Franz Schubert was born into the family of a school teacher, and in early childhood showed exceptional musical abilities. From the age of seven, he studied playing several instruments, singing, theoretical disciplines, and sang in the Court Chapel under the guidance ofA. Salieri , who began teaching him the basics of composition. By the age of seventeen, Schubert was already the author of piano pieces, vocal miniatures, string quartets, a symphony and the opera The Devil's Castle.
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”.
However, 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, Schubert’s art was born in an atmosphere of disappointment and fatigue, in an atmosphere of the harshest political reaction. The entire period of Schubert's creative maturity takes place during a time of suppression by the authorities of all revolutionary and national liberation movements, suppression of any manifestations of free thought. Which, of course, could not affect the composer’s work and 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 main theme of his work wastheme 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. Its short creative path Schubert passed in tragic obscurity. He did not enjoy the success that was natural for a musician of this caliber.
CREATIVE HERITAGE
Meanwhile, Schubert's creative legacy is enormous. In terms of the intensity of creativity and the artistic significance of the music, this composer can be compared with 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 romance songs.
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...” Complete collection The compositions of the song series amount to 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.
All of Schubert's work is full of songs - he lives in Vienna, where German, Italian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Czech, Jewish, Hungarian, and Gypsy songs are sung on every corner. Music in Austria at that time was an absolutely everyday, living and natural phenomenon. Everyone played and sang - even in the poorest peasant houses.
AND Schubert's songs quickly spread throughout Austria in handwritten versions - to the last mountain village. Schubert himself did not distribute them - the notes with the texts were copied and given to each other by the residents of Austria.
VOCAL CREATIVITY
Schubert's songs are the key to understanding his entire work, because... The composer boldly used what he gained while working on the song in instrumental genres. In almost all of his music, Schubert relied on images and means of expression, borrowed from vocal lyrics. If we can say about Bach that he thought in terms of fugue, Beethoven thought in sonata terms, then Schubert thought"songlike".
Schubert often used his songs as material for instrumental works. But that’s not all. The song is not only a material,songfulness as a principle -This is what significantly distinguishes Schubert from his predecessors. It was through songfulness that the composer emphasized what was not the main thing in classical art - man in the aspect of his immediate personal experiences. The classical ideals of humanity are transformed into the romantic idea of a living personality “as it is.”
The forms of Schubert's songs are varied, from simple verse to through, which was new for that time. The cross-cutting song form allowed for the free flow of musical thought and detailed following of the text. Schubert wrote more than 100 songs in a continuous (ballad) form, including “The Wanderer”, “The Warrior’s Premonition” from the collection “Swan Song”, “The Last Hope” from “Winter Reise”, etc. The pinnacle of the ballad genre -"Forest King" , created in the early period of creativity, shortly after “Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel.”
Two song cycles written by the composer in the last years of his life ("Beautiful miller's wife" in 1823, "Winterreise" - in 1827), constitute one of the culminations of hiscreativity. Both are based on the words of the German romantic poet Wilhelm Müller. They have a lot in common - “Winter Reise” is, as it were, a continuation of “The Beautiful Miller’s Maid.” The common ones are:
- theme of loneliness
- the wandering motif associated with this theme
- The characters have a lot in common - timidity, shyness, slight emotional vulnerability.
- monologue character of the cycle.
After Schubert's death, wonderful songs created in the last year and a half of the composer's life were found among his manuscripts. Publishers arbitrarily combined them into one collection called “Swan Song”. This included 7 songs with lyrics by L. Relshtab, 6 songs with lyrics by G. Heine and “Pigeon Mail” with lyrics by I.G. Seidl (the very last song composed by Schubert).
INSTRUMENTAL CREATIVITY
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. Having grown up in an atmosphere of lively exposure to the music of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, by the age of 18 Schubert had 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 Mozartclearly 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 whole in his art. Schubert's dramaturgy is a consequence of a special plan in whichlyrical 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. Schubertemphasizes in every possible way the song nature of the themes:
- often presents them in a closed reprise form, likening them to a finished song;
- 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 symphony - gave a completely new type of sonata-symphonic cycle -lyrical-romantic.
The romantic symphonism created by Schubert was defined mainly in the last two symphonies - the 8th, B-minor, called “Unfinished”, and the 9th, C-major. They are completely different, opposite to each other. The epic 9th is imbued with a feeling of the all-conquering joy of being. “Unfinished” embodied the theme of deprivation and tragic hopelessness. Such sentiments, which reflected the fate of an entire generation of people, had not yet found a symphonic form of expression before Schubert. Created two years before Beethoven's 9th Symphony (in 1822), “Unfinished” marked the emergence of a new symphonic genre -lyrical-psychological.
One of the main features of the B-minor symphony concerns its cycle , consisting of only two parts. Many researchers have tried to penetrate the “mystery” of this work: did the brilliant symphony really remain unfinished? On the one hand, there is no doubt that the symphony was conceived as a 4-part cycle: its original piano sketch contained a large fragment of the 3rd movement - the scherzo. The lack of tonal balance between the movements (H minor in the 1st and E major in the 2nd) is also a strong argument in favor of the fact that the symphony was not conceived in advance as a 2-part symphony. On the other hand, Schubert had enough time if he wanted to finish the symphony: after “Unfinished” he created a large number of works, incl. 4-movement 9th symphony. There are other arguments for and against. Meanwhile, “Unfinished” has become one of the most repertoire symphonies, absolutely without giving the impression of understatement. Her plan in two parts turned out to be fully realized.
