His best classical works are considered to be the “Unfinished Symphony” and the “Great Symphony in C major”. The composer's piano music is very popular: waltzes, landlers, gallops, ecosaises, marches, polonaises. Many works are intended for home performance.

Franz Peter Schubert died of typhoid fever in the city of Vienna on November 19, 1828. In accordance with his last wishes, Schubert was buried in the cemetery where the year before, Ludwig Beethoven, whom he idolized, was buried. In January 1888, his ashes, along with Beethoven's ashes, were reburied in the Central Cemetery of Vienna. Later, the famous burial site of composers and musicians was formed around their graves.

Works of Franz Schubert

Songs (over 600 in total)

Cycle “The Beautiful Miller's Wife” (1823)
Cycle "Winter Reise" (1827)
Collection " Swan Song"(1827-1828, posthumous)
About 70 songs based on Goethe's texts
About 50 songs based on Schiller's texts

Symphonies

First D major (1813)
Second B major (1815)
Third D major (1815)
Fourth C minor “Tragic” (1816)
Fifth B major (1816)
Sixth C major (1818)

Quartets (22 in total)

Quartet B major op. 168 (1814)
Quartet g minor (1815)
Quartet a minor op. 29 (1824)
Quartet in d minor (1824-1826)
Quartet G major op. 161 (1826)

Franz Peter Schubert was born on January 31, 1797 in Vienna, Austria. He was the fourth son in the family of a school teacher who loved music. As a boy he sang in the Vienna Court Chapel, then helped his father at school. By the age of nineteen, Franz had already written more than 250 songs, several symphonies and other musical works.

In the spring of 1816, Franz tried to get a job as the director of the choir chapel, but his plans were not destined to come true. Soon, thanks to friends, Schubert met the famous Austrian baritone Johann Fogal. It was this singer of romances who helped Schubert establish himself in life: he performed songs to the accompaniment of Franz in the music salons of Vienna.

Wide recognition came to him in the 1820s. In 1828, his concert took place, at which he and other musicians performed his works. This happened a few months before the composer's death. Despite short life, Schubert composed 9 symphonies, sonatas, and wrote chamber music.

In 1823, Schubert became an honorary member of the Styrian and Linz Musical Unions. In the same year, the musician composed the song cycle “The Beautiful Miller's Wife” based on the words of the romantic poet Wilhelm Müller. These songs tell about a young man who went in search of happiness. But happiness young man was in love: when he saw the miller’s daughter, Cupid’s arrow rushed into his heart. But the beloved drew attention to his rival, a young hunter, so the joyful and sublime feeling of the traveler soon grew into desperate grief.

After the tremendous success of “The Beautiful Miller's Wife” in the winter and autumn of 1827, Schubert worked on another cycle called “Winter Reise”. The music written to Müller's words is characterized by pessimism. Franz himself called his brainchild “a wreath of creepy songs.” It is noteworthy that Schubert wrote such gloomy compositions about unrequited love shortly before his own death.

A special place in his work is occupied by songs, of which the composer wrote more than 600. Franz enriched existing songs and wrote new ones based on poems by such outstanding poets as Goethe, Schiller, Shakespeare, Scott. It was the songs that made Schubert famous during his lifetime. He also wrote quartets, cantatas, masses and oratorios. And in Schubert's classical music the influence of the lyrical song theme is clearly evident.

Austrian composer, one of the founders of romanticism in music

short biography

Franz Peter Schubert(German: Franz Peter Schubert; January 31, 1797 - November 19, 1828, Vienna) - Austrian composer, one of the founders of romanticism in music, author of approximately 600 vocal compositions (based on words by Schiller, Goethe, Heine and others), nine symphonies, as well as a large number of chamber and solo piano works.

Schubert's works have still not lost their popularity and are among the most famous examples classical music.

Childhood

Franz Peter Schubert was born in the suburbs of Vienna into the family of a Lichtenthal parish school teacher and an amateur musician. His father, Franz Theodor Schubert, came from a family of Moravian peasants; mother, Elisabeth Schubert (née Fitz), was the daughter of a Silesian mechanic. Of their fourteen children, nine died in early age, and one of Franz’s brothers, Ferdinand, also devoted himself to music.

Franz showed musical talent very early. His first mentors were members of his household: his father taught him to play the violin, and his older brother Ignatz taught him to play the 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. Wenzel Ruzicka taught Schubert general bass, later Antonio Salieri took Schubert to his place for free training, taught counterpoint and composition (until 1816). Schubert 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.

