Franz. Peter. Schubert, the sub-ject of this volume. He was born on the 81st of
January, 1797, at. No. 72, m the suburb. Himmelpfortgrund, parish of. Licht enthal
.
PR E F A C E
T H ic
.
present volume is c onsiderably c ondensed
from the work of D octor Heinrich H ellb orn , p ublished
Kr ei ssl e
von
towards the end of last year
by Gerol d of Vienna
.
O n reading that work it
str u ck me t hat it c ontained mu c h information which would be new and valuable to the E nglish pub li c and D r ,
me permission to sele c t answer this purpose
.
.
K r ei s sl e What I
kindly gave
thought would
His obj ect was to make
S chubert c i at e d ,
better known and more du ly app re n d he was aware that an E nglish a
pu blic would not derive an equal interest from fac ts whi ch would please his German readers
.
vi
P
RE F A C E
In his Preface D r
.
.
Kr ei ssle
remarks on the
diffi culty of c onstru cting a Life of Schubert whi ch shall be interesting in a purely b i og ra point of view What Schindler said o f Schubert that his life presented neither hil l nor
i h c al p
.
,
valley but an open plain is perfectly true ; and ,
many writers who have pre c eded D r
Krei s sle
.
in attempting a biography have withdrawn with a confession of failu re The reader will soon .
dis c over that there is a remarkable scarcity of in c ident in this li fe ; that Schubert travelled little mixed little with great c ontemporaries ,
,
or with the il lustrious contemporari es on whom s o many musicians have depended ; and that to him the art of music was
all
-
in
-
all But .
on the other hand his life is indeed the life of ,
an artist
,
.
The absen c e
of
external affairs makes the
musician stand more clearly before us
.
Great
man himself he needed not the so ciety of other great men to make h i m remarkable The astonishing fertility of which we have s o man y ,
PRE F AC E
vii
.
re c or d s in the c ourse of his life the genius to which s o many and such great works bear wit ness the acknowledgment o f that genius by ,
,
su c h men as Beethoven and Weber may well ,
stan d
in
the place of journeys and theatric als ,
,
,
an d quarrels in which unfortunately s o ma ny m u sical lives abound and which detract from ,
,
the real value O f my
of
ow n
artistic biography
.
share in this work I wish
speak with all modesty the original author
.
.
to
The merits belong
That I have
not
to
adhered
either t o his words or hi s arrangement an d that I have sometimes put in Opinions which will ,
not be found in the original and wit h which the origin al author might very possibly d i s ,
-
agree may perhaps be a fault but it is alm ost ,
,
inevitable if one is to avoid translation and to ,
i ve g
due force to the meaning
Without
country
of
a work
being servile to the accidents of its .
E D WARD
WILB E R F C R C E
.
i
C ON T E N T S
C H APTER B
irth
I
.
.
—E arly
are t ag Ye ars a t H o m — Musical P i ty— T h L i ttl e F ing e r f a Gen ius— F irs t C o mp o si tions—A Free S ch oo l in Vienna— Wa t f Music P ap er —The C o rpse Fant asia— E xac t ne ss— P r c tic e M ak e s P er feet— N arr o w C ircums t a c e s — A T o uch in g Ap p e al— T h B y c o mp o s e s O p e ras— S alie ri— Ch arac te r f n I t alian — S ali eri nd M o ar t— S ali eri nd S ch uber t— The M as ter s P ri d i n h is P up il and P
n
e
e
c oc
e
re
o
n
o
a
n
e
o
o
a
z
a
’
a
e
C HAP TER II
.
B eginning f th S ond P eri o d— Usher in S ch ool — H o p ele ss Stupidity—M o s t Pr olifi c Year f His Life— S om e f His be s t S ongs— The E rl K ing— More tha Fi fty S o gs i n a Y e ar— O p eras— C o sis tent Failure —S alie ri s J bi l A Po m b y S ch u ber t —H is F irs t E arning — Wri tten f a F es tival —A Musical S o ciety—V alue f Au t ob iog raphy —D iari e s nd L ette rs — E trie s i n S c huber t s D ia y Feeli gs f D e sp onde cy— Ju dgm e t n P ic t ure s — O u l S en tim nt s — I nte rim S ali e r s J bil — G n o
e
a
ec
o
o
n
n
’
n
e
u
ee
or
s
o
n
a
n i
u
n
n
o
’
’
ee
re
era
r
o
e
CHAP TER III
.
— Leav e s S ch ool tte mp t s t o Get Po s t Te ache r C ert ific ate fr o m S alie ri — H elp o f F riend s — S ch o be r— Mayrh o fer — — — n A a v o gl i g e r C o mp o s e r M usic l C lair o ya c n n e d a V S —A
of
20
C ONTEN TS
X
.
wis F ath r wh o kno ws H is O n Ch il d Cor m ti on s —In t rod uc e s S ch uber t t o the P ub lic — F ith f l A d mir ers — Overture s i n the I talian Style— The R o ssini F u o re — H atre d f P upil Te ach i g— The E s terha y F m i ly— R o mant ic E pis od e — L is t n S ch uber t — St ay i f H u gary— H o w t o pick up N at i o al A i rs — I fl n o ther C omp o s e rs — The M ourn ing Wal t e s e
e
— V o l’ s g
w
o
r
n
o
z
a
u
z
a
n
o
n
Pa g
n
n
ce o
ue
z
CHAP TER I V Unfav o r bl s t a t f the Times —L etters f S chuber t s T h ought s R o ssi i— T ru e Ge ius exclude s E v y S chube rt deb arre d from the O p era—S chubert d Goeth —D i d G o ethe k o w f S ch uber t —No t t ill i t t oo L ate — E ffe t f the E rl K i g i t s C re a t o r — A O p erett a— Plo t d M usic— No t much I spir ti o — A Melodrama— D iscovery f S chubertia M uscrip t s — A O rat ori o — O ffers f Pa tr ag Firs t P bli c R e cep tio A C o c e rt — T he Au di e c e d the C rit ics .
u a
e
e
’
o
o
on
n
n
n
an
n
c
o
w as
”
n
o
n
on
an
n
n
o
on
o
n
n
e
n
a
an
u
n
u
-
an
C HAP TER V Ap pearanc e
e
E rl
.
— — l i g Tra sac t i o s with O n K p P ubli shers — P fi t nd L o ss —B si e ss M n d Mn f Geni us—A C rio sity fLiteratu —A P ub lisher s Hab it s — H on o r nd P fi t — Tra di ng n R pu t at i o s — Gre a t N ame s — D a c e M i —A dmissi on t o S ciety— C o u t ry E xcu si o s — Gr nd O p e ras— S chubert nd Weber— Pro duction f E ury a the— Cri ticism o r H o s tility Ifi t O p eras lik e fi rs t P up pi s — T h Cas e agai s t S chubert f o m a S n f Webe r of
th e
ro
u
a
ro
n
n
u
n
an
e
re
s
n
e
o
n
o
a
a
n
-
rs
n
e
e
o
o
e
’
u s d
o
r
n
.
o
n
r
'
”
a
u
o
C HAP TE R V I
.
A M o s t I mp or tant Y ear— D rama of Ro sam on d— The Wol f b y Mr S o nd S o—A no ther Gran d Op e ra— A n other Failure Po s thum ous S uccess C ontemp ora y Tre at m en t The R e cept ion o f MSS by the Vienn e s e O p e r T h ought s f a Lib rett is t — I mpre ssi on s f the S am e Gene si of s ome S ongs —A de sp onding L ette r— A d e p on
,
-
a
.
-
r
a
-
.
o
s
69
o
s
94
CONT ENTS ding D iary— Ne w
Xi
.
Visit t o Hu gary— Tour i the S al kammergu t—Gmu de —S o gs fro m the L a dy f the L ak e —S al burg— Barb ar o ssa— The Way t o Gas te i The P ass f L u e g — S ce e s fr o m the War i the Tyr ol n
n
n
n
P ag
e
z
n
o
n
z
n
n
o
C HAP TER VII
.
S chubert trie s f App o i t m e t —Weigl is p r eferre d— A Mass a t the Imperial Ch ap el—Imperial Style i Music A S c e e i the O p e ra H o us e— I t s A ccuracy q u e s t i o e d — E y ewi t e ss e s d Me m o rie s — C o rre sp o d e c e wi th Pub lishers— E as e d S implicity dema de d— L Terms offere d— Ha ds full d Po ck et s empty— A B ir d i th H a d—No t S uite d t o a P arisia P ub lic o r an
n
1 19
n
n
n
n
n
n
an
n
an
n
n
n
ow
an
n
n
e
n
C HAP TER
V
III
.
Compo si g u der Di ffi l ti — D iffi lty the te s t f Ge ius S chuber t d B eethove — F irs t No tice fro m B eetho ve S chi dle r s Acc ou t f thei Meeti g No t at H ome —B eeth o v e a t D i er— L ate Appre ci t io — L au dari a L au da t o Viro— D e ath f B eeth o ve — H is F u e ral S chubert a T orch be arer —D ri ki g t o Hi ms elf— Visi t t o Grat — C omp o sitio s f 1 8 27— R eas o s f de cli i g a Po e m— Co mp o ser d Poet — R ule s f Musical Sett i g —S ch ubert d Me d elss oh n
n
’
n
n
n
an
-
n
n
r
o
nn
n
n
n
n
n
o
an
n n
or
n
or
n
n
an
n
n
-
z
n
a
o
C HAP T ER L as t Ye ar
n
o
cu
es
cu
.
— ty Se venth
S chuber t s L i Musical Activ — — ymp h o y u d gm e t S c h uma S chum a s Visi t f J S — — A Germa C ritic d V i e a T he S ymp h o i e s i x S t E glish Poet — The D a ube— A alysis f the Sym ph o y— Wo derf l Tale t — E ter l Yo uth—Po s terity d C o te mp o rari e s — T oo h ar d t o be P er fo rm e d— O the r Works f the sam e Ye ar— L te s t S o atas — S ch uma s Re cep ti o f a D e dicat i o —S chubert d his F amily S chuber t s o ly Co cert— Gr ea t S ucce ss— The S pri g T h ought s f a T o ur— Ab a do e d f Wa t f Mo ey B egi i gs f I ll e ss —Lach er a t P e s th —Letter f o m S chi dler—S chuber t t oo ill t o trave l .
of
n
n
nn
an
n
n
an
o
na
n
u
’
n
n
n
n
an
nn
n
nn
o
i
o
168
IX
fe—
’
1 51
n
n o ’
n
n
n
n
o
nn n
an
n
n
o
nn
n
a
o
’
n
n
n
or
n
o
n
r
190
C ONTENT S
X 11
C H AP T E R
.
P
X
.
