One of the most prolific and efficiently composers of history was Franz Schubert. Schubert could write up to five or six works in a single morning! He lived the life of a 19th century “bohemian artist” because he rejected the life as a secure middle-class civilian in order to pursue his career in music. Schubert is most famous for the Lied, which is a German art song, but he has composed in all genres of the 19th century. His works show the confluence of two different styles, the maturity of Romanticism, and the approach to form from Classicism. It is unfortunate that this great composer only lived 31 years due to poor health and financial struggles.
Romantic composer Franz Schubert was born in Vienna, Austria in 1797. His father, Franz Theodore Schubert, was a school master who was also a violinist. Schubert was taught violin by his father and piano from his elder brother. He had an excellent voice and he was accepted into the Vienna choir boys. It is an honour to be accepted into the choir for the talent and he attended practice at the Imperial Chapel. In Vienna, he also learned the violin with Antonio Salieri, and continued his keyboard studies with Holzer.
Music came to him spontaneously and it was rare for a composer with this talent, but he still had troubles finding a decent publisher. Schubert often based his works on poetry. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was the poet who wrote Erlkonig (The Erlking), and Schubert put the poem as a Lied. Another poet that wrote poems that Schubert would put music to was Wilhelm Muller. Both the Die Schone Mullerin (Lovely Maid at the Mill), and Winfereise (Winter's Journey), where his poems that Schubert changed into music. A man named Johann Vogl was a singer who introduced and sang many of Schubert's songs to the Viennese public. His performances often took place in salons with a large group of his friends. This gathering is known as a Schubertiad. Five of Schubert's works were influenced by both Mozart and Beethoven. Their styles found in Schubert's music are mostly in his later works. Even though he was a very successful composer who composed over 600 pieces, he suffered many hardships in his life. Schubert was often injured or suffering from poor health. He was in a financial struggle and because of this, was emotionally cut off. Still, he continued to write works during his depression. He died in 1828 and his wish was to be buried near Beethoven.
Style of Schubert:
As mentioned earlier, Schubert's style is between Classicism and Romanticism. His classical elements are mainly about the general form of a piece. He uses the sonata form and the classical chamber form in his music. Schubert experiments with the emotion of the Romantic era. Most of his music is intensely personal; elements of nature are often found in Lieds, and highly emotional & lyrical. He also used the expanded sonata form.