Schubert struggled with mathematics and Latin in his studies, and in 1813 he was expelled from the choir because his voice was breaking. Schubert returned home and entered the teachers' seminary, from which he graduated 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

Schubert's work did not correspond to his calling, and he made attempts to establish himself as a composer. But publishers refused to publish his works. In the spring of 1816, he was denied the post of bandmaster in Laibach (now Ljubljana). Soon Joseph von Spaun introduced Schubert to the poet Franz von Schober. Schober arranged for Schubert to meet the famous baritone Johann Michael Vogl. Schubert's songs performed by Vogl began to enjoy great popularity in Viennese salons. Schubert’s first success came with Goethe’s ballad “The Forest King” (“Erlkönig”), which he set to music in 1816. In January 1818, Schubert's first composition was published - the song Erlafsee(as a supplement to the anthology edited by F. Sartori).

Among Schubert's friends were the official J. Spaun, the amateur musician A. Holzapfel, the amateur poet F. Schober, the poet J. Mayrhofer, the poet and comedian E. Bauernfeld, the artists M. Schwind and L. Kupelwieser, the composers A. Hüttenbrenner and J Schubert, singer A. Milder-Hauptmann. They were fans of Schubert's work and periodically provided him with financial assistance.

At the beginning of 1818, Schubert left his job at the 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 began to have health problems. In December 1822 he fell ill, but after a stay in hospital in the autumn of 1823 his health improved.

Last years

From 1826 to 1828, Schubert lived in Vienna, with the exception of a short stay in Graz. The position of vice-kapellmeister in the chapel of the imperial court, for which he applied in 1826, did not go to him, but to Joseph Weigl. On March 26, 1828, he gave his only public concert, which was a great success and brought him 800 guilders. Meanwhile, his numerous songs and piano works were published.

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 his last wishes, Schubert was buried 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 wonderful treasure, but even more wonderful hopes. Franz Schubert lies here" On January 22, 1888, his ashes, along with Beethoven's ashes, were reburied in the Central Cemetery of Vienna. Later, the famous burial site of composers and musicians was formed around their graves.

Creation

Schubert's creative heritage covers the most different genres. He created 9 symphonies, over 25 chamber instrumental works, 21 piano sonatas, many pieces for piano for two and four hands, 10 operas, 6 masses, a number of works for choir, for vocal ensemble finally, more than 600 songs. During life, and that's enough long time After the composer's death, he was valued mainly as a songwriter. Only from the 19th century did researchers begin to gradually comprehend his achievements in other areas of creativity. Thanks to Schubert, the song for the first time became equal in importance to other genres. Her poetic images reflect almost the entire history of Austrian and German poetry, including some foreign authors.

Of great importance in vocal literature are Schubert’s 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 these works Schubert showed remarkable melodic talent and a wide variety of moods; he gave the accompaniment greater significance, greater artistic meaning. The latest collection “Swan Song” is also remarkable, many of the songs from which have gained worldwide fame.

Schubert's musical gift opened new paths 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 the living and the then dominant Beethoven.

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.

Of the operas performed at that time, Schubert most 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

Schubert left behind a mass of unpublished manuscripts (six masses, seven symphonies, fifteen operas, etc.). Some smaller works were published immediately after the composer's death, but manuscripts of larger works, little known to the public, remained in the bookcases and drawers of Schubert's relatives, friends and publishers. Even those closest to him did not know everything he wrote, and for many years he was recognized mainly only as the king of song. In 1838, Robert Schumann, while visiting Vienna, found a dusty manuscript of Schubert's "Great Symphony" and took it with him to Leipzig, where Felix Mendelssohn performed the work. The greatest contribution to the search and discovery of Schubert's works was made by George Grove and Arthur Sullivan, who visited Vienna in the fall of 1867. They managed to find seven symphonies, accompaniment music from the play Rosamund, several masses and operas, some chamber music, a large number of various fragments and songs. These discoveries led to a significant increase in interest in Schubert's work.

Franz Liszt transcribed and arranged a significant number of Schubert's works, especially songs, from 1830 to 1870. He said that Schubert was “the most poetic musician who ever lived.” For Antonin Dvořák, Schubert's symphonies were especially interesting, and Hector Berlioz and Anton Bruckner acknowledged the influence of the Great Symphony on their work.

In 1897, the publishers Breitkopf and Hertel published a scientifically verified 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 either promoters of Schubert's work or made allusions to his work in their own music. Britten, who was an excellent pianist, accompanied many of Schubert's songs and often played his solos and duets.