— — T h L as t n c h u b r t I ll e ss No th i g s e ri o us a p pr ehe d e d n S D ays — S chuber t s D e ath—P rop e rt y he L eft— H is M o nu — — m en t S chumann n F ai rer H ope s S chuber t s P ers o al App eara c e— No thi g R emarkabl e i n hi Fac —A Se c ond F als t aff— H is C h aracter— S chi dler n h is L ife— Pr o — — n A b s e c e P ra t ical I d us t ry I s t an ce s f d i g li ty — — Playi g i C o mpany Accus t o m e d t o N egle c t S chuber t with h is Frie d s — L ov f Wine O ccasio nal E xce ss e s Bre aki g Glass e s —L at r F eeli gs R ev ie w f h is L ife ’
e
n
s
ag e
e
’
’
o
n
n
s
n
n
a
e
o
n
c
o
n
n
n
n
e o
n
e
n
C HAP TER
o
-
XI
21 7
.
S chube rt s Works — S ket ch f the Ge rm a S o g— I t s early H i t o ry—E ffe c t fthe R eformatio — North Germa y—R is e f Germa Po etry— M o ar t —B eetho ve — S ch ubert —Po t s ch o s e by S chuber t —Cycle s f S o gs — L arge r C omp o — M iriam— T r ea t me t f the E xod us — S ch ub r t s i ti S ongs duri g h is L i fetim e—H is Po s thum ous Popularity — H is Mass e s — A Pi ate a t P rague—Symph o ie s— T rio s the S o at as— A L u dicr ous S o a t as S c h uma E di g— Compar e d with B eeth ove — O the r Works ’
n
o
n
o
n
o
n
o
o ns
s
n
z
n
s
n
n
e
n
o
e
’
n
n
r
-
n
n
n
-
nn
on
n
n
C o n cl si on
238
u
APP E N D I X — O u Musical Biograp hy .
an
E ssay
261
F R A N Z S C H U B ER T
.
C H A P T ER I
.
B I RTH AN D PARENTA G E — EAR L Y YEAR S AT H O M E — MU S I C A L — R E C O C I I Y T HE P LI TT E F I N G ER O F A G EN I U S — FI RST — C O M P O S I TI O NS A FREE S C H OO L I N VI ENNA— WA N T O F MU S I C PA P ER — THE C O R P SE FANTAS IA — E XA C TNESS — PR A C — T I C E M AK ES P ERFE C T NAR R O W C I R CUM STAN C ES — A T OU C H I N G A PP EAL — THE B O Y C O MP O SES OP ERAS — SALI ER I C HARA C TER O F AN I TA LI AN — SA LI ER I AN D M O Z ART — SA LI E R I A N D S C H UB B R T — T H E M A S T ER S P R ID E I N H I S P U P IL '
‘
L
'
’
.
T HE
family
b ou rh o o d
of
Schubert comes from the neigh
of Z u km ant el in Austrian Silesia The .
composer s father left his native village and c ame ’
up to Vienn a first as assistant ,
to
a brother
who was schoolmaster in the Le o pold s t ad t suburb and then as schoolmaster himself in ,
the suburb of
Li dh t e nth al
.
He was con
2 si
F R A NZ d e re d
S
C H UB ER T
a good master and
.
his
,
school was
much frequented At the age o f nin eteen he married a coun trywoman o f his who was three years older than hi mself and was in service as .
,
a cook
Her name was E liz abeth F itz
.
She
.
bore him fo ur teen chil dr en of whom onl y five ,
survived
and after her death he married a
;
,
second wife who bore him five more ,
.
The youngest of the four sons by the fir st marriage was F ranz Peter Sch u bert the ,
su b
n this volume He was born the o 1 s t 3 j of J anuary 1 7 9 7 at N o 7 2 in the suburb ec
t
of
.
,
H im m elp fo r tg
.
,
ru n
d,
,
parish
of
Lichtenthal
.
The house in whi ch he was born bears the sign of the R ed C rab and is now N o ,
the upper part
of
.
54,
in
the main street lea d ing to
the N u s s d o rf lines It is marked by a tablet “ of grey marble with the in scription F RANZ and with a lyre S C H U B ER T S G E B UR TSH AU S ; .
,
’
’
on the right and a wreath of laurel with the ,
date w as
birth on the left This memorial put up by the C hora l U ni on o f Vienna of
hi s
.
‘
EARL Y Y EAR S A T H O ME and was inaugurated in
1 8 58
3
.
Besides this a ,
.
street leading into the N u s s d o rfer Strasse is calle d after t h e composer .
The first years of Schubert s life were spent at home The family was large and its re ’
!
.
sources small but it did not feel the pressure o f absolute poverty F rom the very earli est ,
.
times the boy showed a love of music His sister relates that he was extremely fond o f ,
.
the society of a j oiner s apprentice who namesake and con nexion o f the family ’
,
.
a The
w as
young Schubert had often the privil ege o f Visiting a pianoforte manufactory with him ,
and here he practised his first exercises with out any guidan c e save his own instinct
.
But
though orthodox critics are al w ays sceptical on the subj ect
of
self taught geni us and more -
,
especially severe o n youth which attempts to dispense w i th old systems of tuition the result in the case o f Schubert was mar v ellous ,
.
When he began to have lessons in music at the age
of
seven his teacher fou nd that he had ,
F R AN Z S C H UB ER T
4
.
already mastered all the rudiments which were to be taught h im .
“
Wh en he was five years
father
“
I
,
prepared
instruction and at
six
,
ol d ,
”
writes
hi s
him for elementary I sent him to school
where he was always one
,
the first among
of
his fellow scholars He was fond o f society from early youth and was never happier than .
,
when he co u l d spend his hours of play circle of joyous comrades
in
a
When he was
.
eight I gave him prelimi n ary instruction on th e
violin and let ,
practise till he could
h im
play easy duetts pretty well after that I sent him to attend the singing class of Herr Michael Holzer choirmaster in Lichtenthal ,
Herr Holzer often assured me
w
ith tears in his
yes that he had never had such a pupil
e ‘
hi m
Whenever I want to teac h
new
’
,
he would
already
.
sa
y,
‘
I
fin d
.
.
anythin g
he knows it
The result has been that I have
not
given him any real instruction but have onl y ,
looked on with astonishment and silence
’ .
LI TTLE F I N GE R
T HE
B ut in spite
of
or
A GEN I U S
5
.
this modest disclaimer it is ,
c ertain that Holzer did give
h im
instruction in thorough bass in playi ng the pianoforte and ,
the organ
On
.
occasion when he had
one
,
given his pupil a theme he was quite i n ecstacies at the way he worked it o u t and ,
,
exclaimed finger
1
”
“ ,
The boy has harmony in his little
The same
w as
the experience
of
Schubert s elder brother who had also given ’
,
hi m “
lessons
“ .
I was astoni shed
”
he says
,
,
when after a few months F ranz told me that
he did not want any more instruction from me but woul d make his
ow n
way in future
,
He
made such progress in a very short time that I had to acknowledge him as a master far excel ling me and ,
one
whom I could no longer ”
dream o f overtaking Thus F ranz Schubert was o n e of those gifted beings whom the geni us of art h as visited on their first entrance into life ; o ne .
t u M elp o m e ne s e m e l N as c e nt e m pl aci d o lum i ne
Q uem
v
i de ri s
” .
F R A NZ
6
S
C H UB ER T
.
The case of Mozart is perhaps the only
one
that can compete with or surpass that of Schu bert
Mozart was indeed an i nfant pheno
.
menon writi ng or rather scrawling a concerto ,
for the piano at the age of si x and at the age But after o f eight an orches tral symphony ,
.
M
o Z ar t ,
Schubert is unrivall ed
,
His brother
.
F erdin and says that the fantasia for four
hands written in
1 8 1 0,
,
was his first com
position for the piano and his
Lament of
,
Hagar
” ,
written
i
n
1 8 1 1,
his first song
there is no doubt that long
b efore
;
but
this he had
c omposed songs pieces for the pianoforte and ,
,
even string quartetts ; and the catalogue of pieces given by his brother comprises only those which were in
hi s
possession or ,
in
that
.
of the musical publisher D iabelli When he was eleven years old Schubert ,
.
sang solos in the choir of the Lichtenthal parish church or played solos there on the ,
violin ; his beautiful soprano voice and his mastery of his instrum ent being still
re
8
FRANZ S C H U B ER T
some
of
the adagios
.
Haydn s sym phonies
of
’
,
’
and Mozart s symphony in G min or of which he used to s ay that you cou l d hear the angels ,
in
singin g
it
.
Kr o m m e r
’
s
symphoni es which ,
were popular at the begin ni ng
of
the century
from their ease and gaiety but are now for ,
gotten found li ttle favour in the eyes ,
S chubert,
with
h is
of
who was grave and not very cordial
comrades
But Mozart s overtures ’
.
”
“
to
the Magic F lute and the Marriage of F igaro and Mehu l s overtures were great “
,
”
’
,
,
favourites with him
and
th e
raptures he felt
durin g the performance O f Beethoven s ’
s
m y
phonies caused as much surprise as the works themselves which were still imperfectly u n ,
,
d er s t oo d
.
Sch ubert s proficiency ’
on
his instru ment
and the zeal with which he devoted himself to his art soon raised h im to the rank o f first ,
v
ioli n a post of some im portance as the task ,
,
of conducting was attached to it whenever the ,
director was absent
.
N or was thi s the only
TH E CORPS E FAN TA S I A
9
.
influence Schubert was able to exercise over his companions
His love
.
of
composing was
already active in him and this was confided to them in secret He was urged to composition ,
.
by an irresistible impul se ; thoughts came thick upon him and he was often in want ,
music p aper to put them down
of
His own
.
funds were too small to keep him in this and he w as often indebted to a friend for the means o f preserving his thoughts E ven at the age of thirteen his consumption o f music paper ,
.
,
was enormous ; he wrote sonatas masses songs Operas and even symphonies ; but few ,
,
of
,
,
these early compositions s aw the light In April 1 8 10 he wrote a grand fantasia for .
,
,
four hands which is generally known by the ,
name of the C orpse F antasia
It extends
.
to
thirty two closely written sides and contains a dozen pieces varying in character each ending -
,
,
in a different key from the it begins
.
In the years
18 11
o ne
and
in which 1 8 13
foll owed up this fantasia by two others 9k
he of
F R AN Z
10
S
C HUBE R T
.
smaller extent and in 1 8 1 1 besid es several i nstrumental pieces he composed the two “ songs Hagar s Lament and The Parri ,
,
,
”
’
,
,
cide
“
” .
”
Hagar s Lament is remarkable as being ’
the first of Schubert s more important vocal ’
pieces the
He
.
3 0t h
w
rote it at the age of fourteen ( on
of March
and Sali eri was so
,
much struck by it that he at once ordered further i nstruction in thorough bass to develop -
the boy s singular ta lent ’
never been engraved
,
.
The song itself has though wonderful
an d ,
in its promise and even in its effect when ,
properly sung by good Singers is somewhat ,
faulty
Some passages bear an unmistakeable
.
stamp of Schubert s genius but the pianoforte ’
,
accompaniment reminds us too much hi o zar t
of
.