Ideological conceptsymphony reflected the tragic discord advanced person XIX century with all the surrounding reality.
PIANO CREATIVITY
Schubert's piano work was the first significant stage in the history of romantic piano music. It is distinguished by a great variety of genres, including both classical genres - piano sonatas (22, some unfinished) and variations (5), as well as romantic ones - piano miniatures (8 impromptu, 6 musical moments) and large one-movement compositions (the most famous of them is fantasy "The Wanderer"), as well as an abundance of dances, marches and 4-hand pieces.
Schubert created dances throughout his life; a huge number of them were improvised at friendly evenings (“Schubertiades”). The dominant place among them, undoubtedly, is occupied by waltz - “dance of the century” and, what is extremely important for Schubert, the dance of Vienna, which has absorbed a unique local flavor. Schubert's waltz reflected the composer's connection with Viennese life, at the same time it immeasurably rises above entertaining music, filling it with lyrical content (such poeticization of the genre anticipates the waltzes of Schumann and Chopin).
It is amazing that with a huge number of Schubert waltzes (250), it is almost impossible to single out any specific types - each is unique and individual (and this is one of the main features of a romantic miniature). The waltz significantly influenced the appearance of Schubert's works; sometimes it appears there under the guise of a minuet or scherzo (as, for example, in the trio from the 9th symphony).
Unlike large instrumental works, Schubert's waltzes found print relatively easily. They were published in series, 12,15,17 plays in each. These are very small plays in a simple 2-part form. Very famous - waltz h minor.
Along with the waltz, Schubert willingly composed marches . The vast majority of Schubert's marches are intended for piano 4 hands. The purposefulness of movement in the extreme parts of the reprise 3-part form is contrasted here with a song trio.
Schubert's achievements in the field of small instrumental forms are summed up by his famous impromptu and "musical moments" composed in late period creativity. (These titles were given by the editor during publication. The composer himself did not title his later piano pieces.)
Schubert's Impromptu
Impromptu is an instrumental piece that arose as if suddenly, in the spirit of free improvisation. Each of Schubert's impromptu works is completely unique; the principles of form are created each time anew along with an individual plan.
The most significant impromptus in terms of content and external scale (f-moll, c-moll) are written in a freely interpreted sonata form.
"Musical Moments"simpler in form, smaller in scale. These are small plays, in most cases, in the same mood. Throughout the entire work, a certain pianistic technique and a single rhythmic pattern are preserved, which is often associated with a specific everyday genre- waltz, march, ecosaise. The most popular"Musical Moment"f-minor is an example of poeticized polka.
Occupies a very special place in Schubert's work.genre of piano sonata.Beginning in 1815, the composer's work in this area proceeded continuously until the very last year of his life.
Most of Schubert's sonatas reveal lyrical content. But this is not the generalized lyrics of the Viennese classics. Like other romantics, Schubert individualizes lyrical images and imbues them with subtle psychologism. His hero is a poet and dreamer with a rich and complex inner world, with frequent changes of mood.
Schubert's sonata stands apart both in relation to most of Beethoven's sonatas, and in comparison with works of more late romantics. This is a sonata lyrical-genre , with a predominantnarrative character of development and song thematic.
The sonata genre acquires features characteristic of Schubert’s work:
- bringing together the main and secondary themes. They are built not on contrast, but on complementing each other.
- a different ratio of parts of the sonata cycle. Instead of the traditional classical contrast of a fast, energetic 1st movement and a slow, lyrical 2nd, a combination of two lyrical movements is given in moderate movement;
- dominates in sonata developmentstechnique of variation.The main themes of the exhibition in the developments retain their integrity and are rarely split into separate motifs.The tonal stability of fairly large sections is characteristic;
- Schubert's sonata reprises rarely contain significant changes;
- The original feature of Schubert's minuets and scherzos is their similar proximity to waltz.
- the finales of sonatas are usually of a lyrical or lyric-genre nature;
A striking example of a Schubert sonata is Sonata A major op.120. This is one of the composer’s most cheerful, poetic works: a bright mood dominates in all parts.
Schubert spent his whole life striving for success in theatrical genres, but his operas, for all their musical merits, are not successful enough in the theatrical genre. dramaturgically. Of all Schubert’s music directly related to the theater, only individual numbers for V. von Cesi’s play “Rosamund” (1823) gained popularity. Schubert's church compositions, with the exception of the masses As-dur (1822) and Es-dur (1828), are little known. Meanwhile, Schubert wrote for the church all his life; in his sacred music, contrary to long tradition, it is dominated by homophonic texture(polyphonic writing was not one of Schubert's strengths as a composer, and in 1828 he even intended to take a coursecounterpoint from the authoritative Viennese teacher S. Sechter). Schubert's only and also unfinished oratorio “Lazarus” is stylistically related to his operas. Among Schubert's secular choral and vocal ensemble works, pieces for amateur performance predominate. “Song of the Spirits over the Waters” for eight male voices and low strings to the words of Goethe (1820) stands out with its serious, sublime character.
Until the end of the 19th century. much of Schubert's vast legacy remained unpublished and even unperformed. Thus, the manuscript of the “Big” symphony was discovered by Schumann only in 1839 (this symphony was first performed in the same year in Leipzig under the baton ofF. Mendelssohn ). The first performance of the String Quintet took place in 1850, and the first performance of the Unfinished Symphony in 1865.
