Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
- Deutsche Messe (1827), D.872
Performers: Regensburger Domspatzen; Georg Ratzinger (1924-2020, conductor)
Painting: Unbekannt - Franz Schubert
Further info: Franz Schubert (1797-1828) - Geistliche Musik
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Austrian composer. Son of the local school master Franz Theodor Florian
(1763-1830) and Elisabeth Vietz (1756-1812) and brother of the composer
Ferdinand Schubert (1794-1859), his musical talent emerged early. At the
age of eleven, he won a scholarship that earned him a position in the
Vienna court chapel choir and an education at the Vienna Stadtkonvikt,
the imperial municipal Catholic boarding school. Here, in addition to
schooling, Schubert received above all a comprehensive and thorough
musical education, for which the court conductor Antonio Salieri was
primarily responsible. Salieri instructed Schubert in a broad range of
topics, albeit with an overall focus on opera, and Schubert composed a
whole series of singspiels and dramatic scenes during his youth. At the
age of seventeen, Schubert initially followed the path mapped out for
him by his father and worked as an assistant teacher at his father's
school from 1814, while continuing his musical studies for about two
years. The year 1817 brought a turning point in Schubert's life. He
received an attractive offer from Count Esterházy to give music lessons
to his two daughters, and so he spent the summer holidays at his summer
residence. This sojourn must have revealed a whole new world to
Schubert. He did not return to school, which caused a temporary break
with his father, and decided to live in Vienna as a musician and
composer. For financial reasons, he shared an apartment with a poet
friend, Johann Mayrhofer. Thus, Schubert had found the way of life that
suited him and, until his untimely death in November 1828, he lived in
various partnerships of convenience. Exchanging ideas with friends was
important to Schubert.
He met regularly with a circle of like-minded people which changed over
the years and also included musicians, but which was dominated by
literary figures and painters. After moving to Vienna, Schubert sought
and quickly found his way into the musical public sphere. As early as
November 1818, he received a commission to write the music for a stage
play, and in the following years Schubert continued to occupy himself
with various opera and stage projects with varying degrees of success.
In 1820, he then began to publish his songs – with resounding success.
Although he earned good money from the self-published songbooks, he soon
preferred to collaborate with commercial publishers in order to avoid
having to deal with marketing and sales. Around the turn of the year
1822-23, Schubert apparently became infected with syphilis. The disease
became apparent in the middle of the year, and it is likely that from
then on Schubert repeatedly underwent mercury cures, which had severe
side effects. By the end of the 1820s, publishers based outside of
Vienna began to take an interest in Schubert's work, especially his
instrumental works. The composer had entered into serious negotiations
when he suddenly fell seriously ill in early November 1828. Possibly
weakened by the mercury treatments by then, he did not recover. Schubert
died on 19 November 1828. The only canonic Viennese composer native to
Vienna, he made seminal contributions in the areas of orchestral music,
chamber music, piano music and, most especially, the German lied. The
richness and subtlety of his melodic and harmonic language, the
originality of his accompaniments, his elevation of marginal genres and
the enigmatic nature of his uneventful life have invited a wide range of
readings of both man and music that remain among the most hotly debated
in musical circles.
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