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Austrian composer, one of the founders of romanticism in music

Brief biography

Franz Peter Schubert(German: Franz Peter Schubert; January 31, 1797 - November 19, 1828, Vienna) - Austrian composer, one of the founders of romanticism in music, author of approximately 600 vocal compositions (based on words by Schiller, Goethe, Heine and others), nine symphonies, as well as a large number of chamber and solo piano works.

Schubert's works have still not lost their popularity and are among the most famous examples of classical music.

Childhood

Franz Peter Schubert was born in the suburbs of Vienna into the family of a Lichtenthal parish school teacher and an amateur musician. His father, Franz Theodor Schubert, came from a family of Moravian peasants; mother, Elisabeth Schubert (née Fitz), was the daughter of a Silesian mechanic. Of their fourteen children, nine died at an early age, and one of Franz's brothers, Ferdinand, also devoted himself to music.

Franz showed very early musical abilities. His first mentors were members of his household: his father taught him to play the violin, and his older brother Ignatz taught him to play the piano. From the age of six he studied at the parish school of Lichtenthal. From the age of seven he took organ lessons from the bandmaster of the Lichtental church. The rector of the parish church, M. Holzer, taught him to sing.

Thanks to his beautiful voice, at the age of eleven, Franz was accepted as a “singing boy” into the Viennese court chapel and into the Konvikt (boarding school). There his friends became Joseph von Spaun, Albert Stadler and Anton Holzapfel. Wenzel Ruzicka taught Schubert general bass, later Antonio Salieri took Schubert to his free training, taught counterpoint and composition (until 1816). Schubert studied not only singing, but also became acquainted with the instrumental works of Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as he was second violin in the Konvikt orchestra.

His talent as a composer soon emerged. From 1810 to 1813, Schubert wrote an opera, a symphony, piano pieces and songs.

Schubert struggled with mathematics and Latin in his studies, and in 1813 he was expelled from the choir because his voice was breaking. Schubert returned home and entered the teachers' seminary, from which he graduated in 1814. Then he got a job as a teacher at the school where his father worked (he worked at this school until 1818). In his free time from work, he composed music. He studied mainly Gluck, Mozart and Beethoven. He wrote his first independent works - the opera "Satan's Pleasure Castle" and the Mass in F major - in 1814.

Maturity

Schubert's work did not correspond to his calling, and he made attempts to establish himself as a composer. But publishers refused to publish his works. In the spring of 1816, he was denied the post of bandmaster in Laibach (now Ljubljana). Soon Joseph von Spaun introduced Schubert to the poet Franz von Schober. Schober arranged for Schubert to meet the famous baritone Johann Michael Vogl. Schubert's songs performed by Vogl began to enjoy great popularity in Viennese salons. Schubert’s first success came with Goethe’s ballad “The Forest King” (“Erlkönig”), which he set to music in 1816. In January 1818, Schubert's first composition was published - the song Erlafsee(as a supplement to the anthology edited by F. Sartori).

Among Schubert's friends were the official J. Spaun, the amateur musician A. Holzapfel, the amateur poet F. Schober, the poet J. Mayrhofer, the poet and comedian E. Bauernfeld, the artists M. Schwind and L. Kupelwieser, the composers A. Hüttenbrenner and J . Schubert, singer A. Milder-Hauptmann. They were admirers of Schubert's work and periodically provided him with financial assistance.

At the beginning of 1818, Schubert left his job at the school. In July, he moved to Želiz (now the Slovak city of Železovce) to the summer residence of Count Johann Esterházy, where he began teaching music to his daughters. In mid-November he returned to Vienna. The second time he visited Esterhazy was in 1824.

In 1823 he was elected an honorary member of the Styrian and Linz Musical Unions.

In the 1820s, Schubert began to have health problems. In December 1822 he fell ill, but after a stay in hospital in the autumn of 1823 his health improved.

Recent years

From 1826 to 1828, Schubert lived in Vienna, with the exception of a short stay in Graz. The position of vice-kapellmeister in the chapel of the imperial court, for which he applied in 1826, did not go to him, but to Joseph Weigl. On March 26, 1828, he gave his only public concert, which was a great success and brought him 800 guilders. Meanwhile, his numerous songs and piano works were published.

The composer died of typhoid fever on November 19, 1828 at the age of less than 32 years after a two-week fever. According to his last wish, Schubert was buried in the Wehring cemetery, where the year before, Beethoven, whom he idolized, was buried. An eloquent inscription is engraved on the monument: “ Music buried here a wonderful treasure, but even more wonderful hopes. Franz Schubert lies here" On January 22, 1888, his ashes, along with Beethoven's ashes, were reburied in the Central Cemetery of Vienna. Later, the famous burial site of composers and musicians was formed around their graves.

Creation

Schubert's creative heritage covers a variety of genres. He created 9 symphonies, over 25 chamber instrumental works, 21 piano sonatas, many pieces for piano for two and four hands, 10 operas, 6 masses, a number of works for choir, for vocal ensemble, and finally, more than 600 songs. During life, and that's enough long time After the composer's death, he was valued mainly as a songwriter. Only from the 19th century did researchers begin to gradually comprehend his achievements in other areas of creativity. Thanks to Schubert, the song for the first time became equal in importance to other genres. Her poetic images reflect almost the entire history of Austrian and German poetry, including some foreign authors.