Schubert lived his life lyrical hero- “Little Man”. And every Schubert phrase, every note speaks of the greatness of this Man. Small man does the greatest things in this life. Imperceptibly, day after day, the Little Man creates eternity, no matter what it is expressed in.
Franz Peter Schubert was born on January 31, 1797 in a suburb of Vienna. His musical abilities manifested themselves quite early. He received his first music lessons at home. He was taught to play the violin by his father, and the piano by his older brother.
At the age of six, Franz Peter entered the parish school of Lichtenthal. The future composer had an amazing beautiful voice. Thanks to this, at the age of 11 he was accepted as a “singing boy” into the capital’s court chapel.
Until 1816, Schubert studied for free with A. Salieri. He learned the basics of composition and counterpoint.
His talent as a composer manifested itself already in adolescence. Studying the biography of Franz Schubert , you should know that in the period from 1810 to 1813. he created several songs, piano pieces, a symphony and an opera.
Mature years
The path to art began with Schubert’s acquaintance with baritone I.M. Foglem. He performed several songs by the aspiring composer, and they quickly gained popularity. The first serious success for the young composer came from Goethe’s ballad “The Forest King,” which he set to music.
January 1818 was marked by the publication of the musician's first composition.
The composer's short biography was eventful. He met and became friends with A. Hüttenbrenner, I. Mayrhofer, A. Milder-Hauptmann. Being devoted fans of the musician’s work, they often helped him with money.
In July 1818, Schubert left for Zheliz. His teaching experience allowed him to get a job as a music teacher for Count I. Esterhazy. In the second half of November the musician returned to Vienna.
Features of creativity
Getting to know short biography Schubert , you should know that he was primarily known as a songwriter. Musical collections based on poems by V. Muller are of great importance in vocal literature.
Songs from the composer's latest collection, “Swan Song,” have become famous throughout the world. An analysis of Schubert's work shows that he was a brave and original musician. He did not follow the road blazed by Beethoven, but chose his own path. This is especially noticeable in the piano quintet “Trout”, as well as in the B minor “Unfinished Symphony”.
Schubert left many church works. Of these, Mass No. 6 in E-flat major has gained the most popularity.
Illness and death
1823 was marked by the election of Schubert as an honorary member of the musical unions in Linz and Styria. IN summary The musician's biography states that he applied for the position of court conductor. But it went to J. Weigl.
Schubert's only public concert took place on March 26, 1828. It was a huge success and brought him a small fee. Works for piano and songs by the composer were published.
Schubert died of typhoid fever in November 1828. He was less than 32 years old. During his short life, the musician was able to do the most important thing – realize your amazing gift.
Chronological table
Other biography options
- For a long time after the death of the musician, no one could put together all his manuscripts. Some of them were lost forever.
- One of the interesting facts is that most of his works began to be published only at the end of the 20th century. In terms of the number of works created, Schubert is often compared with
"GREAT SYMPHONY" BY FRANZ SCHUBERT
Throughout his life and for quite a long time after death, he was the personification of a misunderstood genius who never achieved recognition. His music was admired only by his friends and family, and most of his works were discovered and published many years after his untimely death.
Frustrated, always needy Schubert created divine music. Not being very happy, remaining lonely and feeling isolated from the whole world, he wrote wonderful music filled with freshness. So who was this short, short-sighted, short-lived wanderer, named at birth Franz Peter Schubert?
Youngest son
The Schubert family comes from Austrian Silesia. The composer's father moved to Vienna and after a while became the director of a school in the suburbs of Lichtenthal. He married a girl from his village who worked as a cook. The family did not have enough funds, although it cannot be said that they lived in poverty. The marriage produced 14 children, of whom only five survived. The youngest of the sons was Franz Peter Schubert.
Thanks to his ability to play various instruments, as well as his dedication to music, Schubert soon received a promotion - the post of first violin. He also had to conduct the orchestra if the chief conductor was absent.
Irresistible desire
His music wanted to come out, but he kept his impulses secret. Still, it was very difficult to resist the impulse to compose. Thoughts flowed through me Franz, and he never had enough music paper to write down everything that was rushing out.
Almost all my life Schubert lived, if not in poverty, then with limited means, but he always experienced a particularly acute shortage of music paper. Already at the age of 13, he wrote an incredible amount: sonatas, masses, songs, operas, symphonies... Unfortunately, only some of these early works saw the light.
U Schubert had an amazing habit: marking notes the exact date when he started composing the work and when he finished it. It is very strange that in 1812 he wrote only one song - “Sad” - a small and not his most outstanding work. It's hard to believe that not a single song came from the composer's pen during one of the most fruitful years of his work. Maybe, Schubert was so absorbed in instrumental music that it distracted his attention from his favorite genre. But the list of instrumental and religious music written during the same year is simply huge.
Schubert's failed marriage
1813 is considered the final period of early creativity. Due to adolescence, the voice began to break, and Franz no more could sing in the court chapel. The emperor allowed him to stay at school, but the young genius no longer wanted to study. He returned home and, at his father's insistence, became a teacher's assistant at his school. He happened to work in a class for the youngest, with children who still don’t know how to do anything and quickly forget everything. This was unbearable for the young genius. He often lost his temper, correcting students with kicks and slaps. Despite his desperate efforts, they were always unhappy with him.
