The rise of the Romantic school involves a greater freedom in form, a
fuller play of poetry and imagination, a general artistic evolution and
independence in comparison with the formality of the Classic period.
The struggle to establish these principles was long and obstinate, but
the outcome was as inevitable as the victory won by Beethoven’s sonata
and symphonic forms over the more primitive types of Haydn and Mozart.
The first departures from the classic attitude were made by Schubert,
whose influence has been permanent in the development of romanticism.
=Schubert’s Early Life= (1797-1816).—Franz Peter Schubert was born in
a suburb of Vienna, January 31, 1797. At an early age he had lessons
on the violin from his father, who was a school teacher, and on the
piano, from his elder brother. He so quickly outstripped both teachers
that he was sent to Michael Holzer, choir-master of the parish, who
taught him piano, organ, violin, singing and theory. In later years,
Holzer disclaimed the value of his instruction, saying: “If I ever
wished to teach him anything new, I found he had already mastered
it.” After singing in the parish choir, he passed an examination for
admission to the Imperial _Convict_ or school for the Royal choristers.
The training included general education as well as music; there was
also an orchestra among the boys in which Schubert played the violin
and sometimes conducted. There were privations connected with life at
the _Convict_, the practice rooms were insufferably cold, and the food
insufficient. In 1810, Schubert began to compose, dating his pieces
carefully, and the only check to his inspiration was the lack of
music-paper, which he was too poor to buy. A generous friend made up
the deficiency. In 1813, he left the _Convict_, although his general
education was by no means complete, since he had neglected his studies
on account of his increasing passion for composition. After leaving
the _Convict_, Schubert taught elementary classes at his father’s
school, but the drudgery became insupportable. An ardent friend and
admirer, Franz von Schober, realizing that Schubert’s creative powers
were greatly hampered by the conditions of his life, gave him a home.
Already he had composed some of his most famous songs, including “The
Erl-King.”
=Later Years= (1816-1828).—From 1816 on, Schubert appears to have
lived in Schober’s apartments, except for two years shared with the
poet Mayerhofer, and a period spent with a friend, Schwind. It is
a mystery how Schubert managed to live, for he taught little, and
his few publications could have brought him at best only small sums
at irregular intervals. He had already failed to secure a position
in a Government school of music, but in 1818 he passed the summer
as music teacher to the household of Count Johann Esterhazy, in
Zelescz, Hungary. The record of his life hereafter is one of incessant
composition, with few interruptions or facts of interest. In 1823, he
showed Weber his eighth work for the stage: “Alfonso and Estrella.” The
only advice he received was that “first operas, like first puppies,
should be drowned.” The summer of 1824 was spent again with the
Esterhazys and many characteristic compositions, such as the quartet in
A minor, the “Hungarian Divertissement,” the piano sonata in B-flat,
etc., date from this time. In 1826, Schubert failed to obtain either
of two positions, which would have placed him above need, the second
because, like Beethoven, he refused to alter a trial aria to suit the
voice of a capricious singer. Schubert was taken to see Beethoven
during his last illness, in 1827. In 1828, he went to live with his
brother Ferdinand in a new and damp house. His health, which had
been troublesome before, now gave way, and he died of typhoid fever,
November 28, 1828, in his thirty-second year.
=Personal Traits and Habits of Work=.—Schubert was short of stature,
thickset and rather heavy in features. His face in repose was rather
devoid of expression, but when interested in anything, his eyes glowed
with enthusiasm and his whole appearance changed. His disposition was
even and good-tempered, he was simple and trusting by nature, and
could rarely be induced to put himself forward. Although receiving
many favors from friends, his generosity often led him to give to
others when he could ill spare it. He began composing early in the
morning and worked uninterruptedly for several hours; he walked much
in the afternoon or paid visits to friends, spending his evenings with
congenial spirits at various taverns. Composing was the mainspring of
his existence, and he often wrote down his ideas while in the midst
of conversation with others. Thus he wrote his immortal “Serenade” on
the back of a bill-of-fare at a tavern; a piece for four-hands while
waiting at a hospital for a friend, “and dinner missed in consequence”;
a movement of a string quartet was begun about midnight and finished in
the early morning. Although he set many poems by Goethe, Schiller and
Heine, his inspiration was quite as effectively aroused by second-rate
poems of his friends Mayerhofer, von Schober, or the artless poems of
Müller. Schubert was shy and reserved in what might be called “good
society”; he preferred the company of congenial friends in an humbler
social station. He seems to have cared little for literature, and his
love of poetry was limited to its availability as texts for songs.
