, which helped his name become known in Vienna. He gave a concert of his works in March 1828, the only time he did so during his career. He died eight months later at age 31. The official cause of death was typhoid fever, but some historians believe it might have been syphilis.
While Schubert was alive, only a small group of people in Vienna appreciated his music. However, interest in his work grew greatly after his death. Composers such as Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms, and others discovered and supported his music. Today, Schubert is considered one of the greatest composers in the history of Western classical music, and his music is still widely performed.
Life and career
Franz Peter Schubert was born on January 31, 1797, in Himmelpfortgrund, which is now part of Alsergrund in Vienna, Austria. He was baptized in the Catholic Church the next day. He was the twelfth child of Franz Theodor Florian Schubert (1763–1830) and Maria Elisabeth Katharina Vietz (1756–1812). Schubert’s ancestors originally came from Zuckmantel in Austrian Silesia. His father, the son of a Moravian peasant, was a well-known schoolteacher. His school in Lichtental, Vienna, had many students. He moved to Vienna from Zuckmantel in 1784 and became a schoolmaster two years later. His mother was the daughter of a Silesian master locksmith and worked as a housemaid before marrying. Of Franz Theodor and Elisabeth’s fourteen children (one was born out of wedlock in 1783), nine died before reaching their first birthday.
At age five, Schubert began taking regular lessons from his father. A year later, he enrolled at his father’s school. It is not known exactly when he first received musical instruction, but his brother Ignaz taught him piano for a short time. Schubert quickly surpassed Ignaz’s skill. Ignaz later said that Schubert’s father gave him violin lessons when he was eight years old, training him to play easy duets well. Soon after, Schubert studied with Michael Holzer, an organist and choirmaster at the Lichtental parish church. Holzer often told Schubert’s father, with tears, that he had never had a pupil like Schubert. Holzer taught Schubert piano, organ, and figured bass, but he claimed Schubert already knew everything he tried to teach him. Schubert also practiced on better pianos at a nearby warehouse, thanks to a friendly apprentice joiner. He played viola in a family string quartet with his brothers Ferdinand and Ignaz on violin and his father on cello. Schubert wrote his earliest string quartets for this group.
In 1804, Schubert caught the attention of Antonio Salieri, a leading musician in Vienna. Salieri had previously taught Beethoven. In November 1808, Schubert became a student at the Stadtkonvikt (Imperial Seminary) through a choir scholarship. There, he studied the music of Mozart, Haydn, Michael Haydn, and Beethoven, whom he admired. He also attended operas and was influenced by the songs of Johann Rudolf Zumsteeg. Schubert wanted to modernize Zumsteeg’s songs, as noted by his friend Joseph von Spaun. Schubert and Spaun became friends at the Stadtkonvikt, and Spaun later helped Schubert with paper for his music.
Schubert’s talent grew, and Salieri began teaching him music theory and composition. Ferdinand said Schubert’s first piano piece was a four-hand fantasy, and his first song, Klagegesang der Hagar, was written a year later. Schubert sometimes led the Stadtkonvikt’s orchestra, which was the first one he wrote for. He spent much of his time there composing chamber music, songs, piano pieces, and liturgical works like a Salve Regina (D 27), a Kyrie (D 31), and an unfinished Octet for Winds (D 72). He also wrote a cantata, Wer ist groß?, for his father’s birthday in 1813, and his first symphony (D 82).
In late 1813, Schubert left the Stadtkonvikt to train as a teacher at the St Anna Normal-Hauptschule. In 1814, he returned home to teach at his father’s school. For over two years, he endured difficult work, but he continued taking composition lessons from Salieri, who gave him more technical training than any other teacher. They parted ways in 1817.
In 1814, Schubert met Therese Grob, a young soprano and daughter of a silk manufacturer. He wrote several liturgical works for her, including a Salve Regina and a Tantum Ergo. She performed in the premiere of his Mass No. 1 (D 105) in September 1814. Schubert wanted to marry her but could not because of a law requiring men to prove they could support a family. In 1816, after failing to get a job in Laibach (now Ljubljana, Slovenia), Schubert sent a collection of songs to Therese’s brother, Heinrich, which the family kept for many years.
1815 was one of Schubert’s most productive years. He composed over 20,000 bars of music, more than half for orchestra, including nine church works, a symphony, and about 140 Lieder. That year, he met Anselm Hüttenbrenner and Franz von Schober, who became lifelong friends. Johann Mayrhofer, introduced by Spaun, also became a friend.
Throughout 1815, Schubert lived at home with his father. He taught at the school and gave private music lessons, earning money for basic needs but little for luxuries. Spaun, aware of Schubert’s unhappiness, invited him to stay with him in 1816. This was Schubert’s first time living away from home or school. His unhappiness as a teacher may have been early signs of depression, and he likely suffered from cyclothymia for his entire life.