Of great importance in vocal literature are the collections of Schubert’s songs based on the poems of Wilhelm Müller - “The Beautiful Miller’s Wife” and “Winter Reise”, which are, as it were, a continuation of Beethoven’s idea expressed in the collection of songs “To a Distant Beloved”. In these works Schubert showed remarkable melodic talent and a wide variety of moods; he gave accompaniment higher value, larger artistic sense The latest collection “Swan Song” is also remarkable, many of the songs from which have gained worldwide fame.

Schubert's musical gift opened new paths piano music. His Fantasies in C major and F minor, impromptu musical moments, sonatas are proof of the richest imagination and great harmonic courage. In chamber and symphonic music - string quartet in D minor, quintet in C major, piano quintet “Forellenquintett” (“Trout”), “ Great Symphony" in C major and "Unfinished Symphony" in B minor - Schubert demonstrates his unique and independent musical thinking, significantly different from the thinking of Beethoven, living and dominant at that time.

Of Schubert's numerous church works (masses, offertories, hymns, etc.), the Mass in E-flat major is especially distinguished by its sublime character and musical richness.

Of the operas performed at that time, Schubert most liked “The Swiss Family” by Joseph Weigl, “Medea” by Luigi Cherubini, “John of Paris” by François Adrien Boieldieu, “Cendrillon” by Izward and especially “Iphigenia in Tauris” by Gluck. Italian opera, which was in great fashion in his time, Schubert had little interest; only " Barber of Seville"and some passages from Gioachino Rossini's Othello fascinated him.

Posthumous recognition

Schubert left behind a mass of unpublished manuscripts (six masses, seven symphonies, fifteen operas, etc.). Some smaller works were published immediately after the composer's death, but manuscripts of larger works, little known to the public, remained in the bookcases and drawers of Schubert's relatives, friends and publishers. Even those closest to him did not know everything he wrote, and for many years he was recognized mainly only as the king of song. In 1838, Robert Schumann, while visiting Vienna, found a dusty manuscript of Schubert's "Great Symphony" and took it with him to Leipzig, where Felix Mendelssohn performed the work. The greatest contribution to the search and discovery of Schubert's works was made by George Grove and Arthur Sullivan, who visited Vienna in the fall of 1867. They managed to find seven symphonies, accompaniment music from the play Rosamund, several masses and operas, some chamber music, large number various fragments and songs. These discoveries led to a significant increase in interest in Schubert's work.

Franz Liszt transcribed and arranged a significant number of Schubert's works, especially songs, from 1830 to 1870. He said that Schubert was “the most poetic musician who ever lived.” For Antonin Dvořák, Schubert's symphonies were especially interesting, and Hector Berlioz and Anton Bruckner acknowledged the influence of the Great Symphony on their work.

In 1897, the publishers Breitkopf and Hertel published a scientifically verified edition of the composer's works, whose chief editor was Johannes Brahms. Twentieth-century composers such as Benjamin Britten, Richard Strauss, and George Crum were either promoters of Schubert's work or made allusions to his works in their own music. Britten, who was an excellent pianist, accompanied many of Schubert's songs and often played his solos and duets.

Unfinished Symphony

The time of creation of the symphony in B minor DV 759 (“Unfinished”) was the autumn of 1822. It was dedicated to the amateur musical society in Graz, and Schubert presented two parts of it in 1824.

The manuscript was kept for more than 40 years by Schubert's friend Anselm Hüttenbrenner, until it was discovered by the Viennese conductor Johann Herbeck and performed in a concert in 1865. (The first two movements completed by Schubert were performed, and instead of the missing 3rd and 4th movements, the final movement from Schubert’s early Third Symphony in D major was performed.) The symphony was published in 1866 in the form of the first two movements.

The reasons why Schubert did not complete the “Unfinished” Symphony are still unclear. Apparently, he intended to bring it to its logical conclusion: the first two parts were completely finished, and the 3rd part (in the nature of a scherzo) remained in sketches. There are no sketches for the ending (or they may have been lost).

For a long time there was a point of view that the “Unfinished” symphony is a completely completed work, since the circle of images and their development exhausts itself within two parts. As a comparison, they talked about Beethoven's sonatas in two movements and that later works of this kind became common among Romantic composers. However, this version is contradicted by the fact that the first two movements completed by Schubert were written in different keys, far from each other. (Such cases have not occurred either before or after him.)

There is also an opinion that the music that became one of the intermissions to Rosamund, written in sonata form, in the key of B minor and having a dramatic character, could have been conceived as a finale. But this point of view has no documentary evidence.

Currently, there are several options for completing the “Unfinished” Symphony (in particular, the options of the English musicologist Brian Newbould and the Russian composer Anton Safronov).