In early life he played the violin and the viola in a family string
quartet. Schubert was no virtuoso on the piano, but he played exquisite
accompaniments, and he read well at sight in spite of defective
eyesight. His performance was marked by earnestness and attention to
the inner sentiment of the music rather than by the superficial polish
of the mere pianist. It was said that no one could forget the effect
of Schubert’s songs as performed by himself and his friend Vogl; the
two seemed absolutely united, the ideal condition for the rendering of
vocal works.
=Schubert’s Compositions=.—Schubert completed more than eleven hundred
pieces in about eighteen years. Such fertility is unique in the history
of composition, and is scarcely equalled even by Mozart, whose activity
extended over nearly thirty years. Schubert’s powers of spontaneous
invention have never been approached; he composed generally without
making sketches; he seldom revised, for his ideas came faster than he
could write them down. It is impossible to enumerate all Schubert’s
works, but the following comprise the most important: Nine symphonies,
eleven works for the stage, six masses, over seventy part-songs,
choruses, etc., for various combinations, twenty-four sonatas for
piano, fantasies, overtures, variations, marches and dances for piano
duet, impromptus, moments musicals, fantasies, variations and over
two hundred dances for piano solo, two trios for piano and strings,
a quintet for strings and piano, a string quintet and several string
trios, twenty-four string quartets, besides about six hundred songs
with piano accompaniment and occasionally with obligatos for other
instruments. It is obvious that such fertility is not consistent
with evenness of quality; we must pick and choose to find the real
Schubert. However, the symphonies in C and B minor (“Unfinished”),
the string quartets in D minor and G major, several sonatas for
piano, the impromptus, moments musicals, the fantasy in C for piano,
the Hungarian Divertissement, several marches and other compositions
for four hands, many charming two-hand waltzes, and, finally, such
song-cycles as the “Miller-Songs,” the “Winter Journey,” those called
“Swan-Songs” by the publishers, as well as about thirty separate songs
“The Erl-King,” “The Wanderer,” “To Sylvia,” “The Omnipotent,” “The
Young Nun,” the “Serenade,” “Hark! Hark! the Lark,” “Sei mir Gegrüsst,”
“Du bist die Ruh,” “Ave Maria,” “Litany,” and others, are the works
of Schubert which will live. Schubert at his best entrances us by his
wonderful flow of melody, his spontaneity, his symmetrical form, which,
however, is sometimes diffuse. His chief qualities lie in the simple
expressiveness of his music, a direct appeal to sincerity of emotion,
and to the sense of the poetic. He began by imitating the form and
style of Mozart and Beethoven; but from his eighteenth year onward
he developed an individuality entirely apart. Despite the virtues
of his instrumental music, his great achievement was the creation
of the German song, in which department he stands unrivalled in the
inexhaustibility of his melody, the variety of mood which they display,
the subtlety and harmonic beauty of his accompaniments, as well as art
in creating vocal effects.
=Schubert’s Influence on Music=.—In abundance of resource, poetic
feeling and true imagination, Schubert has brought new forces into
music. His influence on romantic composers was widespread and deep.
Schumann was a thorough admirer of Schubert. Schumann’s songs could
hardly have come into existence but for those of Schubert, and
the latter’s short pieces for piano were undoubtedly as potent an
inspiration for his piano works. Brahms, too, had a real reverence
for Schubert, that is plainly exhibited in his works. Despite the
differences of their artistic individuality, there are traces of
Schubert in the former’s songs as well as in some of his short piano
pieces. Liszt’s partiality to Schubert was untiring in its zeal. He
played his piano music, transcribed the “Hungarian Divertissement,”
arranged some of the marches for two hands and for orchestra; he made
a version of the fantasy in C for piano and orchestra, which is still
popular; and, finally (perhaps his greatest service to Schubert) he
transcribed no less than fifty-seven of his songs for piano. In this
form he created an interest in Schubert where the original versions
were unknown, and did much to spread their renown. In spite of all
shortcomings, Schubert’s genius was so remarkable, and his immediate
effect upon the Romantic movement so apparent and his legacy to the
musical world so imperishable that it is difficult not to agree with
Sir George Grove when he wrote: “There has never been one like him and
there never will be another.”