In this period Schubert met Teresa Grom. The manufacturer's daughter, to put it mildly, was not a beauty - whitish, with faded eyebrows, like many blondes, and with traces of smallpox on her face. She sang in the church choir, and as soon as the music began to sound, Teresa was transformed from an ugly girl into a noticeable girl, illuminated inner light. Schubert could not remain indifferent and in 1814 decided to get married. However, financial difficulties prevented him from starting a family. Schubert Teresa’s mother was not satisfied with the school teacher’s penniless salary, and she, in turn, could not go against her parents’ will. After crying, she married the pastry chef.
End of routine
Devoting myself entirely to tedious work, Schubert never for a moment stopped working on what was given to him from birth. His productivity as a composer is simply amazing. 1815 is considered the most productive year of life Schubert.
He wrote more than 100 songs, half a dozen operas and operettas, several symphonies, church music, and so on. During this time he worked a lot with Salieri. Now it’s hard to even imagine how and where he found time to compose. Many songs written during this period became the best in his work, what is even more surprising is that he sometimes wrote 5-8 songs a day.
Late 1815 – early 1816 Schubert wrote one of his best songs, “King Earl,” based on the verses of Goethe’s ballad. He read it twice and the music just poured out of him. The composer barely had time to write down the notes. One of his friends caught him in the process, and the song was performed that same evening. But after that the work lay on the table for 6 years, until didn't perform it at the concert in opera house. And only then the song received instant recognition.
A lot of works were written in 1816, although opera genre somewhat pushed aside before songs and cantatas. The cantata "Prometheus" was written to order, and for it Schubert received his first fee, 40 Austrian florins (a very small amount). This work of the composer was lost, but those who listened noted that the cantata was very good. Myself Schubert I was very pleased with this work.
Three years passed in endless self-punishment and unprecedented self-sacrifice and, finally, Schubert decided to free himself from the position that bound him. And even if this meant leaving Vienna and quarreling with his father, he was ready for anything.
Franz's new acquaintances
Franz von Schober
In December 1815, it was decided to add a music school to the regular school in Leibach. A teacher position was opened with a meager salary of only 500 Viennese florins. Schubert submits an application, and although it was not supported by a very strong recommendation from Salieri, someone else was appointed to the position, and the plan to escape from the house collapsed. However, help came from unexpected places.
Student Schober, born in Sweden and came to Germany, was so amazed by the songs Schubert, that I decided to meet the author at any cost. Seeing how the composer, absorbed in the work of a teacher's assistant, corrects the mistakes of little students, Schober decided to save the young genius from the hated vicious circle of everyday duties and offered to take one of the rooms in the apartment he was renting. That's what they did, and after some time Schubert moved in with the poet Mayrhofer, many of whose poems he later set to music. Thus began friendship and intellectual communication between the two talents. In this friendship there was a third, no less important - , famous performer Viennese operas
Schubert becomes famous
Johann Michael Vogl
Songs Franz became more and more attracted to the singer, and one day he came to him uninvited and looked at his work. Friendship Schubert With Voglem had a huge impact on young composer. Vogl helped him in choosing poems for songs, recited poems with expression so that the music written Schubert, emphasized as much as possible the ideas expressed in the poems. Schubert came to Foglu in the morning, and they either composed together or corrected what had already been written. Schubert I relied heavily on my friend’s opinion and accepted most of his comments.
The fact that not all comments improved the composer's work is evident from the manuscripts of some songs written Schubert. A young and enthusiastic genius does not always grasp the taste and needs of the public, but a practicing performer usually understands its requirements better. Johann Vogl was not exactly the proofreader the genius needed, but on the other hand, he became the one who made Schubert famous.
Vienna - the kingdom of pianos
Beginning in 1821 for three years Schubert wrote mainly dance music. At the same time, the composer was ordered to write two additional parts for Herold’s opera “The Bell, or the Devil Page,” which he took on with great pleasure, because he really wanted to write something dramatic.
Natural spread of music popularity Schubert passed through musical circles that were open to him. Vienna has earned a reputation as the center of the music world. 
In every home, the piano was an indispensable part of evening gatherings, which included much music, dancing, reading and discussion. Schubert was one of the most famous and welcome guests at the Biedermeier meetings in Vienna.
A typical Schubertiad consisted of music and entertainment, unobtrusive conversation, and banter with the guests. As a rule, it all started with singing songs Schubert, often only written and accompanied by the composer, after which Franz and his friends played the piano in duets or with cheerful vocal accompaniment. The Schubertiades were often sponsored by high-ranking officials. This was the happiest time in the composer's life.
The year 1823 was one of the most productive and musically important years of my life. Schubert. He spent it in Vienna, working tirelessly. As a result, the drama Rosamund and the operas Fierabras and Singspiel were written. It was during this period that the delightful cycle of songs “The Beautiful Miller's Woman” was written. Many of these songs were created in the hospital where he ended up due to severe illness, developed after infection with syphilis.
Fear of tomorrow
A year later, everything that happened in the composer’s life was clearly reflected in his recordings and clearly showed all the signs of depression, which was consuming him more and more. Schubert. 
Broken hopes (especially related to his operas), hopeless poverty, poor health, loneliness, pain and disappointment in love - all this led to despair.
But the most surprising thing was that this depression did not affect his performance at all. He never stops writing music, creating masterpiece after masterpiece.
