Famous compositions by Schubert. Brief biography of Franz Schubert

Biography and episodes of life Franz Schubert. When born and died Franz Schubert, memorable places and dates of important events in his life. Composer quotes, Imagesand video.

Years of life of Franz Schubert:

born January 31, 1797, died November 19, 1828

Epitaph

“Music buried here a precious treasure, but even more wonderful hopes.”
Inscription engraved on the grave monument of Franz Schubert

Biography

Franz Schubert's whole life was inextricably linked with music. The future composer spent his childhood in the suburbs of Vienna, in the house of a teacher who loved to play a little music in his spare time. It was his father and older brother who became the first teachers of Franz, who showed his musical abilities early. The young talent was taught to play the violin and piano. This was followed by organ lessons. Possessing an excellent voice, at the age of eleven Schubert became a “singing boy” of the Viennese court chapel and at the Konvikt school. Here he became acquainted with the works of Mozart and Haydn, and Antonio Salieri himself acted as his teacher of composition and counterpoint.

Franz Schubert's talent as a composer emerged around the age of thirteen, and three years later he had already written an opera, several piano pieces and a symphony. Around this time, his voice began to “break”, and the boy was expelled from the choir. This was followed by studying at a teacher's seminary and teaching at the same school where Schubert's father worked. Franz devotes all his free time to composing music, while simultaneously studying the works of such masters as Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn.

On November 19, 1828, the public is shocked by the news of the death of Schubert, who died at the age of less than 32 years. The composer spent the last few years in illness, but his health seemed to be improving. The cause of Schubert's death was typhoid fever, which led to a fever that severely tormented him for two weeks. Franz Schubert's funeral took place at the Wehring cemetery. Almost 60 years later, Schubert's ashes were reburied in Vienna's Central Cemetery.

Life line

January 31, 1797 Date of birth of Franz Peter Schubert.
1810 The beginning of composing activity.
1813 Admission to teachers' seminary.
1816 First creative success with the ballad “Forest King”.
1823 Election to honorary members of the Styrian and Linz Music Unions.
March 26, 1828 Date of the only successful public concert.
November 19, 1828 Date of death of Schubert.
January 22, 1888 Date of reburial of Schubert's ashes at the Vienna Central Cemetery.

Memorable places

1. The city of Vienna, where Franz Schubert was born and lived.
2. The city of Lichtental, where Schubert studied music.
3. The Court Chapel in Vienna, where Schubert performed as a “singing boy”.
4. The city of Zelezovce in Slovakia, where Schubert lived.
5. Vienna Central Cemetery, where the ashes of Franz Schubert are now buried.
6. Schubert House in Vienna (now Schubert Museum-Apartment).
7. Vienna City Park, where the monument to Schubert is erected.

Episodes of life

During his lifetime, Franz Schubert still had short-term success. For example, his songs performed by Vogl, a popular Austrian singer at that time, began to enjoy extraordinary popularity in the music salons of Vienna. The ballad “Forest King” brought its author his first success.

To this day, musicologists argue why the composer never completed the famous “Unfinished Symphony.” Some believe that in fact the composition is not unfinished at all, and a similar structure of the work was characteristic of many romantic composers of that period.

Covenant

“My writings arose from my understanding of music and my pain; those of them that pain alone gave rise to seem to have pleased the world least of all.”

A story about Franz Schubert from the series of programs “Project Encyclopedia”

Condolences

"Schubert had a rare ability<...>to feel and convey the joys and sorrows of life, as most people feel and would like to convey them if they had Schubert’s talent.”
Boris Asafiev, composer

“I see in Schubert one of the greatest melodists of all time.”
Gerard Griset, composer

“I exclusively love Schubert. He is different from other composers of his era. Poor fellow, he considered himself inferior to Beethoven, while he contributed something very innovative to music.”
Yanis Xenakis, composer

Schubert Franz Peter - an outstanding Austrian composer; founder of early romanticism; creator of nine famous symphonies. Born on January 31, 1797 in Vienna in the family of an ordinary teacher. At first there were fourteen children in the family, but nine of them died at an early age. During his short life, Schubert wrote about 600 song compositions, many of which are relevant to this day. In creating his own style, he relied primarily on the works of Mozart, Gluck, Haydn and Beethoven.