Essays

• Operas - Alfonso and Estrella (1822; staged 1854, Weimar), Fierrabras (1823; staged 1897, Karlsruhe), 3 unfinished, including Count von Gleichen, and others;
• Singspiel (7), including Claudina von Villa Bella (on a text by Goethe, 1815, the first of 3 acts has been preserved; staged 1978, Vienna), The Twin Brothers (1820, Vienna), The Conspirators, or Home War (1823; staged 1861 , Frankfurt am Main);
• Music for plays - The Magic Harp (1820, Vienna), Rosamund, Princess of Cyprus (1823, ibid.);
• For soloists, choir and orchestra - 7 masses (1814-1828), German Requiem (1818), Magnificat (1815), offertories and other spiritual works, oratorios, cantatas, including Victory song Miriam (1828);
• For orchestra - symphonies (1813; 1815; 1815; Tragic, 1816; 1816; Small C major, 1818; 1821, unfinished; Unfinished, 1822; Major C major, 1828), 8 overtures;
• Chamber instrumental ensembles - 4 sonatas (1816-1817), fantasy (1827) for violin and piano; sonata for arpeggione and piano (1824), 2 piano trios (1827, 1828?), 2 string trios (1816, 1817), 14 or 16 string quartets (1811-1826), Trout piano quintet (1819?), string quintet ( 1828), octet for strings and winds (1824), Introduction and variations on the theme of the song “Withered Flowers” ​​(“Trockene Blumen” D 802) for flute and piano, etc.;
• For piano 2 hands - 23 sonatas (including 6 unfinished; 1815-1828), fantasy (Wanderer, 1822, etc.), 11 impromptu (1827-1828), 6 musical moments (1823-1828), rondo, variations and other pieces, over 400 dances (waltzes, ländlers, German dances, minuets, ecosaises, gallops, etc.; 1812-1827);
• For piano 4 hands - sonatas, overtures, fantasies, Hungarian divertissement (1824), rondos, variations, polonaises, marches.
• Vocal ensembles for men, women's voices And mixed compositions accompanied and unaccompanied;
• Songs for voice and piano (more than 600), including the cycles “The Beautiful Miller’s Wife” (1823) and “Winter Reise” (1827), the collection “Swan Song” (1828), “Ellen’s Third Song” (“Ellens dritter Gesang” , also known as Schubert’s “Ave Maria”), “The Forest King” (“Erlkönig”, based on poems by J. W. Goethe, 1816).

Catalog of works

Since relatively few of his works were published during the composer's lifetime, only a few of them have their own opus number, but even in such cases the number does not accurately reflect the time of creation of the work. In 1951, musicologist Otto Erich Deutsch published a catalog of Schubert's works, where all of the composer's works are arranged in chronological order according to the time they were written.

Memory

The asteroid (540) Rosamund, discovered in 1904, is named after Franz Schubert's musical play Rosamund.

Introduction

Franz Peter Schubert (German) Franz Peter Schubert; January 31, 1797, Lichtenthal, Austria - November 19, 1828, Vienna) - a great Austrian composer, one of the founders of romanticism in music, author of about 600 songs, nine symphonies (including the famous “Unfinished Symphony”), as well as a large number of chamber and solo piano music.

1. Biography

Franz Peter Schubert was born on January 31, 1797 in Lichtenthal (now Alsergrund), a small suburb of Vienna, in the family of a schoolteacher who played music as an amateur. His father came from a peasant family. Mother was the daughter of a mechanic. Of the fifteen children in the family, ten died at an early age. Franz showed musical talent very early. From the age of six he studied at a parish school, and his household taught him to play the violin and piano.

At the age of eleven, Franz was accepted into the Konvict - the court chapel, where, in addition to singing, he studied playing many instruments and music theory (under the guidance of Antonio Salieri). Leaving the chapel in 1813, Schubert took a job as a teacher at a school. He studied mainly Gluck, Mozart and Beethoven. He wrote his first independent works - the opera "Satan's Pleasure Castle" and the Mass in F major - in 1814.

The composer died of typhoid fever in Vienna on November 19, 1828. In accordance with his last wishes, Schubert was buried in the cemetery where Beethoven, whom he idolized, had been buried a year earlier. An eloquent inscription is engraved on the monument: “Death buried here a rich treasure, but even more wonderful hopes.” A crater on Mercury was named in honor of Schubert.

2. Creativity

In the field of song, Schubert was a successor to Beethoven. Thanks to Schubert, this genre received an artistic form, enriching the field of concert vocal music. The ballad “The Forest King,” written in 1816, brought fame to the composer. Soon after it appeared “The Wanderer”, “Praise of Tears”, “Zuleika” and others.

Of great importance in vocal literature are Schubert’s large collections of songs based on the poems of Wilhelm Müller - “The Beautiful Miller’s Wife” and “Winter Reise”, which are, as it were, a continuation of Beethoven’s idea expressed in the collection of songs “To a Distant Beloved”. In all these works Schubert showed remarkable melodic talent and a wide variety of moods; he gave the accompaniment greater meaning, greater artistic meaning. The collection “Swan Song” is also remarkable, from which many songs have gained worldwide fame (for example, “Serenade”, “Shelter”, “Fisherman”, “By the Sea”). Schubert did not try, like his predecessors, to imitate the national character, but his songs involuntarily reflected the national current, and they became the property of the country. Schubert wrote almost 600 songs. Schubert's amazing musical gift was reflected in the areas of piano and symphony. His fantasies in C major and F minor, impromptu songs, musical moments, and sonatas are proof of his rich imagination and great harmonic erudition. In the string quartet in D minor, the quintet in C major, the piano quintet "Forel" (often also called "Forellenquintett", "Trout"), the great symphony in C major and the unfinished symphony in B minor, Schubert is Beethoven's successor. In the field of opera, Schubert was not so gifted; although he wrote about 20 of them, they will add little to his fame. Among them, “Conspirators, or Home War” stands out. Certain numbers of his operas (for example, Rosamund) are quite worthy of a great musician. Of Schubert's numerous church works (masses, offertories, hymns, etc.), the Mass in E-flat major is especially distinguished by its sublime character and musical richness. Schubert's musical productivity was enormous. Beginning in 1813, he composed incessantly. In the highest circle, where Schubert was invited to accompany his vocal compositions, he was extremely reserved, was not interested in praise and even avoided it; Among his friends, on the contrary, he highly valued approval. Of the operas performed at that time, Schubert liked most of all “The Swiss Family” by Weigel, “Medea” by Cherubini, “John of Paris” by Boieldier, “Cendrillon” by Izouard and especially “Iphigenie in Tauris” by Gluck. Schubert had little interest in Italian opera, which was in great fashion in his time; only “The Barber of Seville” and some passages from Rossini’s “Othello” seduced him. According to biographers, Schubert never changed anything in his compositions, because he did not have it for that time. He did not spare his health and, in the prime of his life and talent, died at the age of 31. Last year His life, despite his poor health, was especially fruitful: it was then that he wrote a symphony in C major and a mass in E-flat major. During his lifetime he did not enjoy outstanding success. After his death, a mass of manuscripts remained that later saw the light (6 masses, 7 symphonies, 15 operas, etc.).