It was Schubert s custom to write on every ’
one o f his compositions their exact date down to the day of the month whil e his larger works ,
,
bear the date of begin ni ng and completion
.
E XA C T NE SS
11
.
This makes it the more strange that the year 18 12
shou l d be marked as witnessing the
duction
of
one song only
“ ,
p
A C omplaint
small and unimportant composition
.
ro
” ,
!
a
We can
hardly believe that nothing else of the vocal s
,
order dates from a year
such activity
of
,
that Schubert was too much occupied with s t ru
m ent al
music to turn
more favourite study
.
h is
The
or
in
attention to his li st
of religious
and instrumental pieces during this year is certainly large
It comprises a Salve R egina
.
and Kyrie a sonata for pianoforte violin and ,
,
Violoncello two string quartetts two overtures ,
,
,
an andante with variations and thir ty minuets ,
with trios composed for one ,
These last were
so
his brothers
of
.
mu c h admired by D r Anton .
Schmidt who had been a friend of Mozart s and was a fi r s t rate violinist that he declared ’
,
-
,
the boy who had written them would be a master such as few had ever been When we consider that this activity proceeds from a youth entering his fifteenth year we .
F RANZ S C H UB ER T
12
must
.
suspect that he occupied himself both in
school and o u t of it with music paper more than lectures and exercises And this is the .
case
He composed secretly
.
school and
in
wrote overtures and symphonies which were performed at the Thursday concerts of the scholars ri t i e s
.
In the reports
to
the higher
th o
au
his eminent progress in music was duly
noticed while in other branches he was rather ,
behin dhand
A friend of Schubert s who ’
.
join ed the school a few years after writes ,
This
w as
the practical schoo l for him
E very
.
evening symphonies quartetts and vocal pieces were performed ; and the part taken in classical ,
,
church music had also its e ffect
When I
.
j oined the school I found overtures and phonies by Schubert stil l in existence played some
of
s
m y
we
them and I remember parts of ,
hem being show n me as Schubert s own h and writin g I copied out a volume of his songs some o f which I have not met with either engraved or written in after years U n fo r ’
t
.
,
,
,
.
NARRO W C I R CUM S TANCE S Another
13
.
Schubert s contemporaries gives an account of his practising with friends durin g ’
of
hours o f relaxation and performing Beet “ hoven s works w i th them I represented the ” “ audience says this writer there was no fire ,
’
.
,
,
,
”
and the room was frightfu lly cold That the material circumstances o f Schubert at this .
time were anything but comfortable is proved among other thin gs by a letter to his brother ,
dated N ovember
,
2 4t h , 1 8 1 2
—“
I
will
once what lies on my hear t and ,
sa
y
so
at
come
sooner to my obj ect while I spare you long ,
phrases
I have thought much
.
of
my situa
tion and while it is good on the whole there are many things i n which it might be i m ,
,
proved Y o u know from experience that on e often likes to eat a roll and one or two apples .
,
all the more when
one
has a small dinner and ,
then eight hours and a half to wait for a scanty supper This wish has s o often forced itself .
upon me that I must nolens v olens make a change The few g r os c hen which I receive the ,
.
FRANZ S C HU B ER T
14
.
beginnin g of every month from my father ar e spent in a couple of days ; what am I to do the rest of the time ?
‘
Those
shall not be ashamed verse
4
SO
.
’
,
I thought
w
ho
hope in Thee
Ma tthew
chap
,
ii
.
.
,
Supposing you wer e
.
to allow me one or two
a month ?
kr eu zer s
You would never notice it while I should be happy and contented in my cell A s I have said I rest on the words of the Apostle Matthe w ,
.
who says he that has two coats let him give ,
one to the poor
” .
Wh i le Schubert was at school his chief con n e xi o n with his home was that the stri ng quartetts he composed were played in the quartett practice which generally took place there on the Sunday afternoons The father .
of Schubert played the Violoncello F ranz the viola and two of his brothers the fir st and ,
,
second violins
.
The youngest of the party was
the quickest to note a mistake
He looked
.
seriously at the offender if the offender was ,
one of his brothers ; if it
w as
his
father he ,
FRANZ SC H UB ER T
16
.
him soon s aw that all efforts were unnecessary “ “ He knows e v erything already he said ; he has been taught by God This report made .
”
,
”
.
Salieri still more attentive to Schubert
,
so
that
in a short time the chapel master himself -
und ertook the youth s guidance
A b rief
’
sketch
Of
.
the man who played the most pro
min ent part in Schuber t s education may be ’
,
appropriate here 1 7 50
Antonio Salieri was born in
.
in the Venetian territory the ,
prosperous merchant age of sixteen he ,
.
s on
of
a
Left an orphan at the
w as
’
s en t
to
Venice by a
friend of t h e family and there he carried on ,
warmly the musical s tudies which he had begun at home
A C ourt chapel master who -
.
came to Veni ce to compose an opera for the F eni c e was struck with him and took him to Vienna where he composed his first Opera in ,
,
1 7 70
.
D uring the next
six
years he wrote a
dozen other operas but the work by whi ch he is best kno w n is the Tarare o f Beaumarchais ”
,
confided to him
on
the recommend ation O f
S A LI ER I
17
.
Gluck ; and written i n open rivalry O f Mozart In 1 7 8 8 he was made chapel master a post .
-
,
which he occupied till h i s death
1 8 24,
the year before
.
Salieri s industry was g reat ( he composed forty Operas and twelve oratorios besides a ’
mass of other music ) ; and his contemporaries esteemed him as an able composer an amiable ,
and agreeable man
.
To
all except Mozart he ,
,
was friendly and pleasant ; but Mozart s supe ’
ri ori t
was too evident to allow Salieri any y rest ; and the intrigues by which he hindered
the rise of S O great a genius reflect lastin g d i s credit upon him It is remarkable that in spite of his long sojourn in Vienna Salieri was ,
.
,
never familiar with
G erman
.
T o the end O f
his days he in terspersed his discourse with F rench and Itali an words excusing his i g nor ,
ance O f German by saying he had been onl y fifty years i n Germany H i s shamefu l condu c t towards Mozart was partly atoned for by his .
appreciation
of
Schubert whom he in structed ,
FRANZ S C H U B ER T
18
.
to the best O f his abili ty and admired with all his powers He tried in deed to persuade the ,
.
,
,
young genius from following
natural bent ;
hi s
made him leave of setting Goethe and Schiller and practise Italian
,
and told him to be
s ta nza
less prodigal of his melodies till he was Older and riper
.
But with all this he was proud
of
his pupil and was constantly astoni shed at the ,
luxuriant ease of Schubert s compositions
It
’
is
.
said that once Schubert staid away for some
weeks on bein g told that he knew enough to compose an opera and then surprised his “ master by the complete partition of The ,
D evil s C ountry Seat
”
’
thing
” ,
“
.
Salieri exclaimed
“ ,
He can do every
he is a geni u s
composes songs masses operas ,
,
whatever you can think of
.
quartetts
,
He ,
”
.
There is no doubt that Schubert derived great benefit from the practical teachin g of one But their s o familiar with his art as Salieri paths were quite distin ct The ma ster was devoted to Italian tradi tion ; t h e scholar was .
.
T H E MA STER S P R I DE
19
’
.
making himself a new path through the thick of German romanticism Schubert was a de voted follower o f Beethoven ; but Salieri could .
not feel much respect for a man who had come to him to study operatic composition and r e ,
fused to listen to his teaching
.
Schubert loved
and followed Mozart ; Salieri was inexorable for him It is said that in correcting a mass .
,
of Schubert s Salieri struck out all the passages ’
,
which savoured of Haydn or Mozart and that ,
Schubert refused to have anything more to do with such a teacher
.
But though they parted
suddenly Schubert was always grateful to Salieri and Sali eri watched with interest the ,
,
rapid progress of Schubert S chubert cele Salieri b rat ed his master s jubilee by a poe m .
’
.
was s o pleased with the su ccess o f his pupil s first mass that he embraced him and said “ F ranz you are m y scholar o n e w h o will do me much honour ’
,
,
,
,
”
.
,
C H A P T ER II
.
B E G INNIN G O TH E SE C O N D P ERI O D — U SHER IN A S C H OOL — H O P E L ESS S T U P I D ITY — M OS T P R O LI F I C Y E A O F LIF E —S O M E B EST SO N G S — TH E K N G — M ORE THAN — FIFTY SO N G S IN Y EA R— S AL I ERI S U BI LEE — P OE M S C H UB ERT— FI RS T EA NIN G S — W ITT E N FESTI A L— A MU S I C A L SO C I E TY — A UE A U T O BI O G RA P HY — D IA I ES L E TTERS E NTR I ES D I AR — FEE LI N G S D E N C Y — UD G M E NT O N P I C TU RES — S ALI ER I S U BILEE — G E N E AL INT E I M M F
H IS
R
O F H IS
E RL
OPE R A s
A
I
C oN S I s T E N T
F A 1L U R E
'
R
V
R
L
BY
A
J
F OR A
V
R
OF
IN
’
SCH URE RT S
SE NT I
AND
OF
Y
‘
ON
J
R
E IS
E NT s
R
D E S PON
J
.
THE
year 1 8 1 3 may be said to end the first period O f Schubert s artist life He was now getting o n for seventeen an d his voice was breaking s o that he coul d not be retain ed as o n e O f the singers in the C ourt C hapel The ’
.
,
,
.
U S H ER IN A S C H OO L E mperor gave permission
21
.
fo r h im
to remain in the school but he was not inclin ed t o study there any longer especially as it would have entail ed a new examination A ccor di ngly he returned home and took the place of assistant in his father s school ,
,
.
,
’
.
He held this post for three years and dis charged the duties O f it zealously and c on s c i en t i ou sly but as may readily be supposed th ey were far from being pleasant to him He was ,
,
,
.
assistant in the lowest class the A B C class and the contact with children who ( to vary Tal l eyrand s epigram ) had learned nothing and
,
,
’
,
forgotten everythin g was most repugnant ,
youth o f g em u s
to
a
His sister relates that he was
.
frequently driven into a violent passion and corrected the children with his o w n hands It is quite credible The probabil ity is that he forgot his ow n diffi culties in learnin g and ,
.
,
.
,
his backwardness in everything save music at the spectacle stupidity .
of
,
hopeless and consistent
22
FRANZ S C H U B ER T
.
But while devoting himself to this drudgery he
di d
,
neglect the work that came natural t o h im His productivity during these three years was marvellous In the year 1 8 1 4 he no t
.
.
composed a mass in F which call ed forth from Sali eri the enthusiasm just recorded and which was performed in the Lichtenthal parish church ,
,
on its centenary j ubil ee
The same year he
.
fini shed the fairy piece which has been men tioned already The overture was given once ; ,
.
the rest
of
the opera has never been performed ;
and the second act has perished
.