Since childhood, the boy received a home musical education. In church he learned to play the organ and vocals. Frederick was one of the best singers of the court chapel choir. Salieri himself took him as his student, admiring his beautiful voice and musical gift. At about 13 years old he began to write his first symphony. His first independent works were written in 1814.

By that time he had already been expelled from the choir, as the boy’s voice was breaking. Therefore, young Frederick entered the teachers' seminary, following in his father's footsteps. He devoted all his free time to composing music. The composer's song music was a kind of continuation of Beethoven's style. The year 1815 is considered the most fruitful in his career. During this period he wrote more than a hundred songs, six operas, many symphonies and music for the church.

One of his best songs based on Goethe's poems was written at the end of the same year - “King Earl”. For the cantata “Prometheus” (1816), the composer received his first fee, as it was written to order. Schubert's personal life was unsuccessful. Having met the daughter of a manufacturer, Teresa Grom, who did not stand out in anything remarkable, but loved music very much, young Frederick decided to marry her. However, his income did not allow him to start a family, and Teresa’s mother opposed this marriage.

In 1816, the composer presented to the public a work that brought him long-awaited popularity - “The Forest King”. Subsequently, his famous symphonies appeared one after another. Gradually the composer gained worldwide fame. In the 1820s. he started having health problems. For some time he worked on the estate of Count I. Esterhazy, teaching music to his daughters. The composer spent the last years of his life in Vienna.

He died on November 19, 1828, after a long battle with typhoid fever. The composer has two graves. Initially, in accordance with his last will, he was buried next to his idolized Beethoven at the Wehring cemetery (now Schubert Park), and in 1888 the ashes of both composers were reburied at the Vienna Central Cemetery.

Introduction

Franz Peter Schubert (German) Franz Peter Schubert; January 31, 1797, Lichtenthal, Austria - November 19, 1828, Vienna) - a great Austrian composer, one of the founders of romanticism in music, author of about 600 songs, nine symphonies (including the famous “Unfinished Symphony”), as well as a large number of chamber and solo piano music.

1. Biography

Franz Peter Schubert was born on January 31, 1797 in Lichtental (now Alsergrund), a small suburb of Vienna, in the family of a schoolteacher who played music as an amateur. His father came from a peasant family. Mother was the daughter of a mechanic. Of the fifteen children in the family, ten died at an early age. Franz showed musical talent very early. From the age of six he studied at a parish school, and his household taught him to play the violin and piano.

At the age of eleven, Franz was accepted into the Konvict - the court chapel, where, in addition to singing, he studied playing many instruments and music theory (under the guidance of Antonio Salieri). Leaving the chapel in 1813, Schubert took a job as a teacher at a school. He studied mainly Gluck, Mozart and Beethoven. He wrote his first independent works - the opera "Satan's Pleasure Castle" and the Mass in F major - in 1814.

The composer died of typhoid fever in Vienna on November 19, 1828. In accordance with his last wishes, Schubert was buried in the cemetery where Beethoven, whom he idolized, had been buried a year earlier. An eloquent inscription is engraved on the monument: “Death buried here a rich treasure, but even more beautiful hopes.” A crater on Mercury was named in honor of Schubert.

2. Creativity

In the field of song, Schubert was a successor to Beethoven. Thanks to Schubert, this genre received an artistic form, enriching the field of concert vocal music. The ballad “The Forest King,” written in 1816, brought fame to the composer. Soon after it appeared “The Wanderer”, “Praise of Tears”, “Zuleika” and others.