3. Unfinished Symphony

The exact date of creation of the symphony in B minor (Unfinished) is unknown. It was dedicated to the amateur musical society of Graz, and Schubert presented two parts of it in 1824.

The manuscript was kept for more than 40 years by Schubert's friend Anselm Hüttenbrenner, until the Viennese conductor Johann Herbeck discovered it and performed it at a concert in 1865. The symphony was published in 1866.

It remains a mystery to Schubert himself why he did not complete the “Unfinished” Symphony. It seems that he intended to bring it to its logical conclusion, the first scherzos were completely finished, and the rest were discovered in sketches.

From another point of view, the “Unfinished” symphony is a completely completed work, since the circle of images and their development exhausts itself within two parts. Thus, at one time Beethoven created sonatas in two parts, and later works of this kind became common among romantic composers.

Currently, there are several options for completing the “Unfinished” Symphony (in particular, the options of the English musicologist Brian Newbould and the Russian composer Anton Safronov).

4. Essays

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Operas- Alfonso and Estrella (1822; staged 1854, Weimar), Fierrabras (1823; staged 1897, Karlsruhe), 3 unfinished, including Count von Gleichen, etc.;

Singspiel(7), including Claudina von Villa Bella (on a text by Goethe, 1815, the first of 3 acts has been preserved; production 1978, Vienna), The Twin Brothers (1820, Vienna), The Conspirators, or Home War (1823; production 1861, Frankfurt am Main);

Music for plays- The Magic Harp (1820, Vienna), Rosamund, Princess of Cyprus (1823, ibid.);

For soloists, choir and orchestra- 7 masses (1814-28), German Requiem (1818), Magnificat (1815), offertories and other spiritual works, oratorios, cantatas, including Miriam’s Victory Song (1828);

For orchestra- symphonies (1813; 1815; 1815; Tragic, 1816; 1816; Small C major, 1818; 1821, unfinished; Unfinished, 1822; Major C major, 1828), 8 overtures;

Chamber instrumental ensembles- 4 sonatas (1816-17), fantasy (1827) for violin and piano; sonata for arpeggione and piano (1824), 2 piano trios (1827, 1828?), 2 string trios (1816, 1817), 14 or 16 string quartets (1811-26), Trout piano quintet (1819?), string quintet ( 1828), octet for strings and winds (1824), etc.;

For piano 2 hands- 23 sonatas (including 6 unfinished; 1815-28), fantasy (Wanderer, 1822, etc.), 11 impromptu (1827-28), 6 musical moments (1823-28), rondo, variations and others plays, over 400 dances (waltzes, ländlers, German dances, minuets, ecosaises, gallops, etc.; 1812-27);

For piano 4 hands- sonatas, overtures, fantasies, Hungarian divertissement (1824), rondos, variations, polonaises, marches, etc.;

Vocal ensembles for male, female voices and mixed compositions with and without accompaniment;

Songs for voice and piano, (more than 600) including the cycles “The Beautiful Miller’s Wife” (1823) and “Winter Retreat” (1827), the collection “Swan Song” (1828), “Ellen’s Third Song” (“Ellens dritter Gesang”, also known like "Ave Maria" by Schubert).

References:

V. Galatskaya. Franz Schubert // Musical literature foreign countries. Vol. III. M.: Music. 1983. p. 155

V. Galatskaya. Franz Schubert // Musical literature foreign countries. Vol. III. M.: Music. 1983. p. 212

At the age of eleven, Franz was accepted into the Konvict - the court chapel, where, in addition to singing, he studied playing many instruments and music theory (under the guidance of Antonio Salieri). Leaving the chapel in the city, Schubert got a job as a teacher at a school. He studied mainly Gluck, Mozart and Beethoven. He wrote his first independent works - the opera "Satan's Pleasure Castle" and the Mass in F major - in the city.

Why didn't Schubert complete the symphony?

Sometimes it is difficult for an ordinary person to understand the lifestyle that people lead creative people: writers, composers, artists. Their work is of a different kind than that of artisans or accountants.

Franz Schubert, an Austrian composer, lived only 31 years, but wrote more than 600 songs, many beautiful symphonies and sonatas, and a large number of choirs and chamber music. He worked very hard.

But the publishers of his music paid him little. The lack of money haunted him all the time.

The exact date when Schubert composed the Eighth Symphony in B minor (Unfinished) is unknown. It was dedicated to the musical society of Austria, and Schubert presented two parts of it in 1824.

The manuscript lay there for more than 40 years until a Viennese conductor discovered it and performed it at a concert.

It has always remained a mystery to Schubert himself why he did not complete the Eighth Symphony. It seems that he intended to bring it to its logical conclusion, the first scherzos were completely finished, and the rest were discovered in sketches. From this point of view, the “Unfinished” symphony is a completely finished work, since the circle of images and their development exhausts itself within two parts.

Essays

Octet. Schubert's autograph.