Schubert
made over the manuscript to a friend in pay ment of a small debt and his servants used ,
,
the second act for lighting fires Wh y the second act particularly is not recorded .
,
.
The year 1 8 1 5 is noticeable as the most pro It witnessed the pro li fi c o f Schubert s life du c tion O f more than a hundred songs half a dozen operas and Operettas several symphoni es &c chur ch music ch amber music &c At the same tim e Schubert was occupied with ’
.
-
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
.
FRANZ S C H UB ER T
24
.
picturesque and most popular of Goethe s bal ’
lads how much it owes to the setting may be seen from the pages of Goethe s E nglish b i og ra ,
’
h rfi e p
i
Schubert wrote the music one after
noon i n the room he occupied i n his father s house In the H i mm elp fo rt g ru n d He read the words over twice with increasing excitement ’
.
,
and durin g this perusal the music came be fore him that he dashed it down
on
,
the
paper in just the time needed for the mecha n i c al
work of writing
.
O ne O f his friends came
in whil e he was in the middle of it
;
song was sun g the same evening in the
and the C onvi c t
.
.
The discord which marks the place where the “
”
E rl Kin g seizes the child was not accept ,
able to
th e
young hearers though at present it ,
passes unquestioned and the musical director ,
had to explain to them that in such a case it ,
was quite allowable
.
i ng kno wn to eve ry r e a d e r th ro ugh S ch u b e rt s mus ic i f th ro ugh n o the r s o u c e — L L if f G th vo l ii p 3 05 T h e E rl K
,
”
’
o
,
oe
e,
.
.
.
.
r
.
’
ew es s
e
o
L U T Z OW S ’
The song
w as n o t
W IL D C H A S E
25
.
made public till
six
years
after when Vogl sang it at a concert given in ,
the opera house bert s popularity -
.
’
.
It at once establishe d S c h u But we shall come to this
in due time Some fifty o f the songs composed in the year .
1 8 1 5 are of
still unpublished and unknow n
the unpublished ones
.
the setting of
is
O ne Kor '
”
ner s poem Lii t zow s Wild C hase O f those which have been published we may mention ’
’
.
,
,
the Mignon songs from Wilhelm Meister which ,
were published in Goethe 18 1 9
with a d edication to
18 24,
They had been sent him already in :
.
These and some songs from O ssian ,
.
,
written at the same time bear the most dis ,
marks o f geni us and witness to the wonderfu l strides Schubert was making in m u
t i nc t i v e
,
s i c al
development The same or even more may be said of the mass in G which was c o m posed in March 1 8 1 5 for the Lichtenthal parish .
,
,
,
,
,
church and which was not s u rpassed by any O f Schubert s later masses A second ma ss in ,
’
.
FRANZ S C H U B ER T
26
.
B flat a Stabat Mater in B flat and a Magni ,
,
are also products o f this year N or was this all Two symphonies one o f which was onl y performed in part and the fi c at,
.
.
,
other not at all and ,
operas or operettas
six
,
bear w i tness to Schubert s fertility O ne of these operettas is set to words O f KOrn e r s and ’
.
’
'
,
a soldiers chorus from it has been sung at a ’
c oncert in Vien na “
A nother is Goethe s opera ’
.
C laudin e von Vill abella
” .
,
The manuscript
has been in the hands of the same own er as Schubert s first opera and has met with the ’
,
same fate
The
.
tw
o
last acts perished in
lighting fires and the first alone remains ,
the manuscript
of
this first act the
On
.
d ates
which it was begun and ended are given
,
so
at
that
we see its composition occupied eleven days
.
“
The same place bears the in scription Music by F Schubert scholar of Herr v on Salieri ,
.
,
,
Goe the s opera has been set by two other composers Wh at remains o f Schubert s ’
’
.
music is charming and characteristic and ,
MI NOR O PERA S
27
.
S c h ubert himself attached some import ance to the composition O f the other operas composed this year little is to be said The libretto o f o n e has perished while the music lies among .
.
Schubert s unpublished remains N one o f them are worthy of being mentioned among his more ’
.
important works
.
They were only attempts o n
his part to famili arize himself with operatic and Many of the greatest d ramatic composition masters have shown a desire t o excel in this .
branch at a very early age and there is no doubt ,
that Schubert shared that desire in the highest degree E ven had the music o f these operas been more important the nai vet e o f the words .
,
which most o f them were s et would exclude them from the stage O n the other hand it
to
.
mu st not be supposed that they show any traces
Of
inexperience
or
immaturity
The
.
comp oser was already familiar with in s t ru m en t at i o n and had given proof of full acquain tance ,
with harmony
.
His melody was inexhaustible
he had written some of his loveliest songs and ,
28
F RANZ S C H U B ER T
one of his g reatest masses
.
.
Thus he moves
in
the musi c al part o f these operettas with perfect ease and security ; and if any conductor O f c on certs Should choose to search through the par t i t i o n s he would find many charmi n g pieces t o reward his labour .
The love O f operatic composition clung to S c hubert till the end of his days
.
It is true
that there was O ften a pause between hi s com l o ne and begi n ning another and it et i n p g ,
might seem as if the want of an audience or ,
rather the unkindness
of
the theatres which
had virtually accepted his two greatest pieces and then refused to play them was drivin g
,
,
h im
to other pastu res N one O f hi s dramatic works save those belonging to the region O f .
,
farce and melodrama were given during his ,
lifetime But this did not di scourage hi m J ust before his death we find him engaged in .
.
plans fo r a new opera The year 1 8 1 6 was also marked by ex treme industry and fertil ity t h Ou g h the .
,
S A LI ER I S JUB I L EE
29
’
Operatic branch was d eserte d
.
fo r
songs and
cantatas O f the cantatas the first in date though .
,
,
not the first in merit was that written fo r Salieri s jubilee The l 6 t h o f June 1 8 1 6 was the fiftieth anniversary o f Sali eri s entry Salieri himself i nto the E mperor s service ,
’
.
,
,
’
’
.
had looked forward with great pleasure to the day and had intended ,
with due honours
.
to
celebrate it
hi mself
E arly in the morning he
went with his four daughters to the Itali an ,
church to return solemn thanks and he had ,
invited some
of
his friends
the early German hour
.
to
dine
w
ith him at
.
But the E mperor
who ret u rned that day from Italy did ,
not
leave the composer alone to solemnize the day At
10
,
.
O clock Sali eri was surprised by the ’
appearan c e O f an imperial carriage which took him to th e h o t el o f the High Steward Prince T rau t t m ann s do rf Weinsberg He was there led into a chamber decked up for the oc c asion ,
,
,
-
.
,
,
and in ,
th e
presence of all the musicians of
th e
F R ANZ S C H U B ER T
30
.
court presented with the great gold medal ,
Of
honour
of
the civil class
T rau ttm ann s d orf s , ’
F rom Prince
.
Salieri drove to the C ourt
C hapel to di rect high mass as it was Sunday; ,
and this was part o f his duty The mass given was o ne of his o w n At six in the evening all who had been his .
.
pupils assembled in his house and the musical ,
part O f the festival began Salieri himself took his seat at the piano with his four .
daughters around him
O n his right fourteen
.
lady pupils formed a half circle ;
on
his left
were twelve male pupils in cluding Weigl and Schubert Hummel and Mo sc h el e s were absent from Vienna and could only send some ,
.
,
of their music to represent them
O pposite
.
the circle of pupils stood the bust of the E mperor J oseph II S al ieri s first ruler and ’
.
benefactor
.
,
A chorus with words and music ,
by Salieri himself began the festival and was ,
,
followed by the pieces composed for the occasion by each of his scholars .
FRANZ S C H U B ER T
32
.
tain valleys O f Baden near Vienn a and the poem was confided to Schubert The rehear ,
,
.
sals took place in the consistorial hall o f the uni v ersity b u t the performance which was to ,
have been o n the 1 2t h o f J uly had to be postponed o n account o f the weather till the ,
,
In spite of this delay the festival succeeded admir ably an d the cantata was received with much applause A poem was 2 4t h
.
,
,
.
addressed papers
to
Schubert
in
on e o f
The Musical U nion
.
the theatric al pressed to
w as
perform the cantata at its concerts declined as the composer was unknown
.
,
but
young and
so
Since then both words ,
an
d
music
have disappeared When la st heard o f they were in Schubert s o w n keeping but they .
,
’
,
vani shed from his lodging about his death
.
th e
tim e
Of
The cantata had not been copied
It was performed in
o ne
.
or two places during
Schubert s lifetime on c e in a friend s house ’
’
,
,
and once at Innsbruck In the year 1 8 20 Schubert thought o f giving a public perfo
C H U RC H nce of it in the
a
rehearsal went
A ug
MU S I C
art en
33
.
at Vienna but the ,
badly an d he gave up the
of
,
idea A third canta ta this year was written in .
honour
of
a school inspector and has been ,
published as O p
In church music Schubert wrote his fourth Mass C) a 1 28
.
,
.
M g ni fi c at the fragment of a R equiem and a a
,
Stabat Mater uni mportant
,
The mass is comparatively
.
the Stabat Mater is far more
success ful and has been given more than once in Vienna S t au d ig l sang in it in 1 8 41 and ,
,
.
as late as 1 8 6 3 it was performed in one O f the Viennese churches It is written for solos
,
.
chorus and orchestra and consists of four arias ,
,
one bass one soprano and two tenor a duett ( ) fo r soprano and tenor a terzett fo r soprano ,
,
,
,
tenor and bass and five chor u ses ,
,
.
The
choruses for m the best pa rt of the whole c o m position and the double chorus CN O 5) for alternate male and female voices is especially beautiful The aria for a bass voice mi ght ,
.
.
F R AN Z S C H U B E R T
34
.
th o
have been written by Mozart it is so ,
roughly Mozartian This year Schubert composed t w o more symphonies on e O f which is known as the symphony without trumpets and drums This .
,
.
Si
ngular title is probably to be interpreted by
the circumstances of the society for which the symphony was written
The small society
.
of
friends and ac q uaintances which used to practise quartetts at the house of Schubert s father had gradually extended A larger room had to be found and by the autumn of 1 8 1 5 smaller symphonies of Haydn and Mozart could be performed and an audien c e could be collected Again there was a move now th e performers ventured o n the an d larger symphonies O f Haydn and Mozart the first two O f Beethov en and the overtures of C herubini Spontin i C atel Mehul Boieldieu and others It was fo r this society that Schu ’
.
,
,
!~
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
’
.
bert wrote the symphonies just mentione d the overtures in the Italian style in 1 8 1 7 and .
“
,
”
,
A P O P UL AR S ON G
35
.
another symphony in 1 8 1 8 The perform au ces went o n till 1 8 20 when the room the — society had last occupied w as no longe r at its disposal and this led to its dissolution Sch u .
,
.