Of great importance in vocal literature are Schubert’s large collections of songs based on the poems of Wilhelm Müller - “The Beautiful Miller’s Wife” and “Winter Reise”, which are, as it were, a continuation of Beethoven’s idea expressed in the collection of songs “To a Distant Beloved”. In all these works Schubert showed remarkable melodic talent and a wide variety of moods; he gave the accompaniment greater meaning, greater artistic meaning. The collection “Swan Song” is also remarkable, from which many songs have gained worldwide fame (for example, “Serenade”, “Shelter”, “Fisherman”, “By the Sea”). Schubert did not try, like his predecessors, to imitate the national character, but his songs involuntarily reflected the national current, and they became the property of the country. Schubert wrote almost 600 songs. Schubert's amazing musical gift was reflected in the areas of piano and symphony. His fantasies in C major and F minor, impromptu songs, musical moments, and sonatas are proof of his rich imagination and great harmonic erudition. In the string quartet in D minor, the quintet in C major, the piano quintet "Forel" (often also called "Forellenquintett", "Trout"), the great symphony in C major and the unfinished symphony in B minor, Schubert is Beethoven's successor. In the field of opera, Schubert was not so gifted; although he wrote about 20 of them, they will add little to his fame. Among them, “Conspirators, or Home War” stands out. Certain numbers of his operas (for example, Rosamund) are quite worthy of a great musician. Of Schubert's numerous church works (masses, offertories, hymns, etc.), the Mass in E-flat major is especially distinguished by its sublime character and musical richness. Schubert's musical productivity was enormous. Beginning in 1813, he composed incessantly. In the highest circle, where Schubert was invited to accompany his vocal compositions, he was extremely reserved, was not interested in praise and even avoided it; Among his friends, on the contrary, he highly valued approval. Of the operas performed at that time, Schubert liked most of all “The Swiss Family” by Weigel, “Medea” by Cherubini, “John of Paris” by Boieldier, “Cendrillon” by Izouard and especially “Iphigenie in Tauris” by Gluck. Schubert had little interest in Italian opera, which was in great fashion in his time; only “The Barber of Seville” and some passages from Rossini’s “Othello” seduced him. According to biographers, Schubert never changed anything in his compositions, because he did not have it for that time. He did not spare his health and, in the prime of his life and talent, died at the age of 31. The last year of his life, despite his poor health, was especially fruitful: it was then that he wrote a symphony in C major and a mass in E flat major. During his lifetime he did not enjoy outstanding success. After his death, a mass of manuscripts remained that later saw the light (6 masses, 7 symphonies, 15 operas, etc.).

3. Unfinished Symphony

The exact date of creation of the symphony in B minor (Unfinished) is unknown. It was dedicated to the amateur musical society of Graz, and Schubert presented two parts of it in 1824.

The manuscript was kept for more than 40 years by Schubert's friend Anselm Hüttenbrenner, until the Viennese conductor Johann Herbeck discovered it and performed it at a concert in 1865. The symphony was published in 1866.

It remains a mystery to Schubert himself why he did not complete the “Unfinished” Symphony. It seems that he intended to bring it to its logical conclusion, the first scherzos were completely finished, and the rest were discovered in sketches.

From another point of view, the “Unfinished” symphony is a completely completed work, since the circle of images and their development exhausts itself within two parts. Thus, at one time Beethoven created sonatas in two parts, and later works of this kind became common among romantic composers.

Currently, there are several options for completing the “Unfinished” Symphony (in particular, the options of the English musicologist Brian Newbould and the Russian composer Anton Safronov).

4. Essays

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Operas- Alfonso and Estrella (1822; staged 1854, Weimar), Fierrabras (1823; staged 1897, Karlsruhe), 3 unfinished, including Count von Gleichen, etc.;

Singspiel(7), including Claudina von Villa Bella (on a text by Goethe, 1815, the first of 3 acts has been preserved; production 1978, Vienna), The Twin Brothers (1820, Vienna), The Conspirators, or Home War (1823; production 1861, Frankfurt am Main);

Music for plays- The Magic Harp (1820, Vienna), Rosamund, Princess of Cyprus (1823, ibid.);

For soloists, choir and orchestra- 7 masses (1814-28), German Requiem (1818), Magnificat (1815), offertories and other spiritual works, oratorios, cantatas, including Miriam’s Victory Song (1828);

For orchestra- symphonies (1813; 1815; 1815; Tragic, 1816; 1816; Small C major, 1818; 1821, unfinished; Unfinished, 1822; Major C major, 1828), 8 overtures;

Chamber instrumental ensembles- 4 sonatas (1816-17), fantasy (1827) for violin and piano; sonata for arpeggione and piano (1824), 2 piano trios (1827, 1828?), 2 string trios (1816, 1817), 14 or 16 string quartets (1811-26), Trout piano quintet (1819?), string quintet ( 1828), octet for strings and winds (1824), etc.;

For piano 2 hands- 23 sonatas (including 6 unfinished; 1815-28), fantasy (Wanderer, 1822, etc.), 11 impromptu (1827-28), 6 musical moments (1823-28), rondo, variations and others plays, over 400 dances (waltzes, ländlers, German dances, minuets, ecosaises, gallops, etc.; 1812-27);

For piano 4 hands- sonatas, overtures, fantasies, Hungarian divertissement (1824), rondos, variations, polonaises, marches, etc.;

Vocal ensembles for male, female voices and mixed compositions with and without accompaniment;

Songs for voice and piano, (more than 600) including the cycles “The Beautiful Miller’s Wife” (1823) and “Winter Retreat” (1827), the collection “Swan Song” (1828), “Ellen’s Third Song” (“Ellens dritter Gesang”, also known like "Ave Maria" by Schubert).

