His evenings were given over to music at the homes of his friends, where Schubert presided as the life and soul of the party – the gatherings came to be known as ‘Schubertiads’. His self-discipline allowed him to produce an enormous amount of music (he wrote as much in 20 years as Brahms wrote in 50). He befriended the poets Johann Mayrhofer and Franz von Schober, and it was through the latter that he met the great baritone Johann Vogel, who was to champion so many of Schubert’s songs (he gave the first performance of ‘Erlkönig’). Taking the plunge, he finally abandoned the teaching career and took his chances as a full-time composer. In this period he composed five symphonies, four Masses, several string quartets, stage music, an opera and some of his most famous Lieder (in 1815 alone he composed no fewer than 140 songs). There has probably been no one in the history of music with such a prodigious facility as Schubert. (One added bonus of the profession was that it meant avoiding military service.) Schubert was singularly unsuited to the task – he could not keep discipline all he wanted to do was write music. When his voice broke, he decided to leave and return to his father’s house to follow in his footsteps and become a teacher. ‘You can do everything,’ he announced to this timid, diffident little boy, ‘for you are a genius.’ Schubert began composing while at school. He became a member of the Imperial Court chapel choir in Vienna, where among his teachers was Salieri. See also: Top 10 Classical era composers A young genius By the age of 10, Schubert could play the piano, organ, violin and viola. His early lessons were with his father and brother but Schubert was soon far beyond their modest accomplishments. When Franz Schubert’s musical talent began to emerge, though it was encouraged, there were no higher ambitions than that he should grow up to be a respectful, hard-working teacher like his father, whose diligence and thrift had allowed him to buy the schoolhouse where the family lived. The complete guide to Schubert, part three: vocal musicĭietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Schubert's Winterreise The complete guide to Schubert, part two: piano and chamber music
The complete guide to Schubert, part one: the symphonies
His gift for melody has, quite probably, never been equalled. The ideas came tumbling out like water from a spring.
Franz Schubert (born Janudied November 19, 1828) was not the first of the Romantics but he was, as one writer put it, 'the first lyric poet of music'.
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