Franz Schubert was born in Vienna on January 31, 1797. His father, Franz Theodor, was the parish schoolmaster and, though he had no formal training, instructed his son in the rudiments of music and the violin. From his brother, Ignaz, Schubert also began to learn the piano. At the age of seven, he began lessons outside the family with Michael Holzer, organist and choirmaster of the local parish church. Schubert also learned the viola and played in the family string quartet with his brothers, Ferdinand and Ignaz, on violin and his father on cello. It was for this ensemble that Schubert composed his earliest quartets.
In 1804, Schubert came to the attention of Antonio Salieri, Vienna's leading musical authority, and was admitted to the Stadtkonvikt (Imperial Seminary) on a choir scholarship. Here Schubert was introduced to the music of Mozart and Haydn. He also discovered the songs of Johann Rudolf Zumsteeg, a champion of Mozart’s operas and a prolific composer of early German lieder. Zumsteeg became an important influence for the young Schubert, imitating several of his works during his teenage years, and expressing a desire to “modernize” Zumsteeg’s lieder. Schubert’s talent for composition began to show during his time at the Stadtkonvikt, and Salieri took it upon himself to train him privately in music theory and composition. He was occasionally permitted to lead the Stadtkonvikt’s orchestra, and even composed some works for it, including his Symphony No. 1 in D major.
Towards the end of 1813, Schubert left the Stadtkonvikt and returned home. The following year, he began teaching at his father’s school. The job was less than ideal for Schubert and he approached his duties half-heartedly at best. Despite the menial job, he continued his lessons with Salieri until 1817. He also was introduced to Therese Grob, a young soprano, and composed several of his liturgical works, among them the “Salve Regina” and a “Tantum Ergo” for her. Schubert had intentions of marrying Grob. However, an 1815 law requiring bridegrooms to show means of supporting a family and a failed attempt to gain a musical post in Laibach (now Ljubljana, Slovenia) meant that nothing was ever to come of these hopes. Nonetheless, the year was particularly productive for Schubert, composing multiple orchestral works, including sacred works and another symphony, and well over a hundred lieder.
Schubertiaden
Beginning in 1816, Schubert began to surround himself with a close-knit circle of friends that provided him support and promoted his music. He left his father’s school and took up lodgings with Franz von Schrober and his mother, where he devoted himself entirely to composition. The following year he was introduced to the imminent baritone, Johann Michael Vogl. Schubert composed a large number of lieder for Vogl, who in turn became of one of Schubert’s main advocates in Viennese musical circles. Though Schubert began to receive more public notice during this time, much of his music remained unpublished, and a rejection from membership in the prestigious Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde certainly put a damper on his career. Nevertheless, copies of his music circulated among his friends, many of whom took charge of preserving Schubert’s work following his death. Schubert’s friends and the informal gatherings they held to perform his music came under scrutiny, however, in 1820. The Austrian police, wary of any suspicious gatherings of youth or students in the aftermath of the French Revolution, arrested Schubert and four of his friends. One friend, Johann Senn, was put on trial, imprisoned for over a year, and forbidden to enter Vienna, while Schubert and the other three were “severely reprimanded.”
Theatrical failures
During 1819-20, Schubert’s composition took on a decidedly more profound and mature style. The production of two operas, Die Zwillingsbrüder and Die Zauberharfe, that summer also brought Schubert before a wider audience and attracted some attention to his music. Publishers, however, still maintained a cool, wary distance. With hesitation, Anton Diabelli agreed to print some of Schubert’s music on commission. Yet, after only seven opus numbers (all song collections), Diabelli withdrew the commission. In March 1821, a successful performance of “Der Erlkönig” by Vogl was enthusiastically well-received, and Schubert subsequently was invited as one of the fifty composers to contribute a variation on a waltz by Diabelli.
The production of Schubert’s two operas also begun his remarkably unsuccessful relationship with the theater. Schubert attempted twenty stage projects—every single one was a failure and quickly forgotten. It seems that fate had wholly set itself against Schubert in this one genre. Alfonso und Estrella was refused partly because of its libretto, though Schubert’s grand opera design also made the music rather unwieldy. Similarly, his incidental music for Rosamunde failed mostly because of the weakness of the play. Fierrabras fell victim to the popularity of Rossini and the failure of Weber’s Euryanthe, while Die Verschworenen (The Conspirators) was perhaps an all-around poor choice on Schubert’s part since he had been arrested for alleged conspiracy only a few years before its composition and the work was banned by censors.
Final Illness
These failed attempts at theatrical success, however, did not dampen Schubert’s efforts elsewhere. The Symphony in B minor, known universally as the “Unfinished,” was worked on during 1822, and the following year saw the creation of Die schöne Müllerin, the first of his large-scale song cycles. With the publication of more of his music, Schubert’s fortunes began to improve in 1825, and the next several years were marked by a steady stream of composition, which includes pieces such as the “Great” C major Symphony, the String Quartet No. 14 in D minor with variations on Death and the Maiden, two more song-cycles, Winterreise and Schwanengesang, and the final three piano sonatas.
However, amid this creative activity, Schubert’s health began to deteriorate. Officially, he was diagnosed with typhoid fever, though it’s possible he suffered from syphilis. He confided to some of his friends that he feared he was dying, and his compositions reveal a mind preoccupied with the darker side of human nature and a heightened awareness of the “beyond.” In early November 1828, he fell ill with headaches, fever, and vomiting. His condition continued to worsen and on November 19, Schubert died in Vienna. Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp minor was the last piece of music he requested to hear before his death. He was also granted his wish of being buried next to the master he so greatly admired in the village cemetery of Währing, Vienna.