Bibliography:

V. Galatskaya. Franz Schubert // Musical literature of foreign countries. Vol. III. M.: Music. 1983. p. 155

V. Galatskaya. Franz Schubert // Musical literature of foreign countries. Vol. III. M.: Music. 1983. p. 212

Childhood

Franz showed musical abilities very early. The first to teach him music were his family: his father (violin) and older brother Ignatz (piano). From the age of six he studied at the parish school of Lichtenthal. From the age of seven he took organ lessons from the bandmaster of the Lichtental church. The rector of the parish church, M. Holzer, taught him to sing

Thanks to his beautiful voice at the age of eleven Franz was accepted as a “singing boy” into the Viennese court chapel and into the Konvikt (boarding school). There his friends became Joseph von Spaun, Albert Stadler and Anton Holzapfel. Teachers Schubert there were Wenzel Ruzicka (bass general) and later (until 1816) Antonio Salieri (counterpoint and composition). Schubert He studied not only singing, but also became acquainted with the instrumental works of Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as he was second violin in the Konvikt orchestra.

His talent as a composer soon emerged. From 1810 to 1813 Schubert wrote an opera, a symphony, piano pieces and songs In his studies Schubert Mathematics and Latin were difficult for him, and in 1813 he was expelled from the choir because his voice was breaking. Schubert returned home and entered the teachers' seminary, which he graduated from in 1814. Then he got a job as a teacher at the school where his father worked (he worked at this school until 1818). In his spare time, he composed music. He studied mainly Gluck, Mozart and Beethoven. He wrote his first independent works - the opera "Satan's Pleasure Castle" and the Mass in F major - in 1814.

Maturity

Among friends Schubert there were the official J. Spaun, the amateur poet F. Schober, the poet I. Mayrhofer, the poet and comedian E. Bauernfeld, the artists M. Schwind and L. Kupelwieser, the composer A. Hüttenbrenner and J. Schubert. They were fans of creativity Schubert and periodically provided him with financial assistance.

At the beginning of 1818 Schubert left work at school. In July, he moved to Želiz (now the Slovak city of Železovce) to the summer residence of Count Johann Esterházy, where he began teaching music to his daughters. In mid-November he returned to Vienna. The second time he visited Esterhazy was in 1824.

In 1823 he was elected an honorary member of the Styrian and Linz musical unions.

In the 1820s Schubert health problems began. In December 1822 he fell ill, but after a stay in hospital in the autumn of 1823 his health improved.

Last years

The composer died of typhoid fever on November 19, 1828 at the age of less than 32 years after a two-week fever. According to the last wish, Schubert They buried him in the Wehring cemetery, where the year before, Beethoven, whom he idolized, was buried. An eloquent inscription is engraved on the monument: “Music buried here a precious treasure, but even more wonderful hopes.” On January 22, 1888, his ashes were reburied at the Vienna Central Cemetery.

Creation

Collections of songs are of great importance in vocal literature. Schubert based on the poems of Wilhelm Müller - “The Beautiful Miller's Wife” and “Winter Reise”, which are, as it were, a continuation of Beethoven’s idea expressed in the collection of songs “To a Distant Beloved”. In these works Schubert showed remarkable melodic talent and a wide variety of moods; he gave the accompaniment greater meaning, greater artistic meaning. The latest collection “Swan Song” is also remarkable, many of the songs from which have gained worldwide fame.

Musical gift Schubert opened new paths of piano music. His Fantasies in C major and F minor, impromptu, musical moments, sonatas are proof of the richest imagination and great harmonic courage. In chamber and symphonic music - string quartet in D minor, quintet in C major, piano quintet “Forellenquintett” (“Trout”), “Great Symphony” in C major and “Unfinished Symphony” in B minor - Schubert demonstrates his unique and independent musical thinking, significantly different from the thinking of Beethoven, living and dominant at that time.

