Franz Schubert

In addition to numerous symphonies, chamber works, masses, and solo piano music, the Austrian composer Franz Schubert (1797-1828) composed over 600 songs in his short life, and he has remained unsurpassed in the ability to marry poetry with music. Even Beethoven, who apparently never met the younger composer, touted Schubert's genius when he was given some of Schubert's songs shortly before his death. Although Schubert was virtually unknown to the general public, his music was regularly performed in private concerts for Vienna’s musical elite, and by 1825 he was in negotiations with four different publishers. But the bulk of Schubert's masterworks remained unpublished at the time of his death, so he generally had had to depend on his devoted circle of friends to help maintain his finances. After Schubert died, probably from medicinal mercury poisoning, his wish to be buried next to Beethoven, who had died just the previous year, was honored.

Schubert's father was a dedicated amateur musician who wasted little time in drafting his young'uns into the family consort. From the age of 5, Franz's routine began to include lessons in singing, violin, viola, piano and organ. In 1804, It was his dulcet singing tones that brought him to the attention of Antonio Salieri (1750-1825), then the most influential musician in Vienna. By 1808, Schubert had entered the imperial seminary on a choir scholarship, and it wasn't too long after that that Salieri was giving him private composition lessons.

An early champion and Schubert's very first publisher was Anton Diabelli (1781-1858), who issued Schubert's famous song, Der Erlkönig (literally "The Alder-King," but often translated as "The Elf King"), in 1821. Their association ended in 1823 when Schubert had a falling-out with Diabelli's business partner, Pietro Cappi. But after Schubert died, Diabelli (who had himself split with Cappi in 1824) bought a large portion of Schubert's manuscripts from Schubert's brother, and for about 30 years after the composer's death, Diabelli was still publishing "new" works by Schubert.

Go to Die schone Mullerin

Gretchen am Spinnrade ("Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel," Op.2, D. 118, 1814) was the first work that brought Schubert, not yet 17 years old, to the attention of Viennese music-lovers, and it is still regarded as among the finest of all German Lieder. The text, drawn from Goethe's Faust (Part 1), relays the obsessive confusion, bordering on despair, of the still innocent Gretchen after she has become infatuated with Faust, but then is seemingly deserted by him (oh, that she had been!). The motion of Schubert's piano part reflects not only the whirring of the spinning wheel, but also Gretchen's increasingly agitated emotional state.

"Duo" Sonata, Op. 162, D. 574

Austrian musicologist Otto Erich Deutsch (1883-1967) prepared a chronological thematic catalog of Schubert's total output, which now includes 998 pieces altogether. Considering the generous bulk of Schubert's oeuvre, it is surprising that only eight of the nearly 1,000 works are for a solo instrument with piano. Of the six duos from among these that are for violin and piano, four are sonatas, and, given Schubert's proficiency on the violin as well as piano, they are perfectly idiomatic to the forces at hand. In 1836, Diabelli issued the first three sonatas, all composed in March and April 1816, renaming them Sonatinas, Op. 137, probably to better whet the growing appetites of amateur players. In 1851, Diabelli finally issued the fourth sonata, composed in 1817, as "Duo" Sonata, Op. 162, adding the nickname that indicates the full partnership between the two instruments. Now often also called the "Grand Duo," this work of Schubert's early maturity withholds none of its composer's characteristically singing lyricism.

Marche militaire, Op. 51, No. 1

Originally for piano, 4-hands, Schubert’s three Marches militaires, Op. 51 (D.733), have been published in numerous arrangements ranging from organ solo to percussion ensemble. The first one (in D major) ranks among the composer’s most popular works, and it demonstrates that, in addition to his lyrical gifts, Schubert also had a sense of humor.

--Intermezzo Sunday Concerts, September, 2006 (Sandra Stewart & Vera Watson, Duo Pianists)

--Music @ Main, April 15, 2009 (UNF String Ensemble)

Sonata for Piano No. 14 in A Minor, D. 784

Schubert wrote this Piano Sonata in A minor in 1823. That same year he learned that he was suffering from syphilis, then an incurable disease, so the bleak fury that pervades some of the writing is not altogether surprising.

Sonata for Arpeggione and Piano in A Minor, D. 821

Allegro moderato--Adagio--Allegretto

Schubert composed his Arpeggione Sonata in 1824, most likely at the request of the instrument’s inventor, the Viennese guitar maker Johann Georg Staufer (1778-1853), who had crafted the six-stringed, fretted instrument that was tuned like a guitar but bowed like a cello. The new-fangled, but rather delicate instrument had almost the range of a string quartet. But it never caught on, and by the time Schubert’s work was published posthumously in 1871, the arpeggione had long since fallen into obscurity. Schubert’s Sonata is the only significant work written specifically for the arpeggione, but his melodic masterpiece is best-known in transcriptions for cello or viola, although arrangements for other instruments are also heard.

Following Schubert's Ave Maria, D. 839, his Ständchen (Serenade), D.957, no.4, must come in as a close second among his most-beloved songs, and, as with Bach's Sheep May Safely Graze, Schubert's popular "Swan Song" has been arranged for practically every performance ensemble imaginable. "Leise flehen meine Lieder," is the first line of the text by German poet Ludwig Rellstab (1799-1860) that served as Schubert's inspiration; what follows is an English translation of the verses.

Fantasie in F Minor, D. 940

Schubert’s Fantasie in F Minor, D. 940, was written during the last year of his life, and it is widely regarded as among his finest works. Similar in structure to Schubert’s famous Wanderer Fantasy for piano solo, the four movements of the 4-handed work are connected, with no breaks between the movements. This formal device is said to have had particular influence on the compositions of Franz Liszt (1811-1886), and in the development of the tone poem as a “new” musical form.

Mirjams Siegesgesang (Miriam's Song of Triumph), op. 136

Among his friends was soprano and voice teacher Anna Fröhlich, for whom he wrote several of his partsongs, and it was principally with her and her three singing sisters in mind that Schubert wrote Mirjams Siegesgesang, D. 942. Although the cantata for soprano solo, mixed voices, and piano was not published until more than a decade after the composer's death, the piece was first performed on January 30, 1829, at a Schubert memorial concert organized by Anna Fröhlich.

--Music@Main October 5, 2009 (Jacksonville Masterworks Chorale)

Der Hirt auf dem Felsen

Schubert composed Der Hirt auf dem Felsen, D.965, during the last months of his life, probably at the request of Anna Milder-Hauptmann, a famous soprano of the Austrian operatic stage. The work, which may well have been Schubert’s last song, brilliantly combines elements of Lieder, operatic arias and chamber music, and although the original scoring is for soprano, piano, and obbligato clarinet, published versions substituting obbligato violin, flute or cello illustrate the works versatility and universal appeal. The text combines verses by two German poets, Wilhelm Müller (1794-1827) and Wilhelmina Christiane von Chézy (1783-1856).

--Intermezzo Sunday Concerts, October 21, 2007 (Cromley and Friends: Bach to Broadway)