In 1826 Schubert received a letter of gratitude with a hundred florins attached from the committee of the Society of Music Lovers for his tireless admiration for the composer’s works. In response to this a year later Schubert sent his Ninth Symphony, which is generally considered one of his best works. However, the Society's executors considered the work too difficult for them, and rejected it as "unsuitable for execution." It is noteworthy that the same definition was often obtained late works Beethoven. And in both cases, only subsequent generations were able to appreciate the “complexities” of these works.
The end of the road for Franz Schubert
Sometimes he was tormented by headaches, but they did not foretell anything serious. By September 1828 Schubert I felt constantly dizzy. Doctors advised a calm lifestyle and spending more time in the fresh air.
On November 3, he walked a long distance to listen to the Latin Requiem written by his brother, last piece, heard Schubert. Returning home after a 3-hour walk, he complained of exhaustion. Syphilis, which the composer had been infected with for 6 years, has entered its final stage. The circumstances of the infection are not known for certain. He was treated with mercury, which most likely was the cause of the dizziness and headaches.
the room in which Schubert died
The composer's condition deteriorated dramatically. His consciousness began to lose touch with reality. One day he began to demand that he be allowed to leave the room where he was, because he did not understand where he was and why he was here.
died in 1828, before his 32nd birthday. He was buried near Beethoven, before whom he bowed throughout his short life.
Tragically he left this world early, leaving him an invaluable legacy. He created amazing music that touches the expression of feelings and warms the soul. None of the composer's nine symphonies were performed during his lifetime. Of the six hundred songs, about two hundred were published, and of the two dozen piano sonatas, only three.
DATA
“When I want to teach him something new, I find out that he already knows it. It turns out that I’m not teaching him anything, I’m just watching him in silent delight,” said choir teacher Mikael Holzer. Despite this remark, it is absolutely certain that under his leadership Franz improved my bass playing skills, 
piano and organ.
The delightful soprano and mastery of the violin could not be forgotten by anyone who had at least once heard Franz Schubert.
On holidays Franz loved going to the theater. Most of all he liked the operas of Weigl, Cherubini, and Gluck. As a result, the boy began to write operas himself.
Schubert felt deep respect and reverence for talent. One day, after performing one of his works, he exclaimed: “I wonder if I will ever be able to write something really worthy.” To which one of his friends noted that he had already written more than one very worthy work. In response to this, Schubert said: "Sometimes I wonder who can even hope to write anything worthwhile after Beethoven?!».
Updated: April 13, 2019 by: Elena
Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828) – Austrian composer. During such a short life, he managed to compose 9 symphonies, a lot of chamber and solo music for piano, and about 600 vocal compositions. He is rightfully considered one of the founders of romanticism in music. His compositions still, two centuries later, remain among the main ones in classical music.
Childhood
His father, Franz Theodor Schubert, was an amateur musician, worked as a teacher at the Lichtenthal parish school, and had peasant origins. He was a very hardworking and respectable person, his ideas about the path in life were associated only with work, and Theodore raised his children in this spirit.
The musician’s mother is Elisabeth Schubert (maiden name Fitz). Her father was a mechanic from Silesia.
In total, fourteen children were born into the family, but the spouses buried nine of them at an early age. Franz's brother, Ferdinand Schubert, also connected his life with music.
The Schubert family loved music very much; they often hosted musical evenings, and on holidays a whole circle of amateur musicians gathered. Dad played the cello, and his sons were also taught to play various musical instruments.
Franz's talent for music was discovered at an early age. childhood. His father began to teach him to play the violin, and his older brother taught the baby to play the piano and clavier. And very soon little Franz became a permanent member of the family string quartet, he performed the viola part.
Education
At the age of six, the boy went to parish school. Here not only his amazing ear for music, but also an amazing voice. The child was taken to sing in a church choir, where he performed rather complex solo parts. The church regent, who often visited the Schubert family at musical parties, taught Franz singing, music theory and playing the organ. Soon everyone around him realized that Franz was a gifted child. Dad was especially happy about his son’s achievements.
At the age of eleven, the boy was sent to a boarding school, where singers were trained for the church, which at that time was called konvikt. Even the environment at school was conducive for Franz’s musical talents to develop.
There was a student orchestra at the school, he was immediately assigned to the first violin group, and occasionally Franz was even trusted to conduct. The repertoire in the orchestra was distinguished by its diversity, the child learned different genres of musical works in it: overtures and works for vocals, quartets and symphonies. He told his friends that Mozart’s Symphony in G minor made the greatest impression on him. And Beethoven’s works were for the child the highest example of musical works.
During this period, Franz began to compose himself, he did it with great passion, which even put music at the expense of other school subjects. Latin and mathematics were especially difficult for him. The father was alarmed by Franz’s excessive passion for music; he began to worry, knowing the path of world-famous musicians; he wanted to protect his child from such a fate. He even came up with a punishment - a ban on coming home for the weekend and holidays. But the development of the young composer’s talent was not affected by any prohibitions.
And then, as they say, everything happened by itself: in 1813, the teenager’s voice broke and he had to leave the church choir. Franz came home to his parents, where he began studying at a teachers' seminary.
Mature years
After graduating from the seminary in 1814, the guy got a job at the same parish school where his father worked. For three years, Franz worked as a teacher's assistant, teaching children subjects primary school and literacy. Only this did not weaken the love for music; the desire to create was ever stronger. And it was precisely at this time, from 1814 to 1817 (as he himself called it, during the period of school hard labor), that he created great amount musical compositions.