From numerous church works Schubert(mass, offertory, hymns, etc.) the Mass in E-flat major is especially distinguished by its sublime character and musical richness.

Of the operas performed at that time, Schubert Most of all I liked “The Swiss Family” by Joseph Weigl, “Medea” by Luigi Cherubini, “John of Paris” by François Adrien Boieldieu, “Cendrillon” by Izward and especially “Iphigenia in Tauris” by Gluck. Schubert had little interest in Italian opera, which was in great fashion in his time; only “The Barber of Seville” and some passages from “Othello” by Gioachino Rossini attracted him.

Posthumous recognition

In 1897, the publishers Breitkopf and Hertel published a critical edition of the composer's works, whose chief editor was Johannes Brahms. Twentieth-century composers such as Benjamin Britten, Richard Strauss, and George Crum were or were persistent popularizers of music Schubert, or made allusions to it in their own music. Britten, who was an excellent pianist, accompanied many of the songs. Schubert and often played his solos and duets.

Unfinished Symphony

The manuscript was kept for more than 40 years by a friend Schubert Anselm Hüttenbrenner, until it was discovered by the Viennese conductor Johann Herbeck and performed in a concert in 1865. (The completed Schubert the first two movements, and instead of the missing 3rd and 4th movements the final movement from the early Third Symphony was performed Schubert in D major.) The symphony was published in 1866 in the form of the first two movements.

The reasons why are still unclear Schubert did not complete the “Unfinished” Symphony. Apparently, he intended to bring it to its logical conclusion: the first two parts were completely finished, and the 3rd part (in the nature of a scherzo) remained in sketches. There are no sketches for the ending (or they may have been lost).

For a long time there was a point of view that the “Unfinished” symphony is a completely completed work, since the circle of images and their development exhausts itself within two parts. As a comparison, they talked about Beethoven's sonatas in two movements and that later works of this kind became common among Romantic composers. However, this version is contradicted by the fact that the completed Schubert the first two parts are written in different keys, far from each other. (Such cases have not occurred either before or after him.)

Currently, there are several options for completing the “Unfinished” Symphony (in particular, the options of the English musicologist Brian Newbould and the Russian composer Anton Safronov).

Essays

• Singspiel (7), including Claudina von Villa Bella (on a text by Goethe, 1815, the first of 3 acts has been preserved; staged 1978, Vienna), The Twin Brothers (1820, Vienna), The Conspirators, or Home War (1823; staged 1861 , Frankfurt am Main);
• Music for plays - The Magic Harp (1820, Vienna), Rosamund, Princess of Cyprus (1823, ibid.);
• For soloists, choir and orchestra - 7 masses (1814-1828), German Requiem (1818), Magnificat (1815), offertories and other spiritual works, oratorios, cantatas, including Miriam's Victory Song (1828);
• For orchestra - symphonies (1813; 1815; 1815; Tragic, 1816; 1816; Small C major, 1818; 1821, unfinished; Unfinished, 1822; Major C major, 1828), 8 overtures;
• Chamber instrumental ensembles - 4 sonatas (1816-1817), fantasy (1827) for violin and piano; sonata for arpeggione and piano (1824), 2 piano trios (1827, 1828?), 2 string trios (1816, 1817), 14 or 16 string quartets (1811-1826), Trout piano quintet (1819?), string quintet ( 1828), octet for strings and winds (1824), etc.;
• For piano 2 hands - 23 sonatas (including 6 unfinished; 1815-1828), fantasy (Wanderer, 1822, etc.), 11 impromptu (1827-28), 6 musical moments (1823-1828), rondo, variations and other pieces, over 400 dances (waltzes, ländlers, German dances, minuets, ecosaises, gallops, etc.; 1812-1827);
• For piano 4 hands - sonatas, overtures, fantasies, Hungarian divertissement (1824), rondos, variations, polonaises, marches, etc.;
• Vocal ensembles for male, female voices and mixed compositions with and without accompaniment;
• Songs for voice and piano, (over 600) including the cycles “The Beautiful Miller’s Wife” (1823) and “Winter Retreat” (1827), the collection “Swan Song” (1828), “Ellen’s Third Song” (“Ellens dritter Gesang” , also known as Schubert's "Ave Maria").
• Forest king

Catalog of works

In astronomy

Schubert lived only thirty-one years. He died exhausted physically and mentally, exhausted by failures in life. None of the composer's nine symphonies were performed during his lifetime. Of the six hundred songs, about two hundred were published, and of the two dozen piano sonatas, only three.