• Operas- Alfonso and Estrella (1822; staged 1854, Weimar), Fierabras (1823; staged 1897, Karlsruhe), 3 unfinished, including Count von Gleichen, etc.;
• Singspiel(7), including Claudina von Villa Bella (on a text by Goethe, 1815, the first of 3 acts has been preserved; production 1978, Vienna), The Twin Brothers (1820, Vienna), The Conspirators, or Home War (1823; production 1861, Frankfurt am Main);
• Music for plays- The Magic Harp (1820, Vienna), Rosamund, Princess of Cyprus (1823, ibid.);
• For soloists, choir and orchestra- 7 masses (1814-28), German Requiem (1818), Magnificat (1815), offertories and other wind works, oratorios, cantatas, including Miriam’s Victory Song (1828);
• For orchestra- symphonies (1813; 1815; 1815; Tragic, 1816; 1816; Small C major, 1818; 1821, unfinished; Unfinished, 1822; Major C major, 1828), 8 overtures;
• Chamber instrumental ensembles- 4 sonatas (1816-17), fantasy (1827) for violin and piano; sonata for arpeggione and piano (1824), 2 piano trios (1827, 1828?), 2 string trios (1816, 1817), 14 or 16 string quartets (1811-26), Trout piano quintet (1819?), string quintet ( 1828), octet for strings and winds (1824), etc.;
• For piano 2 hands- 23 sonatas (including 6 unfinished; 1815-28), fantasy (Wanderer, 1822, etc.), 11 impromptu (1827-28), 6 musical moments (1823-28), rondo, variations and others plays, over 400 dances (waltzes, landlers, German dances, minuets, ecosaises, gallops, etc.; 1812-27);
• For piano 4 hands- sonatas, overtures, fantasies, Hungarian divertissement (1824), rondos, variations, polonaises, marches, etc.;
• Vocal ensembles for male, female voices and mixed compositions with and without accompaniment;
• Songs for voice and piano, (more than 600) including the cycles The Beautiful Miller's Wife (1823) and Winter's Journey (1827), the collection Swan Song (1828).

See also

• Famous art critic Mikhail Kazinik about Schubert, film “Ad Libitum”

Bibliography

• Konen V. Schubert. - ed. 2nd, add. - M.: Muzgiz, 1959. - 304 p. (Most suitable for an initial introduction to the life and work of Schubert)
• Wulfius P. Franz Schubert: Essays on Life and Work. - M.: Muzyka, 1983. - 447 pp., ill., notes. (Seven essays on the life and work of Schubert. Contains the most detailed index of Schubert’s works in Russian)
• Khokhlov Yu. N. Schubert's songs: Features of style. - M.: Muzyka, 1987. - 302 pp., notes. (Under investigation creative method Sh., based on the material of his songs, gives a description of his songwriting. Contains a list of more than 130 titles of works about Schubert and his songwriting)
• Alfred Einstein: Schubert. Ein musikalisches Portrit, Pan-Verlag, Zrich 1952 (als E-Book frei verfügbar bei http://www.musikwissenschaft.tu-berlin.de/wi)
• Peter Gülke: Franz Schubert und seine Zeit, Laaber-Verlag, Laaber 2002, ISBN 3-89007-537-1
• Peter Härtling: Schubert. 12 moments musicaux und ein Roman, Dtv, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-423-13137-3
• Ernst Hilmar: Franz Schubert, Rowohlt, Reinbek 2004, ISBN 3-499-50608-4
• Kreissle, "Franz Schubert" (Vienna, 1861);
• Von Helborn, "Franz Schubert";
• Rissé, "Franz Schubert und seine Lieder" (Hannover, 1871);
• Aug. Reissmann, “Franz Schubert, sein Leben und seine Werke” (B., 1873);
• H. Barbedette, "F. Schubert, sa vie, ses oeuvres, son temps" (P., 1866);
• Mme A. Audley, “Franz Schubert, sa vie et ses oeuvres” (P., 1871).

Links

• Schubert's Catalog of Works, Unfinished Eighth Symphony (English)
• NOTES (!)118.126MB, PDF format Complete collection of Schubert's vocal works in 7 parts in the Sheet Music Archive of Boris Tarakanov
• Franz Schubert: Sheet music of works at the International Music Score Library Project

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See what "Franz Schubert" is in other dictionaries:

Franz Schubert (disambiguation)- Franz Schubert: Franz Schubert is a great Austrian composer, one of the founders of romanticism in music. (3917) Franz Schubert is a typical main belt asteroid, named after the Austrian composer Franz Schubert ... Wikipedia

(3917) Franz Schubert- This term has other meanings, see Franz Schubert (meanings). (3917) Franz Schubert Discovery Discoverer Freimut Borngen (English) Date of discovery February 15, 1961 Eponym Franz Schubert ... Wikipedia

Franz Peter Schubert- Franz Peter Schubert Lithograph by Joseph Kriehuber Date of birth January 31, 1797 Place of birth Vienna Date of death ... Wikipedia

The first romantic composer, Schubert is one of the most tragic figures in world history. musical culture. His life, short and uneventful, was cut short when he was in the prime of his strength and talent. He did not hear most of his compositions. The fate of his music was also tragic in many ways. Priceless manuscripts, partly kept by friends, partly donated to someone, and sometimes simply lost in endless travels, could not be put together for a long time. It is known that the “Unfinished” Symphony waited for its performance for more than 40 years, and the C Major Symphony - 11 years. The paths that Schubert discovered in them remained unknown for a long time.