In 1815 alone, Franz composed:
- 2 piano sonatas and string quartet;
- 2 symphonies and 2 masses;
- 144 songs and 4 operas.
He wanted to establish himself as a composer. But in 1816, when applying for the post of bandmaster in Laibach, he was rejected.
Music
Franz was 13 years old when he wrote his first piece of music. And by the age of 16, he had several written songs and piano pieces, a symphony and an opera. Even the court composer, the famous Salieri, noticed such outstanding abilities of Schubert; he studied with Franz for almost a year.
In 1814, Schubert created his first significant works in music:
- Mass in F major;
- Opera "Satan's Pleasure Castle"
In 1816, Franz had a significant meeting with the famous baritone Vogl Johann Michael. Vogl performed works by Franz, which quickly gained popularity in the salons of Vienna. In the same year, Franz set Goethe’s ballad “The Forest King” to music, and this work was an incredible success.
Finally, at the beginning of 1818, Schubert's first composition was published.
The father’s dreams of a quiet and modest life for his son with a small but reliable teacher’s salary did not come true. Franz quit teaching at school and decided to devote his whole life only to music.
He quarreled with his father, lived in deprivation and constant need, but invariably created, composing one work after another. He had to live alternately with his comrades.
In 1818, Franz was lucky, he moved to Count Johann Esterhazy, in his summer residence, where he taught music to the count's daughters.
He did not work for the count for long and returned to Vienna again to do what he loved - create priceless musical works.
Personal life
Need became an obstacle to marrying his beloved girl, Teresa Gorb. He fell in love with her in the church choir. She was not a beauty at all; on the contrary, the girl could be called plain: white eyelashes and hair, traces of smallpox on her face. But Franz noticed how her round face transformed with the first chords of music.
But Teresa’s mother raised her without a father and did not want her daughter to play such a role as a poor composer. And the girl, having cried into her pillow, went down the aisle with a more worthy groom. She married a pastry chef, with whom life was long and prosperous, but gray and monotonous. Teresa died at the age of 78, by which time the ashes of the man who loved her with all his heart had long since decayed in the grave.
Last years
Unfortunately, in 1820, Franz's health began to worry. He became seriously ill at the end of 1822, but after treatment in hospital his health improved slightly.
The only thing he managed to achieve during his lifetime was a public concert in 1828. The success was resounding, but soon after he suffered from enteric fever. She shook him for two weeks, and on March 26, 1828, the composer died. He left a will to be buried in the same cemetery as Beethoven. It was fulfilled. And if in the person of Beethoven a “beautiful treasure” rested here, then in the person of Franz there were “beautiful hopes.” He was too young at the time of his death and there was so much more he could have done.
In 1888, the ashes of Franz Schubert and the ashes of Beethoven were transferred to the Central Vienna Cemetery.
After the composer's death, many unreleased works remained; all of them were published and found recognition from their listeners. His play Rosamund is especially revered; an asteroid that was discovered in 1904 is named after it.
Creative path. The role of household and folk music in Schubert's artistic formation
Franz Schubert was born on January 31, 1797 in Lichtenthal, a suburb of Vienna, in the family of a school teacher. The democratic environment that surrounded him from childhood had a great influence on the future composer.
Schubert's introduction to art began with playing music at home, so characteristic of Austrian urban life. Apparently, with youth Schubert also began to master the multinational musical folklore of Vienna.
In this city, on the border of east and west, north and south, the capital of a “patchwork” empire, many people mixed national cultures, including musical ones. Austrian, German, Italian, Slavic in several varieties (Ukrainian, Czech, Ruthenian, Croatian), Gypsy, Hungarian folklore sounded everywhere.
In Schubert's works, right up to the very last, there is a palpable kinship with the diverse national sources of everyday music in Vienna. Undoubtedly, the dominant current in his work is Austro-German. Being an Austrian composer, Schubert also took a lot from German musical culture. But against this background, the features of Slavic and Hungarian folklore appear especially steadily and clearly.
There was nothing professional in Schubert’s diverse musical education (he had already learned at home the basics of composition, choral art, playing the organ, clavier, and violin). In the era of emerging pop-virtuoso art, it remained patriarchal and somewhat old-fashioned. Indeed, the lack of virtuoso training on the piano was one of the reasons for Schubert’s alienation from the concert stage, which in the 19th century became the most powerful means of promoting new music, especially piano music. Subsequently, he had to overcome his shyness before large public appearances. However, the lack of concert experience also had its own positive side: it was compensated by the purity and seriousness of the composer’s musical tastes.
Schubert's works are free from deliberate showiness, from the desire to please the tastes of the bourgeois public, who seek entertainment in art above all. It is characteristic that from total number- approximately one and a half thousand works - he created only two actual pop works (“Concertstück” for violin and orchestra and “Polonaise” for violin and orchestra).
Schumann, one of the first connoisseurs of the Viennese romantic, wrote that the latter “did not need to first overcome the virtuoso within himself.”
Schubert’s constant creative connection with the folk genres that were cultivated in his home environment is also significant. Schubert's main artistic genre is song - an art that exists among the people. Schubert draws his most innovative features from traditional folk music. Songs, a four-handed piano piece, arrangements of folk dances (waltzes, ländlers, minuets and others) - all this was of paramount importance in determining the creative image of the Viennese romantic. Throughout his life, the composer maintained a connection not just with the everyday music of Vienna, but with the characteristic style of the Viennese suburbs.