***

Schubert was not alone in his dissatisfaction with the life around him. This dissatisfaction and protest of the best people of society were reflected in a new direction in art - romanticism. Schubert was one of the first Romantic composers.
Franz Schubert was born in 1797 in the Vienna suburb of Lichtenthal. His father, a school teacher, came from a peasant family. Mother was the daughter of a mechanic. The family loved music very much and constantly organized musical evenings. His father played the cello, and his brothers played various instruments.

Having discovered musical abilities in little Franz, his father and older brother Ignatz began to teach him to play the violin and piano. Soon the boy was able to take part in home performances of string quartets, playing the viola part. Franz had a wonderful voice. He sang in the church choir, performing difficult solo parts. The father was pleased with his son's success.

When Franz was eleven years old, he was assigned to a konvikt - a training school for church singers. The environment of the educational institution was conducive to the development of the boy’s musical abilities. In the school student orchestra, he played in the first violin group, and sometimes even served as conductor. The orchestra's repertoire was varied. Schubert became acquainted with symphonic works of various genres (symphonies, overtures), quartets, and vocal works. He confided to his friends that Mozart's Symphony in G Minor shocked him. Beethoven's music became a high example for him.

Already in those years, Schubert began to compose. His first works were fantasia for piano, a number of songs. The young composer writes a lot, with great passion, often to the detriment of other school activities. The boy's outstanding abilities attracted the attention of the famous court composer Salieri, with whom Schubert studied for a year.
Over time, the rapid development of Franz's musical talent began to cause concern in his father. Knowing well how difficult the path of musicians was, even world famous ones, the father wanted to protect his son from a similar fate. As punishment for his excessive passion for music, he even forbade him to be at home on holidays. But no prohibitions could delay the development of the boy’s talent.

Schubert decided to break with the convict. Throw away boring and unnecessary textbooks, forget about worthless cramming that drains your heart and mind, and go free. Give yourself entirely to music, live only by it and for its sake. On October 28, 1813, he completed his first symphony in D major. On the last sheet of the score, Schubert wrote: “The end and the end.” The end of the symphony and the end of the convict.

For three years he served as an assistant teacher, teaching children literacy and other elementary subjects. But his attraction to music and his desire to compose becomes stronger. One can only be amazed at the resilience of his creative nature. It was during these years of school hard labor from 1814 to 1817, when it seemed that everything was against him, that he created an amazing number of works.

In 1815 alone, Schubert wrote 144 songs, 4 operas, 2 symphonies, 2 masses, 2 piano sonatas, and a string quartet. Among the creations of this period there are many that are illuminated by the unfading flame of genius. These are the Tragic and Fifth B-flat major symphonies, as well as the songs “Rosochka”, “Margarita at the Spinning Wheel”, “The Forest King”, “Margarita at the Spinning Wheel” - a monodrama, a confession of the soul.

“The Forest King” is a drama with several characters. They have their own characters, sharply different from each other, their own actions, completely dissimilar, their own aspirations, opposing and hostile, their own feelings, incompatible and polar.

The story behind the creation of this masterpiece is amazing. It arose in a fit of inspiration.” “One day,” recalls Shpaun, a friend of the composer, “we went to see Schubert, who was then living with his father. We found our friend in the greatest excitement. With a book in his hand, he walked back and forth around the room, reading “The Forest King” aloud. Suddenly he sat down at the table and began to write. When he stood up, the magnificent ballad was ready.”

The father's desire to make his son a teacher with a small but reliable income failed. The young composer firmly decided to devote himself to music and left teaching at school. He was not afraid of a quarrel with his father. The entire subsequent short life of Schubert represents a creative feat. Experiencing great material need and deprivation, he worked tirelessly, creating one work after another.

Financial adversity, unfortunately, prevented him from marrying his beloved girl. Teresa Grob sang in the church choir. From the very first rehearsals, Schubert noticed her, although she was inconspicuous. Blonde-haired, with whitish eyebrows, as if faded in the sun, and a grainy face, like most dull blondes, she did not sparkle with beauty at all.Rather, on the contrary - at first glance she seemed ugly. Traces of smallpox clearly appeared on her round face. But as soon as the music sounded, the colorless face was transformed. It had just been extinguished and therefore lifeless. Now, illuminated by the inner light, it lived and radiated.