Schubert was a younger contemporary of Beethoven. Both of them lived in Vienna, their work coincides in time: “Margarita at the Spinning Wheel” and “The Forest King” are the same age as Beethoven’s 7th and 8th symphonies, and his 9th symphony appeared simultaneously with Schubert’s “Unfinished”. Only a year and a half separates the death of Schubert from the day of Beethoven's death. Nevertheless, Schubert is a representative of a completely new generation of artists. If Beethoven's work was formed under the influence of the ideas of the Great french revolution and embodied her heroism, then Schubert’s art was born in an atmosphere of disappointment and fatigue, in an atmosphere of the harshest political reaction. It started with " Congress of Vienna» 1814-15 Representatives of the states that won the war with Napoleon then united in the so-called. "Holy Alliance", the main goal of which was the suppression of revolutionary and national liberation movements. The leading role in the “Holy Alliance” belonged to Austria, or more precisely to the head of the Austrian government, Chancellor Metternich. It was he, and not the passive, weak-willed Emperor Franz, who actually ruled the country. It was Metternich who was the true creator of the Austrian autocratic system, the essence of which was to suppress any manifestations of free thought in their infancy.

The fact that Schubert spent the entire period of his creative maturity in Metternich's Vienna greatly determined the nature of his art. In his work there are no works related to the struggle for a happy future for humanity. His music has little heroic mood. In Schubert's time there was no longer any talk about universal human problems, about the reorganization of the world. The fight for it all seemed pointless. The most important thing seemed to be to preserve honesty, spiritual purity, and the values ​​of one’s spiritual world. This is how it was born artistic movement, called « romanticism". This is an art in which for the first time the central place was occupied by an individual with his uniqueness, with his quests, doubts, and suffering. Schubert's work - dawn musical romanticism. His hero is a hero of modern times: not public figure, not a speaker, not an active transformer of reality. This is an unhappy, lonely person whose hopes for happiness are not allowed to come true.

The fundamental difference between Schubert and Beethoven was content his music, both vocal and instrumental. The ideological core of most of Schubert's works is the clash of the ideal and the real. Every time the collision of dreams and reality receives an individual interpretation, but, as a rule, the conflict does not find a final resolution. It is not the struggle in the name of establishing a positive ideal that is the focus of the composer’s attention, but the more or less clear exposure of contradictions. This is the main evidence of Schubert's belonging to romanticism. Its main topic was theme of deprivation, tragic hopelessness. This topic is not made up, it is taken from life, reflecting the fate of an entire generation, incl. and the fate of the composer himself. As already mentioned, its short creative path Schubert passed in tragic obscurity. He did not enjoy the success that was natural for a musician of this caliber.

Meanwhile, Schubert's creative legacy is enormous. According to the intensity of creativity and artistic value music, this composer can be compared to Mozart. His compositions include operas (10) and symphonies, chamber instrumental music and cantata-oratorio works. But no matter how outstanding Schubert’s contribution to the development of various musical genres was, in the history of music his name is associated primarily with the genre songs- romance(German) Lied). The song was Schubert's element, in it he achieved something unprecedented. As Asafiev noted, “What Beethoven accomplished in the field of symphony, Schubert accomplished in the field of song-romance...” IN full meeting Schubert's song series is represented by a huge number - more than 600 works. But it’s not just a matter of quantity: a qualitative leap took place in Schubert’s work, allowing the song to take a completely new place among musical genres. A genre that clearly played a role in the art of the Viennese classics minor role, became equal in importance to opera, symphony, and sonata.

Schubert's instrumental work

Schubert's instrumental work includes 9 symphonies, over 25 chamber instrumental works, 15 piano sonatas, and many pieces for piano for 2 and 4 hands. Growing up in an atmosphere of living exposure to the music of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, which was not the past, but the present for him, Schubert surprisingly quickly - by the age of 17-18 - perfectly mastered the traditions of the Viennese classical school. In his first symphonic, quartet and sonata experiments, the echoes of Mozart, in particular the 40th symphony (the favorite composition of the young Schubert), are especially noticeable. Schubert is closely related to Mozart clearly expressed lyrical way of thinking. At the same time, in many ways he acted as an heir to Haydn’s traditions, as evidenced by his closeness to Austro-German folk music. He adopted from the classics the composition of the cycle, its parts, and the basic principles of organizing the material. However, Schubert subordinated the experience of the Viennese classics to new tasks.

Romantic and classical traditions form a single alloy in his art. Schubert's dramaturgy is a consequence of a special plan in which lyrical orientation and songfulness, like main principle development. Schubert's sonata-symphonic themes are related to songs - both in their intonation structure and in their methods of presentation and development. Viennese classics, especially Haydn, often also created themes based on song melody. However, the impact of songfulness on instrumental dramaturgy as a whole was limited - developmental development among the classics is purely instrumental in nature. Schubert emphasizes in every possible way the song nature of the themes:

• often presents them in a closed reprise form, likening them to a finished song (MP of the first movement of the sonata in A major);
• develops with the help of varied repetitions, variant transformations, in contrast to the symphonic development traditional for Viennese classics (motivic isolation, sequencing, dissolution in general forms movement);
• The relationship between the parts of the sonata-symphonic cycle also becomes different - the first parts are often presented at a leisurely pace, as a result of which the traditional classical contrast between the fast and energetic first part and the slow lyrical second is significantly smoothed out.

The combination of what seemed incompatible - miniature with large-scale, song with symphonic - gave a completely new type of sonata-symphonic cycle - lyrical-romantic.