Unfinished Symphony

The time of creation of the symphony in B minor DV 759 (“Unfinished”) was the autumn of 1822. It was dedicated to the amateur musical society in 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 it was discovered by the Viennese conductor Johann Herbeck and performed in a concert in 1865. (The first two movements completed by Schubert were performed, and instead of the missing 3rd and 4th movements, the final movement from Schubert’s early Third Symphony in D major was performed.) The symphony was published in 1866 in the form of the first two movements.

The reasons why Schubert did not complete the “Unfinished” Symphony are still unclear. 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 first two movements completed by Schubert were written in different keys, far from each other. (Such cases have not occurred either before or after him.)

There is also an opinion that the music that became one of the intermissions to Rosamund, written in sonata form, in the key of B minor and having a dramatic character, could have been conceived as a finale. But this point of view has no documentary evidence.

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

Essays

• Operas - Alfonso and Estrella (1822; staged 1854, Weimar), Fierrabras (1823; staged 1897, Karlsruhe), 3 unfinished, including Count von Gleichen, and others;
• 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), Introduction and variations on the theme of the song “Withered Flowers” ​​(“Trockene Blumen” D 802) for flute and piano, etc.;
• For piano 2 hands - 23 sonatas (including 6 unfinished; 1815-1828), fantasy (Wanderer, 1822, etc.), 11 impromptu (1827-1828), 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.
• Vocal ensembles for men, women's voices and mixed trains, accompanied and unaccompanied;
• Songs for voice and piano (more than 600), including the cycles “The Beautiful Miller’s Wife” (1823) and “Winter Reise” (1827), the collection “Swan Song” (1828), “Ellen’s Third Song” (“Ellens dritter Gesang” , also known as Schubert’s “Ave Maria”), “The Forest King” (“Erlkönig”, based on poems by J. W. Goethe, 1816).

Catalog of works

Since relatively few of his works were published during the composer's lifetime, only a few of them have their own opus number, but even in such cases the number does not accurately reflect the time of creation of the work. In 1951, musicologist Otto Erich Deutsch published a catalog of Schubert's works, where all of the composer's works are arranged in chronological order according to the time they were written.

Memory

The asteroid (540) Rosamund, discovered in 1904, is named after Franz Schubert's musical play Rosamund.

Which is known to all figures musical art, was born on January 31, 1797 in the suburbs of the Austrian capital Vienna. He was the fourth son of a schoolteacher and cellist. All the teachers of the future musician noted his talent and diligence, with which he easily mastered knowledge in the field of music.

Education

Success and excellent mastery of his voice helped Schubert enter the Imperial Chapel, and then one of best schools Vienna - Konvikt. At the age of thirteen, he began to write his first compositions: songs, piano pieces, symphonies and operas. In 1812, Franz met the famous Salieri, who became interested in the talented young man. For five years they collaborated on creating compositions.

The composer Franz Schubert was formed precisely during his studies with Salieri - from 1812 to 1817. In 1813, he became a student at the teachers' seminary, and a year later he became a teacher at the school where his father once worked. It was then that he composed one of his first masses and set Goethe's poems to music.

Creation

In 1815-1816, Franz Schubert, whose biography is today studied in schools during music lessons, was quite productive. During this period he composed more than 250 songs, four symphonies, three masses and several operettas and string quartets. It was then that songs were created that spread throughout the world - “Forest King” and “Wanderer”.

But despite all this, Franz Schubert, whose works are today considered classics of world music, was as poor as a church rat. With the help of his friend J. von Spaun, the composer met the poet F. von Schober, who, in turn, was able to organize a meeting between Schubert and the then popular baritone M. Vogl.

Franz continued to work at the school, but in the summer of 1818 he decided to leave his service and went to the estate of Count Esterhazy, where he worked as a music teacher for several months. In 1819, Schubert completed the famous Sixth Symphony, and then composed several variations on French song which he dedicated to Beethoven.

Returning to Vienna, Franz Schubert, whose biography turned out to be too short, created the opera “The Twin Brothers” upon request. It was first staged in the summer of 1820 at the Kärtnertortheater. Schubert spent the summer of 1819 together with the baritone Vogl, and it was then that he managed to compose “Trout” (A major) - a popular quintet for piano.

The following years turned out to be quite difficult for the composer, since he was not equipped to seek the patronage of influential officials and figures in the art world. In 1823, he was quite seriously ill and was in a state of despondency. Nobody wanted to stage his operas, but Franz pulled himself together and wrote a vocal cycle called “The Beautiful Miller's Wife.”