No matter how accustomed Schubert was to the callousness of fate, he did not imagine that fate would treat him so cruelly. “Happy is he who finds a true friend. Even happier is he who finds it in his wife.” , he wrote in his diary.

However, the dreams went to waste. Teresa's mother, who raised her without a father, intervened. Her father owned a small silk-spinning factory. Having died, he left the family a small fortune, and the widow turned all her worries to ensuring that the already meager capital did not decrease.
Naturally, she pinned hopes for a better future on her daughter’s marriage. And it is even more natural that Schubert did not suit her. In addition to the penny salary of an assistant schoolteacher, he had music, which, as we know, is not capital. You can live by music, but you can’t live by it.
A submissive girl from the suburbs, brought up in subordination to her elders, did not even allow disobedience in her thoughts. The only thing she allowed herself was tears. Having cried quietly until the wedding, Teresa walked down the aisle with swollen eyes.
She became the wife of a pastry chef and lived a long, monotonously prosperous gray life, dying at the age of seventy-eight. By the time she was taken to the cemetery, Schubert’s ashes had long since decayed in the grave.

For several years (from 1817 to 1822) Schubert lived alternately with one or the other of his comrades. Some of them (Spaun and Stadler) were friends of the composer from the convict days. Later they were joined by the multi-talented artist Schober, the artist Schwind, the poet Mayrhofer, the singer Vogl and others. The soul of this circle was Schubert.
Short, stocky, very short-sighted, Schubert had enormous charm. His radiant eyes were especially beautiful, in which, as in a mirror, kindness, shyness and gentleness of character were reflected. And his delicate, changeable complexion and curly brown hair gave his appearance a special attractiveness.

During meetings, friends got acquainted with fiction, poetry of the past and present. They argued heatedly, discussing issues that arose, and criticized the existing social order. But sometimes such meetings were devoted exclusively to Schubert’s music; they even received the name “Schubertiad”.
On such evenings, the composer did not leave the piano, immediately composing ecosaises, waltzes, landlers and other dances. Many of them remained unrecorded. Schubert's songs, which he often performed himself, evoked no less admiration. Often these friendly gatherings turned into country walks.

Saturated with bold, lively thought, poetry, and beautiful music, these meetings represented a rare contrast with the empty and meaningless entertainment of secular youth.
The unsettled life and cheerful entertainment could not distract Schubert from his creative, stormy, continuous, inspired work. He worked systematically, day after day. “I compose every morning, when I finish one piece, I start another” , - admitted the composer. Schubert composed music unusually quickly.

On some days he created up to a dozen songs! Musical thoughts were born continuously, the composer barely had time to write them down on paper. And if it wasn’t at hand, he wrote the menu on the back, on scraps and scraps. Needing money, he especially suffered from a lack of music paper. Caring friends supplied the composer with it. Music also visited him in his dreams.
When he woke up, he tried to write it down as soon as possible, so he did not part with his glasses even at night. And if the work did not immediately develop into a perfect and complete form, the composer continued to work on it until he was completely satisfied.

Thus, for some poetic texts, Schubert wrote up to seven versions of songs! During this period, Schubert wrote two of his wonderful works - “The Unfinished Symphony” and the cycle of songs “The Beautiful Miller’s Wife”. “The Unfinished Symphony” consists not of four parts, as is customary, but of two. And the point is not at all that Schubert did not have time to finish the remaining two parts. He started on the third - a minuet, as the classical symphony demanded, but abandoned his idea. The symphony, as it sounded, was completely completed. Everything else would turn out to be superfluous and unnecessary.
And if the classical form requires two more parts, you have to give up the form. Which is what he did. Schubert's element was song. In it he reached unprecedented heights. He elevated the genre, previously considered insignificant, to the level of artistic perfection. And having done this, he went further - he saturated chamber music with songfulness - quartets, quintets - and then symphonic music.

The combination of what seemed incompatible - miniature with large-scale, small with large, song with symphony - gave a new, qualitatively different from everything that came before - a lyric-romantic symphony. Her world is a world of simple and intimate human feelings, the most subtle and deep psychological experiences. This is a confession of the soul, expressed not with a pen or a word, but with sound.