Five-year training in Konvikt *,
* Closed general education educational institution, which was also a school for court singers.
from 1808 to 1813, significantly expanded the young man’s musical horizons and determined the nature of his ideological and artistic interests for many years.
At school, while playing in a student orchestra and conducting it, Schubert became acquainted with a number of outstanding works by Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, which had a profound impact on the formation of his artistic tastes. Direct participation in the choir gave him excellent knowledge and feeling vocal culture, so important for his future work. In Konvikta, in 1810, intense tension began. creative activity composer. And, besides, it was there, among the students, that Schubert found an environment close to him. Unlike Salieri, the official head of composition, who sought to educate his student in the traditions of the Italian opera seria, young people sympathized with Schubert’s quest and welcomed the tendency towards national democratic art in his works. In his songs and ballads, she felt the spirit of national poetry, the embodiment of the artistic ideals of the new generation.
In 1813, Schubert left Konvikt. Under strong family pressure, he agreed to become a teacher and, until the end of 1817, taught the alphabet and other elementary subjects at his father's school. This was the first and last service in the composer's life.
During the years associated with his pedagogical activity, creative talent Schubert turned around with amazing brilliance. Despite the complete lack of connections with the professional musical world, he composed songs, symphonies, quartets, sacred choral music, piano sonatas, operas and other works. Already during this period, the leading role of the song in his work was clearly identified. In 1815 alone, Schubert composed more than one hundred and forty romances. He wrote greedily, using every free minute, barely managing to put down on paper the thoughts that overwhelmed him. Almost without blemishes or changes, he created one finished work after another. The unique originality of each miniature, the poetic subtlety of their moods, the novelty and integrity of the style elevate these works above everything that was created in the song genre by Schubert's predecessors. In “Margarita at the Spinning Wheel”, “The Forest Tsar”, “The Wanderer”, “Trout”, “To Music” and many other songs of these years, the characteristic images and expressive techniques of romantic vocal lyrics have already been fully defined.
The position of a provincial teacher became unbearable for the composer. In 1818, there was a painful break with his father due to the fact that Schubert refused to serve. He started new life, devoting himself entirely to creativity.
These years were marked by severe, ongoing need. Schubert had no source of material income. His music, which gradually gained recognition among the democratic intelligentsia, was performed almost exclusively in private homes and mainly in the provinces, without attracting the attention of influential persons in the musical world of Vienna. This went on for ten years. Only on the eve of Schubert's death did publishers begin to buy small plays from him, and even then for a paltry fee. Without the funds to rent an apartment, the composer lived most of the time with his friends. The property left behind was valued at 63 florins.
Twice - in 1818 and 1824 - under the pressure of extreme need, Schubert briefly left for Hungary, as a music teacher in the family of Count Esterhazy. The relative prosperity and even the novelty of impressions that attracted the composer, especially musical ones, which left a tangible mark on his work, still did not atone for the gravity of the position of a “court servant” and spiritual loneliness.
And, however, nothing could paralyze his mental strength: neither the miserable level of existence, nor the illness that gradually destroyed his health. His path was a continuous creative ascent. In the 1920s, Schubert lived a particularly intense spiritual life. He moved among the advanced democratic intelligentsia*.
* The Schubert circle included J. von Spaun, F. Schober, the outstanding artist M. von Schwind, brothers A. and J. Hüttenbrevner, poet E. Meyerhofer, revolutionary poet I. Zenn, artists L. Kupelwieser in I. Telcher, student E. von Bauernfeld, famous singer I. Vogl and others. In recent years, the outstanding Austrian playwright and poet Franz Grillparzer joined him.
Public interests and issues of political struggle, the latest works of literature and art, modern philosophical problems were the focus of attention of Schubert and his friends.
The composer was acutely aware of the oppressive atmosphere of Metternich's reaction, which especially thickened in the last years of his life. In 1820, Schubert's entire circle received official condemnation for revolutionary sentiments. Protest against the existing order is openly expressed in letters and other statements of the great musician.
“It’s just unfortunate how everything now ossifies in vulgar prose, and many people look at it indifferently and even feel quite good, calmly rolling through the mud into the abyss,” he wrote to a friend in 1825.
“...Already wise and beneficial government system made sure that the artist always remained a slave to every miserable tradesman,” another letter says.
Schubert's poem “Complaint to the People” (1824) has survived, according to the author, composed “in one of those dark moments when I especially acutely and painfully felt the futility and insignificance of life, characteristic of our time.” Here are the lines from this outpouring:
O youth of our days, you have rushed by!
The power of the people has been wasted,
And everything is bright less than a year from year,
And life goes along the path of futility.
It’s getting harder to live in suffering,
Although I still have some strength left.
Lost days that I hate,
Could serve a great purpose...
And only you, Art, are destined
Capture both action and time,
To moderate the sorrowful burden...** Translation by L. Ozerov
And in fact, Schubert gave all his unspent spiritual energy to art.
The high intellectual and spiritual maturity he achieved during these years was reflected in the new content of his music. Great philosophical depth and drama, a tendency towards large scales, towards generalizing instrumental thinking distinguish Schubert's work of the 20s from the music of the early period. Beethoven, who a few years ago, during the period of Schubert's boundless admiration for Mozart, sometimes frightened the young composer with his gigantic passions and harsh, unvarnished truthfulness, now became for him the highest artistic standard. Beethovenian - in the sense of scale, great intellectual depth, dramatic interpretation of images and heroic tendencies - enriched the direct and emotional-lyrical character of Schubert's early music.