In 1989, musicologist Maynard Solomon suggested Schubert was erotically
Music
Franz Schubert created many musical pieces during his short life, writing over 1,500 works. His style changed as he grew older. Most of his compositions were songs for one voice and piano (about 630). He also wrote many non-religious pieces for two or more voices, such as group songs, choruses, and cantatas. Schubert completed eight orchestral overtures and seven full symphonies, plus parts of six others. He did not write concertos, but he composed three works for violin and orchestra. Schubert wrote a lot of music for solo piano, including eleven completed sonatas and at least eleven more that were not fully finished. He also created many short dances, miscellaneous pieces, and works for two pianists playing together. He wrote over fifty chamber music pieces, some of which were incomplete. His religious music included seven masses, one oratorio, one requiem, and other smaller pieces. He completed eleven of his twenty stage works.
In July 1947, Austrian composer Ernst Krenek said he once believed Schubert was only good at making simple, pleasant tunes but lacked the depth of composers like Bach or Beethoven. After studying Schubert’s works closely with his friend Eduard Erdmann, Krenek changed his view. He said the piano sonatas showed Schubert was a skilled composer who cared about musical craft. Each sonata had "a great wealth of technical skill" and showed Schubert was "a thinking artist who loved to experiment." Harold C. Schonberg wrote that Schubert’s music is always very melodic, often with a sad, unique quality called "Schubertian." For example, the slow movement of the B flat Trio has a melody that suddenly shifts from A flat to E major, creating a surprising and powerful effect.
Schubert’s love for experimentation is seen in many types of music, including opera, religious music, chamber music, solo piano, and symphonies. His original use of key changes is one example. In the String Quintet (D 956), the second movement in E major has a section in F minor, a distant key. He also used unusual instruments, like the Sonata in A minor for arpeggione and piano (D 821), or the Trout Quintet (D 667), which uses piano, violin, viola, cello, and double bass instead of the usual piano and string quartet.
Schubert was influenced by Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven but focused more on developing melodies than on dramatic harmonic changes. This mix of classical structure and romantic melodies sometimes made his music feel long and flowing. Robert Schumann called Schubert’s Ninth Symphony "heavenly lengths" because it was so long.
Schubert’s most famous contributions were in the genre of the lied, or art song. Leon Plantinga said Schubert expanded the possibilities of the lied more than any composer before him. Before Schubert, lieder often repeated the same melody and used simple syllables, similar to folk songs.
Schubert’s settings of poems by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, like "Gretchen am Spinnrade" (D 118) and "Der Erlkönig" (D 328), are famous for their dramatic storytelling, use of harmony, and vivid piano music. For example, the piano in "Gretchen" shows the spinning wheel, and the piano in "Der Erlkönig" creates a fast, never-ending gallop. He used poems by many writers, including Goethe, Mayrhofer, Schiller, Heine, Rückert, and Eichendorff. Alex Ross wrote that the piano in "Gretchen am Spinnrade" uses repetitive notes to show the spinning wheel’s motion. In his later work "Der Doppelgänger," Schubert wrote a strange chord progression in B minor that feels unsettling.
Schubert’s two song cycles, Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise, based on poems by Wilhelm Müller, helped shape the lied genre and its ability to tell stories like in opera. His final song collection, Schwanengesang, published after his death, included poems by different writers, such as Rellstab, Heine, and Seidl. A newspaper at the time called Winterreise a work that "none can sing or hear without being deeply moved."
Antonín Dvořák wrote in 1894 that Schubert, whom he called one of the great composers, influenced many short musical pieces, especially lieder and piano works. He said Schubert started a new era with the lied, and other composers followed his example.
When Schubert died, about 100 of his published works were known, mostly songs, chamber music, and small piano pieces. Smaller pieces continued to be published, with opus numbers up to 173 in the 1860s. However, many of his longer works were unknown for years, stored in boxes by his family, friends, and publishers. Some of his friends did not know how much he had written, and for many years, he was mainly known as the "prince of song," though some recognized his larger works. In 1838, Robert Schumann found the manuscript of the C major Symphony (D 944) in Vienna and had it performed in Leipzig. A major discovery happened in 1867 when music historian George Grove and composer Arthur Sullivan visited Vienna and found manuscripts of six symphonies, parts of the opera Rosamunde, the Mass No. 1 in F major (D 105), and several operas, including Des Teufels Lustschloss, Fernardo, Der vierjährige Posten, and Die Freunde von Salamanka. These discoveries helped people learn about Schubert’s forgotten works.
