Franz Schubert

Classical Music / Composers Datebook: January 31

Austrian Composer Franz Schubert (1797-1828), considered greatest melodist of all-time

Franz Peter Schubert (Jan 31, 1797 – Nov 19, 1828) was an Austrian composer, born in Lichtenthal near Vienna. He wrote some six hundred beautiful Lieder (art songs), seven symphonies including the famous "Unfinished Symphony" (No. 8), liturgical music, operas, and a large body of solo piano and chamber music. He is particularly noted for his genius in original melodic and harmonic writing. 

 

Many of his melodies sound effortless: they flow from his symphonies, string quartets, sonatas. But their natural home is in his songs - that ever famous Schubert Lieder. At the end of his life, Schubert wrote a collection of 14 songs: Schwanengesang (Swan Song), D 957, and published posthumously. 

While Schubert had a close circle of friends and associates who admired his work, wider 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. Interest in Schubert's work increased dramatically following his death.

A dramatic exploration depicting the life of Austrian composer Franz Schubert (Simon Russell Beale)
Director : Peter Webber
Producers : Mark Bentley and Nicolas Kent

+Michael Sreepuram:  It's called An Die Musik (To Music) one of Schubert's most widely performed. In English the text is:  To Music (1817).  You, lovely art, in how many grey hours, When life's mad tumult wraps around me,  Have you kindled my heart to warm love,  Have you transported me into a better world!  Often has a sigh flowing out from your harp,  A sweet, divine harmony from you,  Unlocked to me the heaven of better times, You, lovely Art,  I thank you for it!!

Effect of Wolfgang Mozart on Schubert:
Mozart Fanboy: A Guide to Schubert's symphony No. 5
 

“As from afar the magic notes of Mozart’s music still gently haunt me…Thus does our soul retain these fair impressions, which no time, no circumstances can efface, and they lighten our existence. They show us in the darkness of this life a bright, clear, lovely distance, for which we hope with confidence. O Mozart, immortal Mozart, how many, oh how endlessly many such comforting perceptions of a brighter and better life hast thou brought to our souls!” - Franz Schubert

Schubert's Ständchen, D 889 (Schubert's Serenade)

 

"Ständchen" (known in English by its first line "Hark, hark, the lark" or "Serenade"), D 889, is a lied for solo voice and piano composed by Schubert in July 1826 in the then village of Währing. It is a setting of the "Song" in act 2, scene 3 of Shakespeare's Cymbeline. The song was first published by Anton Diabelli in 1830, two year's after the composer's death. This immortal song in its original form is relatively short, and two further verses by Friedrich Reil [de] were added to Diabelli's second edition of 1832. Simply, it is a lovely melody from first note to last, written upon the inspiration of the moment, and yet characterized by absolute perfection of finish and a grace and beauty of which one never tires. 

 

It was originally composed as an alto solo and male chorus.  and was subsequently rearranged for female voices only. The circumstances of its composition as told by Schubert's biographer, Von Hellborn, are of more than ordinary interest. Von Hellborn says: "One Sunday, during the summer of 1826, Schubert with several friends was returning from Potzleinsdorf to the city, and on strolling along through Wahring, he saw his friend Tieze sitting at a table in the garden of the 'Zum Biersack.' The whole party determined on a halt in their journey. Tieze had a book lying open before him, and Schubert soon began to turn over the leaves. Suddenly he stopped, and pointing to a poem, exclaimed, 'such a delicious melody has just come into my head, if I but had a sheet of music paper with me.' Herr Doppler drew a few music lines on the back of a bill of fare, and in the midst of a genuine Sunday hubbub, with fiddlers, skittle players, and waiters running about in different directions with orders, Schubert wrote that lovely song." (Schubert's Serenade - Fischer-Dieskau, with lyrics & English translation subtitles. YouTube, uploaded by ChantYip. And here's a beautiful rendition of Schubert's Serenade by Austrian classical guitarist Johanna Beisteiner, uploaded by Attila Egerhazi. Accessed January 31, 2021.)

 

Symphony No. 8 in B minor, D. 759

Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 8 in B minor, D. 759, commonly known as the "Unfinished Symphony", is a musical composition that Schubert started in 1822 but left with only two movements—though he lived for another six years. A scherzo, nearly completed in piano score but with only two pages orchestrated, also survives.