Contents of the article

SCHUBERT, FRANCE(Schubert, Franz) (1797–1828), Austrian composer. Franz Peter Schubert, the fourth son of schoolteacher and amateur cellist Franz Theodor Schubert, was born on January 31, 1797 in Lichtenthal (a suburb of Vienna). The teachers paid tribute to the amazing ease with which the boy mastered musical knowledge. Thanks to his success in learning and good command of his voice, Schubert in 1808 was admitted to the Imperial Chapel and to Konvikt, the best boarding school in Vienna. During 1810–1813 he wrote many works: an opera, a symphony, piano pieces and songs (including Hagar's complaint, Hagars Klage, 1811). A. Salieri became interested in the young musician, and from 1812 to 1817 Schubert studied composition with him.

In 1813 he entered the teachers' seminary and a year later began teaching at the school where his father served. In his spare time, he composed his first mass and set a Goethe poem to music Gretchen at the spinning wheel (Gretchen am Spinnrade, October 19, 1813) was Schubert's first masterpiece and the first great German song.

The years 1815–1816 are notable for their phenomenal productivity young genius. In 1815 he composed two symphonies, two masses, four operettas, several string quartets and about 150 songs. In 1816, two more symphonies appeared - Tragic and the frequently played Fifth in B flat major, as well as another mass and over 100 songs. Among the songs of these years - Wanderer (Der Wanderer) and famous Forest king (Erlkönig); both songs soon received universal acclaim.

Through his devoted friend J. von Spaun, Schubert met the artist M. von Schwind and the wealthy amateur poet F. von Schober, who arranged a meeting between Schubert and the famous baritone M. Vogl. Thanks to Vogl's inspired performances of Schubert's songs, they gained popularity in Viennese salons. The composer himself continued to work at the school, but eventually left the service in July 1818 and went to Zeliz, the summer residence of Count Johann Esterhazy, where he served as a music teacher. In the spring the Sixth Symphony was completed, and in Želize Schubert composed Variations on a French song, op. 10 for two pianos, dedicated to Beethoven.

Upon his return to Vienna, Schubert received an order for an operetta (singspiel) entitled Twin brothers (Die Zwillingsbrüder). It was completed by January 1819 and performed at the Kärtnertortheater in June 1820. Schubert spent the summer holidays in 1819 with Vogl in Upper Austria, where he composed the well-known piano quintet Trout(A major).

The following years turned out to be difficult for Schubert, since his character did not know how to achieve the favor of influential Viennese musical figures. Romance Forest king, published as op. 1 (apparently in 1821), marked the beginning of the regular publication of Schubert's works. In February 1822 he finished the opera Alfonso and Estrella (Alfonso and Estrella); was released in October Unfinished Symphony(B minor).

The following year was marked in Schubert's biography by the composer's illness and despondency. His opera was not staged; he composed two more - Conspirators (Die Verschworenen) And Fierrabras (Fierrabras), but they suffered the same fate. Wonderful vocal cycle Beautiful miller's wife (Die schöne Müllerin) and the music for dramatic play Rosamund (Rosamunde) indicate that Schubert did not give up. At the beginning of 1824 he worked on string quartets in A minor and D minor ( The Girl and Death) and over the octet in F major, but need forced him to once again become a teacher in the Esterhazy family. The summer stay in Zheliz had a beneficial effect on Schubert's health. There he composed two opuses for piano for four hands - a sonata Big duet (Grand Duo) in C major and Variations on an original theme A flat major. In 1825, he again went with Vogl to Upper Austria, where his friends received the warmest welcome. Songs based on the words of W. Scott (including the famous Ave Maria) and the piano sonata in D major reflect the spiritual renewal of their author.

In 1826, Schubert petitioned for the position of conductor in the court chapel, but the petition was not granted. His last string quartet (G major) and songs based on Shakespeare's words (among them Morning Serenade) appeared during a summer trip to Wehring, a village near Vienna. In Vienna itself, Schubert's songs were widely known and loved at that time; were regularly held in private homes musical evenings, dedicated exclusively to his music - the so-called. Schubertiades. In 1827, among other things, a vocal cycle was written winter journey (Winterreise) and cycles of piano pieces ( Musical moments And Impromptu).

In 1828, alarming signs of an impending illness appeared; the feverish pace of Schubert's composing activity can be interpreted both as a symptom of the illness and as a cause that accelerated the death. Masterpiece followed masterpiece: the majestic Symphony in C major, a vocal cycle published posthumously under the title Swan Song, String Quintet in C major and the last three piano sonatas. As before, publishers refused to take Schubert's major works or paid negligibly little; ill health prevented him from going by invitation to give a concert in Pest. Schubert died of typhus on November 19, 1828.

Schubert was buried next to Beethoven, who had died a year earlier. On January 22, 1888, Schubert's ashes were reburied in the Central Cemetery of Vienna.

CREATION

Vocal and choral genres.

The song-romance genre in Schubert’s interpretation represents such an original contribution to the music of the 19th century that we can talk about the emergence of a special form, which is usually designated German word Lied. Schubert's songs - and there are more than 650 of them - give many variations of this form, so that classification is hardly possible here. In principle, Lied is of two types: strophic, in which all or almost all verses are sung to the same melody; “through” (durchkomponiert), in which each verse can have its own musical solution. Field rose (Haidenröslein) is an example of the first type; Young nun (Die junge Nonne) – second.