Recognition
A feeling of sadness about the loss of music that Schubert might have created was shown in the words on his tombstone, written by Grillparzer: "Here music has buried a treasure, but even fairer hopes." Some musicians, like pianist Radu Lupu, share this view. He said, "[Schubert] is the composer for whom I am really most sorry that he died so young. … Just before he died, when he wrote his beautiful two-cello String Quintet in C, he said very modestly that he was trying to learn a little more about counterpoint, and he was perfectly right. We'll never know in what direction he was going or would have gone." However, others disagree. Robert Schumann said, "It is pointless to guess at what more [Schubert] might have achieved. He did enough; and let them be honoured who have striven and accomplished as he did," and pianist András Schiff said, "Schubert lived a very short life, but it was a very focused life. In 31 years, he lived more than other people would live in 100 years, and it is needless to speculate what could he have written had he lived another 50 years. It's irrelevant, just like with Mozart: these are the two natural geniuses of music."
The Wiener Schubertbund, one of Vienna's leading choral societies, was founded in 1863 during the Gründerzeit. The Schubertbund became a place where schoolteachers and other members of the Viennese middle class gathered, as they felt challenged during the Gründerzeit and the Panic of 1873. In 1872, the dedication of the Schubert Denkmal, a gift from Vienna's leading male chorus, the Wiener Männergesang-Verein, took place. The chorus performed at the event. The Denkmal was designed by Austrian sculptor Carl Kundmann and is located in Vienna's Stadtpark.
Schubert's chamber music remains popular. In a survey by ABC Classic FM radio in 2008, Schubert's chamber works were the most popular. The Trout Quintet ranked first, the String Quintet in C major ranked second, and the Notturno in E♭ major for piano trio ranked third. Eight more of his chamber works were among the 100 ranked pieces: both piano trios, the String Quartet No. 14 (Death and the Maiden), the String Quartet No. 15, the Arpeggione Sonata, the Octet, the Fantasie in F minor for piano four-hands, and the Adagio and Rondo Concertante for piano quartet.
The New York Times' chief music critic, Anthony Tommasini, ranked Schubert as the fourth greatest composer, writing: "Schonberg calls him 'the first lyric poet of music.'"
From the 1830s through the 1870s, Franz Liszt transcribed and arranged several of Schubert's works, especially his songs. Liszt, who helped spread Schubert's music after his death, said Schubert was "the most poetic musician who ever lived." Schubert's symphonies were of special interest to Antonín Dvořák. Hector Berlioz and Anton Bruckner acknowledged the influence of the Great C Major Symphony. Robert Schumann, after seeing the manuscript of the symphony in Vienna in 1838, brought it to the attention of Mendelssohn. Mendelssohn then conducted the first performance of the symphony, though it was shortened, in Leipzig in 1839.
In the 20th century, composers like Richard Strauss, Anton Webern, Benjamin Britten, George Crumb, and Hans Zender honored Schubert in their works. Britten, an accomplished pianist, played many of Schubert's Lieder and performed piano solo and duet works. The German electronic music group Kraftwerk has a track titled "Franz Schubert" on their 1977 album Trans-Europe Express.
In 1897, the 100th anniversary of Schubert's birth was celebrated with festivals and performances. In Vienna, ten days of concerts were held, and Emperor Franz Joseph gave a speech recognizing Schubert as the creator of the art song and one of Austria's favorite sons. Karlsruhe saw the first performance of his opera Fierrabras.
In 1928, Schubert Week was held in Europe and the United States to mark the 100th anniversary of his death. Works by Schubert were performed in churches, concert halls, and on radio stations. A competition with a top prize of $10,000, sponsored by the Columbia Phonograph Company, was held for "original symphonic works presented as a tribute to the lyrical genius of Schubert, and dedicated to his memory." The winning entry was Kurt Atterberg's sixth symphony.
Schubert has appeared as a character in several films, including Schubert's Dream of Spring (1931), Gently My Songs Entreat (1933), Serenade (1940), The Great Awakening (1941)—based on a fictional story of Schubert fleeing Vienna to Hungary to avoid conscription—It's Only Love (1947), Franz Schubert (1953), Das Dreimäderlhaus (1958), and Mit meinen heißen Tränen (1986).
Schubert's life was covered in the documentary Franz Peter Schubert: The Greatest Love and the Greatest Sorrow by Christopher Nupen (1994), and in the documentary Schubert – The Wanderer by András Schiff and Mischa Scorer (1997), both produced for the BBC. "Great Performances," "Now Hear This: The Schubert Generation Series," hosted by Scott Yoo, explored commentary and performances by contemporary musicians.
Schubert's music has also been featured in many films:
- Walt Disney's Fantasia (1940): Ave Maria (D