Franz Schubert

Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828)

Franz Peter Schubert was one of the most phenomenal musical geniuses of all time. In his short life of just 31 years, he composed nearly a thousand compositions. In some ways, Schubert was a very ordinary person. He enjoyed going to coffee shops, parties, staying up late, sleeping in, and hanging out with his friends. In other ways, he was unique.

Franz was born into a middle class family, in Vienna (Austria), in the year 1797. He was the twelfth of fourteen children. In those days, many children didn’t live very long. Of those fourteen children, only five made it to adulthood. Franz's father was a school teacher and the family lived in a cramped, three-room apartment.

Schubert’s father and older brother taught Franz how to play the violin and piano. It took only a few months of lessons for Franz to show that he knew more than his teachers. When he was eleven, Franz was admitted to one of the best boarding schools in Vienna. Discipline was strict, and there often wasn’t enough food for a healthy, growing boy. But Schubert made some life-long friends there. He sang in the Court Chapel Choir, played violin and piano, and composed music. He amazed his teachers with his musical ability.

When it was time for Franz to start his career, it was expected that he would become a teacher, like his father. Franz went along with this plan for a short time, but he hated teaching. He wanted only to write music. “I have come into the world for no purpose but to compose,” he told one of his friends.

Franz did not have a flashy personality, and he cared little about becoming famous or making a fortune. He was casual and easy-going. He had many friends, most of whom were simple, ordinary people, who would help him out with money, food, music paper, concert tickets, and a place to stay whenever he was in need. Schubert constantly relied on his friends' support because he was careless, forgetful, and unconcerned about money or finding a good-paying job for himself. He wanted nothing more than to stay at home and compose music.

Schubert gave only one public concert in his life, and that was in his final year. He did give dozens – maybe hundreds – of private, informal performances in the homes of his friends around Vienna. Anytime there was a party, Schubert would end up playing his piano compositions, or accompanying a singer in some songs, or picking up a violin to play with other musicians.

Of all the great composers, Schubert died the youngest, a few weeks before his 32nd birthday in the year 1828. Near the end of his life, he was very sick and went through periods of physical suffering and mental depression. After he died, Schubert was buried in a special spot in Vienna’s Central Cemetery, near Beethoven. The tomb is surrounded with trees, bushes, flowers and vines, showing that the city of Vienna still honors one of its greatest geniuses.