The song cycle “The Beautiful Miller's Wife” is a clear confirmation of this. Schubert wrote it based on poems by the German poet Wilhelm Müller. “The Beautiful Miller's Wife” is an inspired creation, illuminated by gentle poetry, joy, and the romance of pure and high feelings.
The cycle consists of twenty separate songs. And all together they form a single dramatic play with a beginning, twists and turns and a denouement, with one lyrical hero - a wandering mill apprentice.
However, the hero in “The Beautiful Miller's Wife” is not alone. Next to him there is another, no less important hero - a stream. He lives his stormy, intensely changing life.

The works of the last decade of Schubert's life are very diverse. He writes symphonies, piano sonatas, quartets, quintets, trios, masses, operas, a lot of songs and much other music. But during the composer’s lifetime, his works were rarely performed, and most of them remained in manuscripts.
Having neither funds nor influential patrons, Schubert had almost no opportunity to publish his works. Songs, the main thing in Schubert's work, were then considered more suitable for home music playing than for open concerts. Compared to the symphony and opera, songs were not considered an important musical genre.

Not a single Schubert opera was accepted for production, and not a single one of his symphonies was performed by an orchestra. Moreover, the notes of his best Eighth and Ninth Symphonies were found only many years after the composer's death. And the songs based on Goethe’s words, sent to him by Schubert, never received the poet’s attention.
Timidity, inability to manage his affairs, reluctance to ask, to humiliate himself in front of influential people were also an important reason for Schubert's constant financial difficulties. But, despite the constant lack of money, and often hunger, the composer did not want to go either into the service of Prince Esterhazy or as a court organist, where he was invited. At times, Schubert did not even have a piano and composed without an instrument. Financial difficulties did not prevent him from composing music.

And yet the Viennese came to know and love Schubert’s music, which itself made its way to their hearts. Like ancient folk songs, passed on from singer to singer, his works gradually gained admirers. These were not regulars of brilliant court salons, representatives of the upper class. Like a forest stream, Schubert's music found its way to the hearts of ordinary residents of Vienna and its suburbs.
A major role was played here by the outstanding singer of that time, Johann Michael Vogl, who performed Schubert's songs to the accompaniment of the composer himself. Insecurity and continuous failures in life had a serious impact on Schubert's health. His body was exhausted. Reconciliation with his father in the last years of his life, a calmer, more balanced home life could no longer change anything. Schubert could not stop composing music; this was the meaning of his life.

But creativity required a huge expenditure of effort and energy, which became less and less every day. At twenty-seven years old, the composer wrote to his friend Schober: “I feel like an unhappy, insignificant person in the world.”
This mood was reflected in the music of the last period. If earlier Schubert created mainly bright, joyful works, then a year before his death he wrote songs, uniting them under the common title “Winter Reise”.
This has never happened to him before. He wrote about suffering and suffered. He wrote about hopeless melancholy and was hopelessly melancholy. He wrote about the excruciating pain of the soul and experienced mental anguish. “Winter Way” is a journey through the torment of both the lyrical hero and the author.

The cycle, written in the blood of the heart, excites the blood and stirs the hearts. A thin thread woven by the artist connected the soul of one person with the souls of millions of people with an invisible but indissoluble connection. She opened their hearts to the flow of feelings rushing from his heart.

In 1828, through the efforts of friends, the only concert of his works during Schubert’s lifetime was organized. The concert was a huge success and brought great joy to the composer. His plans for the future became more rosy. Despite his failing health, he continues to compose. The end came unexpectedly. Schubert fell ill with typhus.
The weakened body could not withstand the serious illness, and on November 19, 1828, Schubert died. The remaining property was valued for pennies. Many works have disappeared.

The famous poet of the time, Grillparzer, who had composed a funeral eulogy for Beethoven a year earlier, wrote on the modest monument to Schubert in the Vienna cemetery:

A stunning, deep and, it seems to me, mysterious melody. Sadness, faith, renunciation.
F. Schubert composed his song Ave Maria in 1825. Initially, this work by F. Schubert had little to do with Ave Maria. The title of the song was "Ellen's Third Song", and the lyrics to which the music was written were taken from Adam Storck's German translation of Walter Scott's poem "The Maid of the Lake".