,
bert was one of the regular players We may conclude that no trumpeter o r drummer was .
to
be found in the society A strin g quartett a string trio a concerto .
,
,
for the violin a rondo for the violin a sonata ,
,
for the piano an adagio and rondo for the piano the beginni ng o f another sonata two marches for the piano are some of the rest o f ,
,
,
,
th e instrumental music
of
this year
.
In vocal
music Schubert composed the chorus of angels from Goethe s F aust which appeared in 1 8 3 9 ’
’
,
and a great number songs
of
,
of
this year is
extremely popular
o ne ,
“
songs
.
O ne of the
The Wanderer
” ,
an
as we shall learn wh en
we come to Schubert s bargains with his ’
publishers O ne thing which Schubert wrote this year .
is most valuable in a biographical point of
F RAN Z S C H U B ER T
36
.
view and it is much to be wi shed that other years had been equ ally favoured We do not know that they were not But owing to various causes the years 1 8 1 6 and 1 8 2 4 are the only ones of which we have a diary o r any ,
.
.
,
,
autobiographi cal records from the pen of the c omposer
How valuable the mat erials fur nished by letters or diaries are for future .
knowledge of great men has lately been ,
proved by the publi cation
Of
Mozart s and ’
Mendelssohn s Letters The biographer is fortunate if he has a story to tell if there are ’
.
any outward events journeys adventures inter v iews with great or merely high c o n temporaries to enliven his pages But the m an himself has only to open his heart and ,
,
,
.
,
the world listens His works have opened his mind to u s and we feel a natural curiosity rather a much nobler feeli n g than curiosity to know the rest o f the man Was his ow n mi nd the true receptacle of these gre at thoughts or did they pass through him .
,
,
,
.
,
VAL UE OF AU T O B I O G RA P H Y
alm ost without his feeling them ?
37
.
Was his
heart in fit harmony with such a mind or was ,
the mind a stranger
in
his body ?
All these
questions cannot be answered by the best bio grapher because the most i nti mate knowledge ,
of another man must in some sense stop at the outer barriers which guard him one s
penetration
’
another man and
,
on e
s ee
,
cannot
q
is that
With all get
inside
the true workings of the
spri ngs which are the man u en c e
.
.
And the couse
j udging from words and
,
actions we are perpetually led astray ; we are ,
often doing foul
injustice
from a want of the
corresponding link between the inner and the outer man ; we exaggerate carelessness into wilful wrong or elevate a l u cky guess into a ,
masterpiece o f wisdom A utobiography may of course lead us .
,
t ent i o nally
in
astray but what we wan t to be ,
guarded again st is u ni n tentional wrong In deed the famil iar careless c onfi d ene e s of a man .
,
,
are seldom likely to be guided by such resolute
FRANZ S C H U B ER T
38
.
purpose an d consistency as t o be dangerou s E ven if the man s esti mate o f himself is u n
.
’
trustworthy there are means o f checking it and when he does not know that he is giving his own portrait he may be betrayed into valuable revelations In the case o f Schubert there ,
.
would be no reason to fear his playing a part
.
He n ever attempts to glorify himself or make ,
himself out other than he is It is the more to be regrette d that so few o f his written con fi d en c e s remain A pparently he was not an .
.
extensive letter writer though here we are ,
reduced to conjecture A ll we do know is that di aries and letters have shared the fate of much of his music An autograph collector had a .
.
diary i n Schubert s hand which he cut up and dispersed in smal l pieces according to the demand for autographs o f the composer F or ’
,
.
t u n at ely
the
di ary
a worthier member
of
the class found
before the whole of it was dispersed ,
in di stant collections and gathered up the remaining leaves into one body ,
.
FRANZ S C H U B ER T
40
myself that my
.
’
U nresting Love is a greater
‘
s u ccess than the Amelia it cannot be denied that Goeth e s musical genius had a great share ’
‘
,
’
in producing the applause J une
1 4th , 1 8 1 6
.
A fter an interval of
.
some months I took an evening walk on c e more
There can scarcely be anything more
.
pleasant than t o pass one s evenings in the cool green after a hot summer s day and the fields ’
’
,
between Wahring and D oblin g seem made for this In the dubious twili ght and the com '
.
pany
of
at ease
.
my brother C arl my heart felt
of
well
How lovely I thought and exclaimed ,
and then stood stil l in delight hood
so
The neighbour
.
the burial ground reminded us
good mother
.
Thus amid ,
d
sa
o f ou r
and cor di al dis
course we came to the point where the D Ob ling road divides And as from a heavenly ,
,
.
home I heard a well known voice from a -
,
chaise that was stopping I looked up and it was Herr Wein m ii ller who was j ust dismount ing and took leave i n his hearty honest tones .
,
.
UD GMEN T ON P I C T URE S
J
O ur conversation turned at once
41
.
outward heartiness in human tone and speech How on
.
many men strive in vain to express their honest hearts in speech equally honest and hearty ; how many would give rise to laughter in the attempt one
It is a gift O f nature not ,
.
be obtained by endeavour “ J une 1 5t h 1 8 1 6 It is very common for us to form too great an idea o f what we expect to
.
,
to
Such was the case with me when I the exhibition o f national pictures held at
s ee
s aw
.
.
St Anna .
.
Among them all a picture
of
the
Madonn a with the child ( by Abel ) pleased me the most I was much deceived by the velvet mantle o f a prin ce I s e e t o o that o ne must .
.
,
,
look at such thin gs oftener and longer in order to
find and preserve the right impression
” .
The rather disj ointed remarks which follow were w ritten o n the evening o f th e 1 6 t h o f J une o n Schubert s return home from Salieri s jubilee ’
’
,
“
It must be a fair and refreshing sight to an
FRAN Z S C H UB ER T
42
.
artist to s e e all his pupils collected round him and all o f them striving to do their best for his jubilee ; to hear in all these compositions sim ple nature and its expression free from all that
,
,
biza r r er i c of o u r
which prevail s at present with most composers and is almost entirely att ri ,
to
b u t ab l e
on e o f o u r
greatest German artists ;
which mixes up tragedy and comedy things ,
pleasant and things repugnant the heroic with ,
howlin g the most sacred with harlequi nades ,
whi ch throws men into madn ess instead of melting them with love
,
and excites
to
laughter instead of li fting the sou l to heaven To see this bi za rr eri e bani shed from the circle of his scholars and pure and holy nature in its place must be the highest joy to that artist .
,
,
who was tau gh t by Gluck to know nature and has retain ed it in Spite of the most unnatural surroundings of our time “ Herr S alieri celebrated his jubilee having ,
.
,
been fifty years in Vienna and nearly as long in the emperor s service ; ’
w as
rewarded by his
ON
’
S A LIE R I s
UB IL EE
J
43
.
maj esty with a gold medal and invited many of his pupils male and female The composi ,
.
,
tions o f his scholars in composition ( s i c ) which were made for the occasion were produced in the order in which the scholars came to him ,
.
The whole was enclosed ( s i c ) by a chorus from the oratorio Jes a a l L i mbo both ( s i c ) by Salieri .
G l u c ki sh ;
The oratorio quite
ment interesting for every one To
money fe s s o r
-
.
day I composed the first time for
.
A cantata for the name day
Wat t ero t h
The
.
Viennese currency “
the entertain
of
Pro
honor a r i u m 1 00 flo rin s
f .
Man is like a ball
with chance and
,
passions I have often heard writers s ay the world is like a stage where each man plays his part .
Praise and blame follow in the next world
.
But one part is given you your part is given ,
h u n dr e d fl i s Vi e nn e s e ( Wi e ne r W ah ru ng ) wo uld e q u al fo r ty flo ins A us t i a n ( C o nven ti on s Mii nze) r e sp e cti v e ly W IV and C M O ne
or u
,
r
.
.
r
.
.
FRANZ S C H UB ER T
44
.
you and who can s ay it is played well o r ill ? A bad theatrical manager w h o gives his players parts which they are no t able to play There ,
.
can be no thought o f carelessness here The world g 1v e s no example o f an actor being di s mi ssed fo r reciting badly A s soon as he has .
.
a part suited to him he wil l play it well Whether he receives praise o r blame d epends o n a pub li c tuned to a thousand different .
,
Opinions
.
In the other world praise
or
blame
depends o n the manager o f the world There can therefore be no blame “ N atural disposition and education deter .
,
,
.
mine the mind and heart o f man is ruler the min d ought to be ,
“
Take men
to be
.
The heart
.
as
they are
,
no t
as they ought
.
Happy he who finds a true friend ; happier he who finds a true friend in his w ife To .
the freeman at this time marriage is a fearful thought ; he confuses it either with dulness or coarse sensuality .
C YNI C I S M “
45
.
Light tongue light heart :
too
,
light a
tongue often hides too heavy a heart “ Man bears sorrow without complaint b ut .
,
he feels it all the more bitterly God give us sympathy ?
.
Why did
Town politeness is a powerful Opponent of in tegrity on the part O f men towards each other
The greatest misery ‘
.
of
the wise and
the greatest happiness of fools is based upon propriety .
N ow I know no more
To
.
c ertainly know something more IS
-
.
morrow I shall Why I s this ?
my mind better to day than it will be -
to
morrow ? Because I am full and sleepy ? Why does not my mind think when my body sleeps ? Probably it goes out walking
.
C er
”
it can t sleep Most readers will conclude from these latter thoughts that Schubert was now in that state o f mind spoken of by Keats as coming between the healthy imagination o f boyhood and the healthy imagination ofmanhood Such in d eed
t ai nly
’
.
,
,
.
,
,
FRANZ S C H U B ER T
46
.
seems the case and it is quite explain ed by the young composer s circumstan c es C ondemned ,
’
.
to the stool of an assistant in a rudimentary school an d fi ndin g that his prodigal genius was n o t sufficient t o give him bread he might well ask if the fault lay with the actor o r the manager and if he could not act m uch better ,
,
,
in a far higher capacity
.
D iscontent is almost
inevitably attached to dr udgery but it does ,
not
lways imply that the mi nd is above its
a
work or that there will be no drudgery in ,
higher capa c ity to which it aspires
.
th e
FRANZ S C H UB ER T
48
.
musical appoin tment far from home and famil y he did no t scruple at th e sacrifice In D ecember 1 8 1 5 the central organi zing comm ission had resolved to attach a school o f ,
.
,
,
music to the normal school at Laibach and the ,
post tion
teacher was thro wn Open to competi
of
Small as was the salary
.
Viennese ,
that is
£20
him self forward as
— year
a
of
o ne
500 flo rin s
—
Schubert put
the candidates
.
The examination was conducted by Salieri Wh o
testified
Schubert s merits in the ’
to
fo l
lowin g certificate Io
q
supplica
Sottoscritto affermo quanto nella
ui
,
di
F rancesco Schubert in riguar do
posto musicale di Lubiana sta esposto Vienna
,
9
A prile A
,
18 16
N T ONI O
a1
.
