FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797-1828)

A Composer of the Classical and Romantic eras.

Franz Schubert's father was a schoolteacher, and everyone in the Schubert family enjoyed and played music. Franz received music lessons from his father and his older brothers.

As a child, he attended a boychoir school where he sang in the choir and played violin in the orchestra. He began to compose while he was a student.

The boychoir school gave Franz and excellent musical education. After graduation at age 17, he taught music at the same school where his father taught. He now began to spend his evenings composing. He wrote rapidly, not caring whether or not his music would ever be performed. After two years, he left his teaching position and moved in with friends to devote nearly all of his time composing. He had virtually no income and began neglecting his health by eating poorly and sleeping very little.

Eventually, Shubert realized he needed a steady source of income. In 1818 (age 21), he took a job as music teacher at the summer home of Prince Esterhazy-the same count who supported the composer Franz Joseph Haydn. Here Schubert made many influential friends and met many important court musicians and composers who could have been helpful in getting his music performed, but he was unable to develop these friendships and most of his music remained unperformed outside the Esterhazy palace. Prince Esterhazy offered him the position of court organist, but Schubert declined because he didn't like the schedule. He resigned after just two years.

By age 23, he had written over 500 musical works, but only two had ever been performed in public. For several years he spent his mornings composing, his afternoon with friends, and his nights partying. He was always short of money and lived in terrible conditions. His health began to fail.

In March of 1828, friends put together a concert devoted exclusively to Schubert's music. It was well received by the audience and critics; his friends told him success was near. Unfortunately, he died eight months later at the age of 31.

Ten years after Shubert's death, another composer, Robert Schumann, began studying Shubert's music and organized performances of his orchestral music. The performances were very successful and created tremendous interest in Shubert's music. One of his most famous works is his Symphony No.8, which was unfinished at the time of his death, and eventually became known as the Unfinished Symphony. It was not performed until 37 years after his death. Other symphonies were discovered and performed much later.

Writing music was Franz Shubert's only goal. He had no business sense and lived in poverty for most of his adult life. He composed rapidly and didn't care about the value of his music, or whether it would be performed.