In 1825, Franz Schubert, whose biography is familiar to many classical music lovers, managed to restore his health. His new opuses for piano were born. Until 1828, the composer worked hard to create his

At the beginning of 1828, Schubert's health began to fail. Apparently, the composer had a presentiment of his imminent death, so he tried to write at a feverish pace. It was in 1828 that he created a huge number of masterpieces, which gained popularity after the death of the author. Franz Schubert died on November 19, 1828 from typhus.

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 the best people societies 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. Situation educational institution favored the development musical abilities boy. 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 met symphonic works various genres (symphonies, overtures), quartets, vocal compositions. 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 holidays be at home. 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 last sheet Schubert wrote in the score: “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” - a drama with several actors. 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.
Vertically challenged, dense, 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 the delicate, changeable complexion and curly brown hair gave it appearance special attraction.

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 achieved 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, 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 the old ones folk songs, passed 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 father last years life, calmer, balanced home life they couldn't change anything anymore. 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 is reflected in the music 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".

Franz Schubert (January 31, 1797 - November 19, 1828) was a famous Austrian composer and pianist. The founder of musical romanticism. IN song cycles Schubert embodied spiritual world contemporary – “a young man of the 19th century.” Wrote ok. 600 songs (words by F. Schiller, I.V. Goethe, G. Heine, etc.), including from the cycles “The Beautiful Miller’s Wife” (1823), “Winter Reise” (1827, both with words by W. Müller) ; 9 symphonies (including “Unfinished”, 1822), quartets, trios, piano quintet “Trout” (1819); piano sonatas (over 20), impromptu, fantasies, waltzes, landlers, etc. He also wrote works for guitar.

There are many arrangements of Schubert's works for guitar (A. Diabelli, I.K. Mertz and others).

About Franz Schubert and his work

Valery Agababov

Musicians and music lovers will be interested to know that Franz Schubert, without having a piano at home for a number of years, used mainly a guitar when composing his works. His famous “Serenade” was marked “for guitar” in the manuscript. And if we listen more closely to the melodious and simple in its sincerity music of F. Schubert, we will be surprised to notice that much of what he wrote in the song and dance genre has a pronounced “guitar” character.

Franz Schubert (1797-1828) is a great Austrian composer. Born into the family of a school teacher. He was brought up in the Vienna Convint, where he studied general bass with V. Ruzicka, counterpoint and composition with A. Salieri.

From 1814 to 1818 he worked as an assistant teacher at his father's school. A circle of friends and admirers of his work formed around Schubert (including poets F. Schober and J. Mayrhofer, artists M. Schwind and L. Kupilwieser, singer I. M. Vogl, who became a promoter of his songs). These friendly meetings with Schubert went down in history under the name "Schubertiad". As a music teacher to the daughters of Count I. Esterhazy, Schubert visited Hungary and traveled with Vogl to Upper Austria and Salzburg. In 1828, a few months before Schubert's death, his author's concert took place, which was a great success.

The most important place in F. Schubert's legacy is occupied by songs for voice and piano (about 600 songs). One of the largest melodists, Schubert reformed the song genre, endowing it with deep content. Schubert created a new type of song with end-to-end development, as well as the first highly artistic examples of the vocal cycle ("The Beautiful Miller's Wife", "Winter Reise"). Schubert wrote operas, singspiels, masses, cantatas, oratorios, and quartets for male and female voices (in male choirs and ops. 11 and 16 he used the guitar as an accompanying instrument).

In the instrumental music of Schubert, based on the traditions of Viennese composers classical school, great importance acquired a song-type thematic quality. He created 9 symphonies and 8 overtures. The pinnacle examples of romantic symphonism are the lyrical-dramatic “Unfinished” symphony and the majestic heroic-epic “Big” symphony.

Piano music is an important area of ​​Schubert's work. Having been influenced by Beethoven, Schubert laid down the tradition of a free romantic interpretation of the genre piano sonata(23). The fantasy "The Wanderer" anticipates the "poem" forms of the romantics (F. Liszt). Impromptu (11) and musical moments (6) by Schubert are the first romantic miniatures, close to the works of F. Chopin and R. Schumann. Piano minuets, waltzes, “German dances”, ländlers, ecosses, etc. reflected the composer’s desire to poeticize dance genres. Schubert wrote more than 400 dances.

The work of F. Schubert is closely connected with Austrian folk art, with the everyday music of Vienna, although he rarely used genuine folk themes in his compositions.

F. Schubert - the first major representative musical romanticism, who expressed, according to academician B.V. Asafiev, “the joys and sorrows of life” in the way “as most people feel them and would like to convey them.”

Magazine "Guitarist", No. 1, 2004