.
S ALI ER I ,
Primo maestro di cappella della C orte Imp reale .
T he
o r i g i na l i s
i n th e
p o ss e ss io n of
Dr
.
von
” .
Krei s s l e
.
SC H O B ER
49
.
A report from the district authority through
which Schubert s appli cation was sent dwelt ’
,
very strongly
on
this recommendation of
Salieri s and added that the Inspector of S chools spoke favourably of Schubert s ’
,
’
the treatment Of young people
in
method
.
But in spite o f this the post was given to another and this plan of escape had fail ed ,
,
.
,
However help came from another quarter ,
A student
.
the name o f Schober who h ad been born in Sweden W hither his father had emigrated but W h o had returned to Germany on his father s death and taken up his quarters of
,
,
,
’
in Vienna was much struck by some ,
bert s songs and desired ’
,
ance
.
He found
th e
to
of
Schu
make his acquaint
composer absorbed
in
duties as usher correcting the exercises ,
his of
children and s o f ully occupied that it was a marvel how he could find time for such pro F urther ac d i g i o u s masses o f composition quaintance with Sch ubert and his new pro ,
,
.
d u c t i on s
convinced Schober that the only hope
FRANZ S C H UBER T
50
.
for the young genius lay in removal from drudgery and his present round o f repulsive duties
.
With the consent
of
his
ow n
mother
and Schubert s father he gave Schubert a ’
,
room in his lodgings
It is said that the
.
consent of Schubert s father was assisted by a ringing box on the ear given by the s on to a stupid girl whi ch called up the head master ’
,
,
,
and led to the di smissal of the hasty assistant But whether thi s story is true o r a mere .
,
variation
on
facts alr eady stated we c annot ,
determi n e After living for some time with Schober .
the arrival of a brother of
hi s
necessary for Schubert to move
.
host made it A ccor di n gly
he took up his abode with a poet named Mayr hofer many of whose verses he had ,
s et
to
music The friendship and intell ectual inter course between these two had begun already .
Mayrhofer was ten years older than Schubert and was employed in the Austrian censorship
.
,
.
There were many pecu l iarities in his character
MA Y R H OFER
51
.
whic h would have been more noticed
h ad
his
poems earned h im a wider fame Schubert s friendship stimulated him t o poetic c om ’
.
position and while they lived together he ,
,
wrote a good deal amongst other things the ,
words
of
two Operas
B ut after the com
.
,
poser s death his lyre was silent ’
,
;
he worked
the word ) at his censorial d uties and became a prey to hypo
hard
two senses
of
,
chondria
O ne day, when he came to his
.
offi c e he fou nd that he could ,
left
not
work
;
he
desk and wandered through the house
h is
,
and at last flung himself from a window in the !
story These two Schober and Mayrhofer were
t op
,
,
Schubert s most attached friend s but there was a third whose help was still more i m ’
,
portant the singer Vogl ,
.
Vogl was consider
h a d th ro wn h i ms el f i nto the D anub e onc e b efo r e an d o n b e i n g r e pr o ac he d b y h i s fr i e n ds fo r h i s a tte mp t at suici d e o nl y s ai d th a t he di d n ot kno w th e w ate r of the D an ub e w a s SO w a r m He
,
,
.
FRANZ S C H U B ER T
52
.
ably older than Schubert and had long been engaged i n the Vienn ese opera He was blasé and had heard too o n the subj e c t of music often o f risin g geni uses who never came to anything to be wil lin g to patroni se a new o ne ,
.
,
,
.
,
Schuber t greatly admired Vogl and longed to have hi s songs made known through the ,
me di um
of
such a singer
But at first Vogl
.
shun ned his acquain tance
.
Schober spoke to
Vogl several times about him but ,
effect
.
w
ithout
At last the singer c onsented to pay a
Visit to the youn g composer was received by ,
him with rather awkward bows and scrapes and di sconnected words and b u mm e d over o ne o r two songs The first of them seemed pretty and melodious though little more but ,
.
,
the others grew upon him ;
,
tapped Schubert on the shou l der “
leavin g he
an d o n
There is somethin g in you but ,
,
,
y
an ou
d
said
are
,
too
little o f an actor too little of a charlatan ; y ou squander your good thoughts instead o f beat ing them out fine To others however he ,
’7
.
,
,
V O GL
53
.
spoke warmly and enthusiasti c ally of Schu bert
The songs grew upon him more and
.
more ; he c ame to Schubert uni nvited and st u died his compositions ; and he soon c om mu n i c at e d
to others the raptures they awoke
in him Vogl himself was a singular character .
At
.
an early age his clear voice and perfect into nation attracted the notice choir
his parish church
of
the leader
of
an
,
d
of
the
led to his
re c eivin g a thorough musical education
.
In
his eighth year he became a paid soprano ,
singer and at the same time he ,
i nstructed
in the school
of
w as
carefully
a monastery
.
This
education made him contrast favourably with the general run of
his days he
of w as
opera singers
.
To the end
a constant student of the
O ld and N ew Testaments Marcus Aureli us ,
E pictetus and Thomas ,
a
Kempis
.
,
Whil e
waiting in the theatre he would often occupy hi mself with a Greek classic and his learning ,
infused a respe c tful fear into his c omrades
.
FRANZ SC H UB ER T
54
.
N or was this learning the only benefit he had
derive d from his monastic train ing hi m
taught
a habit
of
It had
.
religious contemplation
,
by which he endeavoured to rule his life and ,
which contrasted still more strongly with the c areless ways of theatrical companies
moral sceptic he was always anatomising ,
A
.
h im
self and others ; and when his strong excitable nature exposed him to the
in fluence
of pas
sions his repentance was deep and agonizing ,
.
He sang in the Vienn ese Opera for twenty eight years after which he retired from the stage and devoted himself to ballads His ,
.
best performances in opera were the parts o f O restes in the Iphigenia C ount Almaviva in ”
,
“
the
bini s ’
Marriage “
F amily
of
F igaro
” ,
C heron in C heru
and Jacob in Weig l s Swiss His judgment o f Schubert s songs
Medea ”
”
,
’
.
is rather singular and ,
o ne
expression in it is
explaine d by a curious anecdote he s ays
“ ,
“
’
has shown
th e
“ .
N othi ng
” ,
want of an e fficient
school O f singing so clearly as Schubert s songs ’
.
FRANZ S C H UB ER T
56
.
leisure he looked thr ough the songs and found one which particularly pleased h i m Thi s one however was written too high for h im he transposed it for his own voice and had hi s ,
,
.
,
,
,
version copied
About a fortnight after w ards
.
the two friends were practising together and ,
some new
pieces were produced
brought
Schubert s song as he had trans
ou t
.
Vogl
’
posed it and laid the copy on the piano ,
.
After Vogl had sung it Schubert took up the ,
c opy and said ,
in
Vi emi e s e
a
not a bad song who s it by ? ’
dialect ;
Hml ’
”
,
The friendship between Schubert and Vogl began in 1 8 1 7 and exerted a beneficial i n Vogl guided flu e n c e on the youn g composer the choice o f Schubert as t o the poems whi ch he was to set to music and recited them to .
,
him with great power
of
expression before
hand so that the music might do full j ustice to ,
the thought
of
the poet
.
Schubert gene rall y
came to Y og l s lodging in the morning and e ither composed there or went through new ’
,
CORREC TI ON S
’
VOG L S
songs with him
57
.
He attached much
.
im
portance to Vo g l s judgment and often ac That these corrections c e t e d his corrections p ’
,
.
were not always i mprovements appears from the manuscripts A new
or
of
some
Schubert s songs
Of
’
admirable inspiration
of
.
genius did
not always promise to catch the public taste ; but a practised singer is generally a better judge o f the public taste than he is o f the inspiration o f genius Vogl w h o had blamed .
Schubert for having too little in
h im ,
and not beating
was hardly the kind
of
ou
of
the charlatan
his thoughts fine
t
,
corrector needed ; and it
is a pity that some
o ne
Schubertian M S S
and restore the original
'
readings
.
,
does not consult the
.
In another respect Vog l s influence ’
on
Schu
bert is to be taken without any drawbacks He it was who first made Schubert known to the world o f art and t o the larger world which supports that small world In life he acted as a guide and adviser and did all in his .
,
.
,
FRANZ S C H U B ER T
58
.
e cir c u stanc s m power to im prove Schubert s Perhaps he acted too much as a protector which is partly explain ed by his bein g more ’
.
,
than twenty years older than his companion
.
’
The extraordinary mass of Schubert s songs and the preponderance of this bran ch o f c om position over all others are to be explained by his friendship with Vogl for whom most o f the songs were written It is unfortunate that s o many of them should have been written for a voi c e whi ch is of rare occurrence and that Vog l s pe c uli ar emphasis should have been so exclusively studied But Vo g l s name is i n ,
,
,
.
,
’
’
‘
.
associated with Schubert s songs and hi s intimate c o mi e c t i on with Schubert s life is a suffi cient excuse for the promin ence given him i n thi s narrative
d i s s o l u b ly
’
,
’
.
Among Schubert s other musical friends at ’
this time were the two brothers H utten brenner the elder of whom was a composer ,
,
and a publi c employ é named Gaby who ex celled on the pianoforte
.
O ne
of
the brothers
F A I TH FU L AD MI RER S H ii t t enb renn er
possesses many
59
.
of
Schubert s ’
M S S and was s u ch an enthusiastic admirer of .
,
Schubert s genius that he ’
repulsed
Some
.
nicknamed
on e
w as
proud
of
being
relates that Schubert was
tyrannus
” ,
from the cruelty with
which he repelled this indiscreet worshipper He would
y,
sa
ironi c all y
“ ,
.
that fellow likes
”
everything o f mine But he was glad o f his services in arranging hi s symphonies for the .
piano in attending to his works being ,
graved
,
and
eu
corresponding with foreign
in
publishers ; and the letters
of
Schubert to
H ti tt enb r enn er,
which are carefu ll y preserved by the latter are more those o f a friend than of a tyr ant ,
.
H ii t t e nb renn er
attempts to procure Schu bert s genius due recognition w il l oft en appear ’
s
’
in this n arrative It is surely a bitter irony o f fate that it was in his house and in his keeping .
,
,
that such misadventures happened to the Schubertian M S S .
Gab y was selected by Schubert to play com
FRANZ S C H UB E R T
60
positions for fo u r hands with his ow hoven G ah y
’
n .
s
.
hi m
on the piano
works and the symphonies o f Beet The pu rity and expressiveness o f
play
,
the quickness with whi ch he
an d
read music at sight were the points which ,
especial ly commended him to the composer
.
Schubert was not a Virtuoso i n the modern sense of the word but he accompani ed his own ,
songs admirably and his short thick fingers '
,
were not beaten by a ny
of
most diffi cult sonatas
O ne
.
the diffi culties of his of
his pieces alone
must be excepted the F antasia ( O p whi ch he never cou l d master He was once ,
,
.