Two factors contributed to the rise of the Lied: the ubiquity of the piano and the rise of German lyric poetry. Schubert managed to do what his predecessors could not: by composing on a specific poetic text, he created a context with his music that gave the word a new meaning. This could be a sound-depicting context - for example, the murmur of water in songs from The beautiful miller's wife or the whir of the spinning wheel in Gretchen at the spinning wheel, or an emotional context - for example, chords conveying the reverent mood of the evening, in Sunset (I'm Abendroth) or midnight terror in Double (Der Doppelgänger). Sometimes, thanks to Schubert’s special gift, a mysterious connection is established between the landscape and the mood of the poem: for example, an imitation of the monotonous hum of a barrel organ in Organ Grinder (Der Leiermann) wonderfully conveys both the severity of the winter landscape and the despair of a homeless wanderer.

German poetry, which was flourishing at that time, became an invaluable source of inspiration for Schubert. Those who question the composer’s literary taste on the grounds that among the more than six hundred poetic texts he has voiced there are very weak poems are wrong - for example, who would remember the poetic lines of romances? Trout or To the music (An die Music), if not for the genius of Schubert? But still greatest masterpieces created by the composer on the texts of his favorite poets, luminaries German literature- Goethe, Schiller, Heine. Schubert's songs - no matter who the author of the words are - are characterized by a direct impact on the listener: thanks to the genius of the composer, the listener immediately becomes not an observer, but an accomplice.

Schubert's polyphonic vocal works are somewhat less expressive than the romances. The vocal ensembles contain wonderful pages, but none of them, except perhaps the five-voice No, only the one who knew (Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt, 1819), does not capture the listener as much as romances. Unfinished spiritual opera Raising Lazarus (Lazarus) is more of an oratorio; the music here is beautiful, and the score contains anticipations of some of Wagner's techniques. (Nowadays opera Raising Lazarus was completed by the Russian composer E. Denisov and successfully performed in several countries.)

Schubert composed six masses. They also have very bright parts, but still in Schubert this genre does not rise to the heights of perfection that were achieved in the masses of Bach, Beethoven, and later Bruckner. Only in the last mass (E-flat major) musical genius Schubert overcomes his detached attitude towards Latin texts.

Orchestral music.

In his youth, Schubert led and conducted a student orchestra. At the same time, he mastered the skill of instrumentation, but life rarely gave him reasons to write for the orchestra; after six youth symphonies, only a symphony in B minor was created ( Unfinished) and Symphony in C major (1828). In the series of early symphonies, the most interesting is the fifth (in B minor), but only Schubert’s Unfinished introduces us to new world, far from classic styles the composer's predecessors. Like them, the development of themes and textures in Unfinished full of intellectual brilliance, but lacking in emotional impact Unfinished close to Schubert's songs. In the majestic C major symphony, such qualities appear even more clearly.

Music to Rosamunda contains two intermissions (B minor and B major) and lovely ballet scenes. Only the first intermission is serious in tone, but all the music Rosamunda– purely Schubertian in the freshness of its harmonic and melodic language.

Among other orchestral works, the overtures stand out. In two of them (C major and D major), written in 1817, the influence of G. Rossini is felt, and their subtitles (not given by Schubert) indicate: “in the Italian style.” Three opera overtures are also of interest: Alfonso and Estrella, Rosamund(originally intended for early composition Magic harp – Die Zauberharfe) And Fierrabras– Schubert’s most perfect example of this form.

Chamber instrumental genres.

Chamber works reveal the composer's inner world to the greatest extent; in addition, they clearly reflect the spirit of his beloved Vienna. The tenderness and poetry of Schubert’s nature are captured in the masterpieces that are commonly called the “seven stars” of his chamber heritage.

Quintet Trout– is a harbinger of a new, romantic worldview in the chamber-instrumental genre; charming melodies and cheerful rhythms brought the composition great popularity. Five years later, two string quartets appeared: the Quartet in A minor (Op. 29), perceived by many as the composer’s confession, and the Quartet The Girl and Death, where melody and poetry are combined with deep tragedy. Schubert's last quartet in G major represents the quintessence of the composer's mastery; The scale of the cycle and the complexity of the forms pose some obstacle to the popularity of this work, but the last quartet, like the Symphony in C major, are the absolute pinnacles of Schubert's work. The lyrical-dramatic character of the early quartets is also characteristic of the Quintet in C major (1828), but it cannot compare in perfection with the Quartet in G major.

The octet is a romantic interpretation of the classical suite genre. The use of additional woodwinds gives the composer a reason to compose touching melodies and create colorful modulations that embody Gemütlichkeit - the good-natured, cozy charm of old Vienna. Both Schubert trios – op. 99, B-flat major and op. 100, E-flat major – have both strong and weaknesses: structural organization and the beauty of the music of the first two parts captivate the listener, while the finales of both cycles seem too lightweight.

Piano works.

Schubert composed many pieces for piano 4 hands. Many of them (marches, polonaises, overtures) are charming music for home use. But among this part of the composer’s heritage there are also more serious works. These are the sonata Grand Duo with its symphonic scope (moreover, as already mentioned, there is no indication that the cycle was originally conceived in the form of a symphony), Variations in A-flat major with their sharp characteristic and Fantasy in F minor Op. 103 is a first-class and widely recognized essay.

About two dozen Schubert piano sonatas are second only to Beethoven's in their significance. Half a dozen youthful sonatas are of interest mainly to admirers of Schubert's art; the rest are known all over the world. The sonatas in A minor, D major and G major (1825–1826) clearly demonstrate the composer’s understanding of the sonata principle: dance and song forms are combined here with classical techniques for developing themes. In the three sonatas, which appeared shortly before the composer's death, the song and dance elements appear in a purified, sublime form; the emotional world of these works is richer than in earlier opuses. The last sonata in B-flat major is the result of Schubert’s work on the thematism and form of the sonata cycle.