Already in the first half of the 20s, Schubert created instrumental masterpieces, which subsequently took their place among the most outstanding examples of the world musical classics. In 1822, the “Unfinished Symphony” was written - the first symphonic work in which romantic images received their finished artistic expression.
In the early period, new romantic themes - love lyrics, pictures of nature, folk fantasy, lyrical mood - were embodied by Schubert in his songwriting. His instrumental works of those years were still very dependent on classicist models. Now sonata genres became his spokesmen for a new world of ideas. Not only the “Unfinished Symphony”, but also three wonderful quartets, composed in the first half of the 20s (unfinished, 1820; A minor, 1824; D minor, 1824-1826), compete with his song in novelty, beauty and completeness style. The courage of the young composer, who, infinitely admiring Beethoven, followed his own path and created a new direction of romantic symphony, seems amazing. Equally independent during this period was his interpretation of the chamber instrumental music, which no longer follows either the path of Haydn’s quartets, which previously served as his models, or the path of Beethoven, whose quartet in these same years turned into philosophical genre, significantly different in style from his democratic dramatized symphonies.
And in piano music during these years, Schubert creates high artistic values. Fantasia “The Wanderer” (the same age as the “Unfinished Symphony”), German dances, waltzes, landlers, “Musical Moments” (1823-1827), “Impromptu” (1827), many piano sonatas can be assessed without exaggeration as new stage in history musical literature. Free from schematic imitation of the classicist sonata, this piano music was distinguished by unprecedented lyrical and psychological expressiveness. Growing out of intimate improvisation, from everyday dance, it was based on new romantic artistic means. None of these creations were performed on the concert stage during Schubert's lifetime. Schubert's deep, restrained piano music, imbued with a subtle poetic mood, diverged too sharply from the pianistic style that was developing in those years - virtuoso-bravura, spectacular. Even the fantasy "The Wanderer" - Schubert's only virtuoso piano work - was so alien to these requirements that only Liszt's arrangement helped it achieve popularity on the concert stage.
In the choral sphere, the Mass As-dur (1822) appears - one of the most original and powerful works created in this ancient genre composers of the 19th century century. With the four-voice vocal ensemble “Song of the Spirits over the Waters” to the text by Goethe (1821), Schubert reveals completely unexpected colorful and expressive resources of choral music.
He even makes changes to the song - an area in which Schubert found a complete romantic form almost from the first steps. IN song cycle“The Beautiful Miller's Wife” (1823), based on texts by the poet Müller, conveys a more dramatic and in-depth perception of the world. In music based on poems by Rückert, Pirker, from Goethe's Wilhelm Meister and others, greater freedom of expression and a more perfect development of thought are noticeable.
“Words are constrained, but sounds, fortunately, are still free!” - Beethoven said about Metternich's Vienna. And in the work of recent years, Schubert expressed his attitude to the darkness of the life around him. In the D minor quartet (1824-1826), in the song cycle “Winterreise” (1827), in songs based on texts by Heine (1828), the tragic theme is embodied with striking force and novelty. Saturated with passionate protest, Schubert's music of these years is at the same time distinguished by unprecedented psychological depth. And yet, not once in any of his later works did the composer’s tragic worldview turn into brokenness, unbelief, or neurasthenia. The tragic in Schubert's art reflects not powerlessness, but grief for man and faith in his high purpose. Speaking about spiritual loneliness, it also expresses an irreconcilable attitude towards gloomy modernity.
But along with the tragic theme, heroic-epic tendencies are clearly evident in Schubert’s art of recent years. It was then that he created his most life-affirming and bright music, imbued with the pathos of the people. Ninth Symphony (1828), string quartet (1828), cantata " Victory song Miriam" (1828) - these and other works speak of Schubert’s desire to capture in his art images of heroism, images of “a time of power and deeds.”
The composer's latest works revealed a new unexpected side of his creative individuality. The lyricist and miniaturist began to become interested in monumental-epic paintings. Captivated by the new artistic horizons opening up to him, he thought of devoting himself entirely to large, generalizing genres.
“I don’t want to hear anything more about songs, I have now finally taken up operas and symphonies,” said Schubert at the end of his last, C major symphony, six months before the end of his life.
His enriched creative thought is reflected in new quests. Now Schubert turns not only to Viennese everyday folklore, but also to folk themes in a broader, Beethovenian sense. His interest in choral music, and to polyphony. IN Last year During his lifetime he composed four major choral works, including the outstanding Mass in Es major. But he combined grandiose scales with fine detailing, and Beethovenian drama with romantic images. Never before had Schubert achieved such versatility and depth of content as in his most recent creations. The composer, who had already composed more than a thousand works, stood in the year of his death on the threshold of new grandiose discoveries.
The end of Schubert's life was marked by two outstanding events, which occurred, however, with a fatal delay. In 1827, Beethoven highly appreciated several of Schubert's songs and expressed a desire to become acquainted with the works of the young author. But when Schubert, overcoming his shyness, came to the great musician, Beethoven was already lying on his deathbed.
Another event was Schubert's first author's evening in Vienna (in March 1828), which was a huge success. But a few months after this concert, which first attracted the attention of the wide musical community of the capital to the composer, he passed away. Schubert's death, which occurred on November 19, 1828, was hastened by prolonged nervous and physical exhaustion.