.
playing it in a circle of friends and st u ck in the last movement on whi ch he sprang from his “ seat and said the devil may play it ! On ”
the other hand a musician before whom Schu bert played o n e li ght
,
of
his sonatas exclaimed in de ,
Schubert I admire your playi n g on the ,
piano more than your compositions !
”
G ah y
bore witness to the pure and ready play the mixture of tenderness and fir e which d istin ,
RO SS IN I FURORE g
his short
u i sh ed
,
61
.
fat fri end
N ot only
.
did he learn much from Schube rt but he foun d ,
Schubert s sociality s o much increased in the course o f playin g that he was a most delightfu l ’
compani on
.
The year composition Italian style
is chiefly marked by the
18 17 of ” .
the two
“
overtures in the
R ossini s operas were then ’
causing a fu r or e i n Vienna ( second only to that produced by the Swan o f Pesaro himself on his Visit a few years later ) and Schubert was one o f their many admirers Himself a ,
.
master of melody he co u ld not fail to wonder ,
at the facility with which R ossi ni poured forth such an exul ting and abo u n di ng stream though ,
he was not unconscious O f the faults which attended it But he was often at the theatre and one night returnin g with some friends
,
.
from a representation of Tancredi
” ,
he found
their prai se of R ossin i s overtures was pitched too high He declared it would be easy for him to write similar overtures with equal ’
.
FRANZ S C H U B ER T
62
.
speed and his friends took him at his wor d ,
The result was that he composed
tw
o,
.
which
hi s li fe
were often given at concerts during
time an d earned great applause O ne o f them was played in 1 8 1 8 and the Wi ener T h ea ter .
,
,
Z ei tu ng
of the ti me characterised it as wonder
ful ly delicious
Though the motive was
.
singularly simple he developed from it a store ,
of the most astoni shing and mo st attractive ideas worked out with skill and force ,
NO
less than five sonatas
,
as
well
” .
as
number
less songs were composed the same year ,
.
In
the following one Schubert consented to take a step which he had always Viewed with the — greatest dislik e to give lessons in music This dislike w as fully shared by Mozart and Beethoven ; by the latter to such an extent .
that he onl y twice overcame his reluctance The bitterness with which Mozart
al
.
ludes to
the necessity of earning his bread by teachin g is familiar to the readers of his letters yet it ,
was the onl y way by which bread could be
FRANZ S C H U B ER T
64
.
summer on their estate in Hungary where ,
Schubert s connection with them began He was ’
.
then twenty one -
the C ount s two daughters ’
;
were thirteen and eleven
.
T hi s soj o u rn with the E sterhazy famil y forms the onl y romantic episode in Schubert s ’
life
.
A s a rul e we know singularly little
of
love adventures He never seems to have thought of marriage He never mixed himself up in any serious or lastin g en gagement
h is
.
.
.
Although he was certain ly susceptible as
garded the fair
s ex ,
he
di d
re
not show his
feelings as openly as would most men of like imaginative power
.
It is certai n that with
hi s
most inti mate friends he was very reserved o n the subj ect Still we have reason to believe that he was often in love Without alluding .
.
to
mi n or
one
and more varying attachments the ,
he formed for the youngest daughter
the E sterhazy fam ily may well detain us
.
of
It
lasted the rest of hi s life though perhaps it ,
w as
never put
in
direct words
.
The young
LI S Z T ON
S
C H UB ER T
.
65
c ountess C aroline valued Schubert an d his
genius but sh e did no t return h i s love an d it is probable that sh e w as no t aware of its extent Though if sh e had chosen t o s e e it o r reality Schubert s manner and a phrase which once fell ,
,
.
,
’
from him must have revealed it
O n her com
.
plaining that he had dedicated nothing to her he replied doing
so
?
“ ,
What would be the use
of
E verythin g is de di cate d to
:
my y
ou
”
already We learn these facts about Schubert s life from .
’
the sole survivor o f the company Baron S c h On stein It was to him that Schubert owed the introduction O f his songs in to the higher circles ,
.
of Vienn ese so ciety
In
.
18 3 8
Liszt heard
S c h On s t ein ,
Baron
and wrote in the G a zette Mu s i c a le the following account o f h i s singing “ D ans les salons j e nt en d s avec u n plaisir tre s vif et souvent u n e emotion qui allait jusqu aux ’
’
,
larmes u n amateur 1e Baron S ch onstein di re les Lieder de Schubert La traduction fran ai s e n e nous d onne u u ne idée bien i mparfaite c q '
,
.
’
FRANZ S C H UB ER T
66
.
de c e qu est l uni on de ces poésies presque toutes ’
’
ext r é m em ent
bert
,
le
belles avec la musique de Schu musicien l e plus po e te qui fut j amais
.
La langue allemande est admirable dans l ord re d u sentiment peut ét r e au ssi n y a t il q u u n Alleman d qui sache bien comprendre la nai vet e e t la fantaisie de plusieurs de ses compositions leur charme capricieux leur abandon m élanc o ’
’
-
-
-
’
-
,
,
,
lique Le Baron Sch les déclame avec la science d u n grand artiste e t l e s chante avec la .
.
’
,
sensibilité Simple d un amateur qui s e laisse all er ’
a s es
emotions sans se préoccuper
du
public
” .
Wh at with the pieces written for the E ster hazy famil y and with other sudden inspirations Schubert s stay in Hungary was most prolific It i s not strange that he was attracted by the Hungarian and Sclavoni an national airs whi ch he heard sung by the servants o r by passing ,
,
’
.
,
,
gipsies and reproduced them in a more artisti c form The d i v er ti s s ement a la H ong r oi s e ( O p 54 ) consists o f several of these airs wrought into a whole The motive of it was caught up ,
.
.
.
To
H ow
PI C K
NA TI ONAL A I R S
UP
67
.
by Schubert in the kitchen of C ount E st erh azy s castle R eturning from a walk with Baron ’
.
S c h On s t ei n ,
he heard a
m aid -servant
sin ging an
air as sh e bent over the kitchen fir e The air struck him and he hummed it as he went on ; .
,
next winter it appeared d i v er ti ss em ent
as
the motive
of
the
Besides this he wove national airs into many of his works and Hungarian .
,
,
melodies appear even in parts of his sym O ne symphony was composed this year
— ,
the
sixth in C It forms the transition from Schubert s earlier sym phonic works which bear .
’
,
traces
of
the older masters to his great seventh ,
symphony which is purely his ow n In the s c h erzo of thi s sixth symphony the i nfluence o f ,
.
Beethoven is not to be mistaken Another work of this year is the series o f waltzes call ed ” “ the Mourni n g Waltzes which enjoyed great popularity and have given rise to variations .
,
,
,
without number
.
A ccordi ng to a note of J o
h H u tt enb r enne r, p
se
Schubert composed these
FRAN Z S C H UB ER T
68
.
waltzes while stay ing at a bath with the other brother A n sel m and Anselm H utt enb renn er is in possession of the original But the waltzes ,
.
have constantly passed as Beethoven s Several o f the variations based o n them named B e e t h o ’
.
ven as their author and in spite ,
of
many
di s
eussions in musical papers the point is not yet ,
decided writer
.
The hypercritical acuteness
di scovers
their motive
in
o f on e
a graduale
of
Haydn s in O p 7 O p 40 and in the A d ela i d e o f Beethoven ; in a mass of Schnabel s ; in the overture to the Ves ta l Vi rg i n o f Spontin i ; in a ’
.
,
,
.
’
quartett of Mendelssohn s and
—
’
,
other places
.
in
a thousand
C H A P T ER U
IV
NFAVOU RAB LE S TAT E O F I M ES L ETTERS O F S C H U — TH O U G HT S ROSS INI — T RU G E NI S EXC L U D ES R E NVY— S C H U B ER T D E BA RE D F RO M O P E A— S C H U B ER T A G O ETHE — D I D G OE TH E K N O W O F S C H U B T O TI LL I W K NG o L AT E — E FF E C T C RE AT OR— A OP ERETTA — P L O T D MU S I C — MU C H IN S P I RATI O N — M ELO D A M A— I V O F S C H U — O FF ERS O F P M AN U S C R I P T S — B I T RO NAG E —FI RS T P U BLI C RE C E P TI O N — A C O N C ERT— TH E AUD I E N C E C R ITI C S THE
’ T s
BE
T
-
0N
E
U
TH E
R
R
ND
T
N
0N
ER
T
OF THE
AS To
IT S
ERT AN
D S OO
R
TH E
I
N OT
E RY
A
O R A T OR I o
AN
A ND
E RL
AN
N
A
IT
?
.
was at the beginni n g
of
the year
18 1 9,
that
of Schubert s songs was first brought before a Vienn ese public But the tim e fo r any pub
one
’
.
lic re c ognition of his geni us was not yet This very year he was striving in vain t o have some of his larger operas performe d and he found that .
,
FRANZ S C H U B ER T
70
.
he could make no way again st the private oppo sitiou
of
R ossini
cliques
an d
,
the public adoration
of
.
Many of his letters testify to the u n favour able state o f the times and the impossibili ty o f getting hearers for a German opera In o ne ,
.
dated May 1 9 th 1 8 1 9 he breaks o u t Openly against the cabals which hindered the produc ,
tion o f his works
,
“ .
In spite o f Vogl it is di ffi ,
c ul t to manoeuvre against the c a na ille of Weigl Treitschke & c Instead o f my operetta they
,
.
,
,
”
give stu ff which makes one s hair stand on end The same letter speaks o f R ossini s Otello as “ havi ng been lately given This opera is far better that is more characteristic than T a n It is im possible to deny it extraordinary c r ed i ’
.
’
.
,
,
.
genius The instrumentation is oft en extremely origin al and s o is the vocal part ; there is no fault to be found with the music except the usual Italian gallopades and several r em ini s cences of T a nc r ed i Schubert s admiration for R ossini is o ne o f .
,
,
,
”
.
’
FRANZ S C H U BER T
72
.
To s ee an audience bitten by a ta r a ntella ( as the biographer o f Beethoven describes the s c ene ) and shoutin g for the composer s appear ance at the end o f each act cann ot be pleasant ’
,
,
when it wounds so many feelings o f patriotism and rivalry The effect it h ad on Beethoven .
hi mself is much to be regretted ; he refused to see R ossini called ,
h im
a scene painter and -
,
adm i tted grudgin gly that he would have been a good composer if hi s master had flogged h i m '
more Schu bert however had even more cause to c omplain With a fac il ity onl y second ,
,
.
.
to R ossini s ( as he had shown by the composi tion o f his overtures in the Italian style ) a power o f melody har dl y second to hi m and a natu ral turn for the Opera he found himself entirely excluded O ne of his operas had ao t u all y passed the censorship which in those days mi ght have been considered the last as it was perhaps the most di ffic ult turnpike gate o n the way to performance D ebarred from the opera Schubert sought ’
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
-
,
,
.