 

Suggested Lieder:

Frühlingsglaube, (Faith in Spring), Op. 20, No. 2, D.686
 

Du bist die Ruh (You are rest), D.776
 

Auf dem Wasser zu singen (To sing on the water), D. 774

Franz Schubert's 12 Lieder,  interpreted by Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (Soprano) and Edwin Fisher (Pianist)

Ständchen (Schwanengesang) D. 957 (1828) Franz Schubert/Ludwig Rellstab -- Decca Classics performed by José Carreras, Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, Orchestre de Paris and James LevineDKW.
 

 

Suggested Song Cycle:

Franz Schubert - "Winterreise", Song Cycle for Voice & Piano, D. 911 (Op.89), 1827. Poems by Wilhelm Müller. Jonas Kaufmann, tenor, and Helmut Deutsch, klavier. Konzert vom 25.IX.2004. Uploaded by Adagietto. Accessed January 31, 2017.  

 

The Trout, Music Film of 1969 with Du Pré, Perlman, Barenboim, Mehta & Zukerman

 

'The Trout Quintet' is the popular name for the Piano Quintet in A major, D. 667, by Franz Schubert. The piano quintet was composed in 1819, when he was 22 years old; it was not published, however, until 1829, a year after his death.

Filmmaker Christopher Nupen about the film: "In 1969 five young musicians, all of them still relatively unknown to the general public - but destined to become international artists of the highest rank - came together to play Schubert's Trout Quintet in the new Queen Elizabeth Hall, on the south bank of the Thames, in London. Their names: Daniel Barenboim, ltzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Jacqueline du Pré and Zubin Mehta. The concert took place on August 30th and I guessed that it would pass into legend in time. And so the obvious thing to do was to make a film about it because film remembers our artists and their artistic personalities in a way that not one of the other media is quite able to match..."  YouTube, uploaded by allegrofilms. Accessed February 1, 2018. 

 
Suggested Listening: 

 

Ave Maria. Schubert / Leontyne Price / Herbert Von Karajan, VPO, 1961: Ave Maria - Original Vinyl LP

 

Franz Schubert - Ständchen (Serenade).  Dorotea Rácz - Cello Dmitry Samogray - Piano HGZ Concert Hall, Zagreb, Croatia. Uploaded by Rácz-Samogray Duo. Accessed January 31, 2023.

Schubert - Symphony No 8 in B minor, D 759, "Unfinished Symphony" - Jordan.  Wiener Symphoniker conducted by Philippe Jordan. Paris, November 2014. Accessed September 11, 2016.

 

Schubert's  Adagio Es-Dur Op. posth. 148 D.897 "Notturno". YouTube, uploaded by Ralph Joachim. Accessed January 31, 2016.

Schubert's Trio op. 100 - Andante con moto. Uploaded by triowanderer. Accessed September 11, 2011.

Schubert's Die Forelle (The Trout). 


And more ...

31 Things to Know about Franz Schubert. CMUSE. Accessed January 31, 2017.  

Mozart Fanboy: A Guide to Schubert's symphony No. 5.  Houston Symphony. Accessed January 31, 2018.

Radio Announcement Live, from Mutual Broadcasting System. Schubert rarities (a live radio broadcast to celebrate his 150th birthday anniversary. Accessed from YouTube, August 31, 2017.
 
Henryk Szeryng / Ingrid Haebler play Schubert Sonatinas
1. Sonatina para violín y piano en re mayor, D.384 (op.137.1)
2. Sonatina para violín y piano en la menor, D.385 (op.137.2)
3. Sonatina para violín y piano en sol menor, D.408 (op.137.3)



Video Credit:


The Double Life of Franz Schubert.  Youtube, uploaded by K. Stewart Bentley.  Accessed June 29, 2016.



Resources:

Franz Schubert.  www.mfiles.co.uk.  Accessed January 30, 2016.

Franz Schubert. en.wikipedia.org.
 

The Grove Dictionary of Music, edited by Stanley Sadie. London: Macmillan Publishers, 1994.   

(c) January 31, 2016.  Updated January 31, 2023. Tel Asiado. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.