,
G OE TH E KNO W OF S C H U B ER T ?
D ID
73
other re c ognition O f the many songs which he had hitherto composed the most per fe et in form and musical treatment were those of Goethe and some one of Schubert s friends pparently suggeste d that he should send a a fo r
.
,
’
,
selection of these compositions to the poet himself The retiring mo desty of the young .
musician had never led him to think o f this expedient But he adopted the suggestion
,
.
an d
sent a sheet of his settin gs o f Goethe s songs ’
to Weimar with a letter conveying his most ,
respe c tful homage N either songs no r letter pro duced any effect We cannot tell whether Goethe laid them aside with the mass o f sim ilar .
.
tributes he rec eive d daily
,
or
decline d
to
enter
into nearer relations with a composer personally unknown t o him and unknown t o fame Some such fate must have happened to them Wh at ever conj ectures we may form it is certain that the name o f Schubert does not occur in Goethe s works in hi s c orrespondence with Z elter or in .
,
.
,
’
,
,
his conversations with E ckermann
.
Goethe did
FRANZ S C H U B ER T
74
.
not pretend t o be a u dg e o f music ; in a letter to Madame U nger he said that he could onl y speak of the effe c t it produced on h i m when he gave him self up to it wholly and again and again Yet as Mendelssohn s letters show u s he was a willi ng and appreciative listener He ,
’
.
,
,
.
.
must often have heard Schubert s compositions perform ed by fi r st rate artists But it was not till the year 1 8 3 0 two years after the death of ’
-
.
,
Schubert and two years before the death of ” Goethe that the E rl King was sung to him ,
,
in such a way as to take absolute possession of him Wilh elmine Schr oder D ev ri ent was pass ing through Weimar on her way to Paris an d '
-
.
,
sang some songs before Goethe A m ong these ” songs was the E rl King which affe cted .
,
Goethe so much that he took
S c hr Od
’
head
e with both hi s hands kissed her on th e forehead “ and exclai med A thousand thanks for this grand artistic performance I heard the compositi on once before he added and it did not please me at all But when it is r s
,
,
,
”
,
,
.
EFFEC T OF T H E
“
”
ER L K I N G ON G OE T H E
.
75
given like this the whole be c omes a ,
”
picture Whe re it w as that Goethe heard the E rl King sung s o as not to please him is no t re c orded We know that Madame M il der sang four little songs to him at Marienbad In 1 8 2 3 , .
”
,
.
an d
as
She was a great friend of S ch ubert s ’
and produced pieces o f his at her con c erts it is ,
not unlikely that some o f these were of his c omposition Madame Milder was then in c or responden c e with both Schubert and Goethe .
,
which makes it the more strange that the poet shoul d not have known of the c omposer And th e songs whi c h Madame Milder sung h im had .
such an effect that the mere remembrance of ,
them for c ed tears from his eyes B u t though Goethe showed such .
in differen c e
to Schubert till an early grave had closed over him S chubert never wavered in his attachment ,
to Goethe He set some sixty of Goethe s songs and among these many of the most ’
.
,
beautiful
.
It was a fit rewar d for his d evo
F RANZ
76
S
C H UB ER T
.
tion that one of them earne d him his first popularity His first appear ance before the Vienn ese .
public was in d eed in another character
.
It will
seem strange to those who know him as a song writer that he should come o u t as the c om ,
poser
Of
an Operetta
.
His friend Vogl had used
his influen c e with the di rection o f the opera house to have Sch ubert entrusted w i th a li ,
bretto
an d
,
in
18 19
F rench and c alled
a piece adapted from the ”
“
The Twin s was given him The libretto was anythin g but good The idea o f twin brothers s o like as to be mistaken for ,
,
.
.
each other is one of the Oldest on the stage ; and ,
in the present instance no attempt was made to extract new wit from the worn out subj ect -
.
The mayor to
h im
of
a vil lage had a daughter born
eighteen years before the time chosen
for the play While he was i n quest o f a god father a neighbour named F ranz who was j u st o f age came and announced his in tention of .
,
,
,
goin g
to
seek his fortune and his twin bro t her ,
,
PL O T
MUS I C
A ND
77
.
offered himself as god father and left the child a dowry of thalers on the c on d ition that ,
,
,
if he returned in eighteen years and like d her
,
she was to be his wife When the ac tion begins the eighteen years .
,
are
on
the point of expiring
Lieschen the
.
,
daughter has made her choi c e of a bridegroom ,
and the happy pair are only waiting
,
sunset
fo r
to c omplete the eighteen years and give th em ,
to each other s arms
Anton the c hosen l over
’
.
,
tenor and a chor u s of peasants wake the ) ( ,
,
bride by a morning serenade t u nat ely
a
.
She being for ,
soprano sings a duett with her lover ,
N ow however a new person comes ,
,
on
.
the
stage no other than F ranz with a bass voi c e ,
,
and a bandage over his right eye
.
He recounts
adventures remin ds the mayor o f his agree ment and o f c ourse is pleased with Lieschen The result is a quatuor in which the mayor
hi s
,
,
,
.
,
Lieschen and Anton protest in vain while F ranz tells the two lovers to take an eternal farewell O f each other and the father to get ,
,
,
FRANZ S C H UB ER T
78
breakfast ready for him
.
.
While the meal is
preparing F ranz goes to the steward o f the village to get an account of his money and is ,
,
immediately suc c eeded by his twin brother F rederick who is exactly like h i m has a bass ,
,
voice and a bandage over ,
mayor comes
ou
t to
left eye
his
The
.
tell him breakfast is ready
.
F rederick sits dow n to the meal eats and drinks ,
heartily and assures the mayor he will do all in his power to make h i m and his famil y happy This fills the lover w ith hope and Lieschen ,
.
,
pleads her cau se to her supposed lord She tells hi m She can only be happy w ith Anton an d that it wo u l d be a hardship if s h e was com F rederick whose glass has ell e d to marry p been filled rather often by the mayor think s the compulsory marriage aimed again st himself and declares that he cannot be compelled t o marry Lieschen as he has a wife and s on living Lieschen runs off with the tidings t o Anton The vill age steward comes to F rederick and .
,
.
,
,
,
.
,
.
,
requests
h im
to take away his money
.
He
FRAN Z S C H U B E R T
80
his other works
.
Still the operetta succeeded
.
The openi ng chorus was encored some ,
of
.
the
arias were applaude d and the composer was ,
”
“
called at the end The Operetta survived six performances and then vanished from the .
,
repertoire What the critics said on the subj ect was on the whole encouraging They c all ed the piece a pretty little thing ; told the young .
,
.
,
composer that the pure style o f t h e opera showed he had made proper studies and was ,
no novice in harmony However the musi c was antiquated and unmelodious in parts and it was to be hoped the composer would not attach too great i mportance to the complim ent paid him by his friends in calli ng him before the curtain This hope was probably realised Schubert was not present at the performance and di d not answer to the c all .
,
,
.
.
,
.
A short time after ( 1 8 2 0) he finished another composition for the stage a work o f a ,
melodramatic nature but of much more ,
im
portan c e than that we have just described
.
A ME L ODRAM A
C ount d er of
81
.
the proprietor of the Theatre
Palffy ,
Wi en gave a benefit to three
an
of
the artists his theatre whose engagements di d not ,
,
entitle them to c laim one
Schubert was
.
quested to furnish the musi c
re
a melodrama
for
”
“
in three acts called the Magic Harp the libretto o f which was on a par with the last ,
,
libretto He c onsented to do so and wr ote the music in a fortnight But though the ,
.
.
,
”
“
re c eption accorded to the Magic Harp was no t as flattering as that given to the Twins though the critics fell foul o f the senseless libretto and did not spare the composer there ”
,
,
is much genuin e
m u s i c in S chubert
’
s partition
.
The overture appeared later for the pianoforte as his O p
.
26,
and
death with another
h as
been given since his
his operas A man is not always the best judge o f his own produc tions but he is sometimes a better judge than of
.
,
those who c riticise them o ff hand without at tempting to study their meani n g Anyhow it -
.
is worth remark that S c hubert looked on the
FRANZ S C HU B ER T
82
music of the
Magic Harp
more successful compositions
”
.
as
one
of
his
.
A t the very same time as this melodram a
was bein g written the composer was engage d on a reli gious work whi c h rank s high among his productions o f that class T hi s was t h e ,
.
oratorio
Laz arus
of
R esurrection
”
F ebruary
,
,
which
,
E aster cantata
”
an d
,
1 8 20
.
F east of
th e
Schubert called which was written
an
or
Whil e
the
all
“
in
his friends eve n .
the most intimate among them suppose d ,
hi m
fully o c cupied with the music of his melo drama he was devoting his leisure ho u rs the profoundest secrecy to the composition ,
in 0
this oratorio Mayrhofer who lived with hi m Schober who constantly visited hi m kn ew no .
,
thing about
it
.
Its author a Professor ,
0
Theology in Hall e who had published it si years before and lived eight years after it — composition dying the same year as Schuber —never knew o f it It was no t till thi rt years after the death of Schubert that the pre ,
,
.
ORA T ORI O
A N
sent biographer Schubertian M S S public
83
.
di scovered .
it in a p il e of and brought it before the
,
.
In the year 1 8 59 when he was writing the biographical sketch o f Schubert which prec eded ,
this volume he found the first part of the c an ” tata of Lazarus in a collection of Schubert s ,
’
autographs
.
In the biographical sketch he ,
stated that this part was the only o ne Schu bert had composed and he thought hi mself ,
safe in making that statement as the collector in whose possession he had found the first part was an ardent enthusiast for everythin g that regarded Schubert and was not li kely to pass over any o f hi s compositions Moreover the ,
.
brother of Schubert speaks of one part
o nl
hi s
But in
recollections
the composer
of
.
i n y ‘
the wri ter was invited by Alexander Thayer o f Boston ( whose fame as an author on musical subj ects and especially on Beet hoven is very great and who was then 18 6 1
,
,
,
attached to the
,
U S .
.
E mbassy in Vienna ) to ,
FRANZ
84
S
C H UB ER T
.
his house to s ee a c oll e c tion of S chubert M S S Among these the partition of the opera A l fon s o and E strella was di s c overed ; that of ” the operetta The Twins ; many string quartetts pieces for the pianoforte and songs ; “ and the second part of Lazarus The latter was unfortunately not quite complete b ut another sheet of it was found in the house of a brother s widow The original oratorio was in t hree parts of .
,
‘
,
”
,
”
.
,
’
.
,
which the third is the longest But we have no means of knowin g whether the third part was set at all by Schubert He seems to have made some alterations in the words and s u b stituted in some places more energeti c expres .
.
,
sions h im
The monotony o f the orig i n al j ustified in doing s o but thi s is far more su c cess .
,
fu lly overcome by the dramatic excellence o f the music R ecitative abounds throughout the work and the general character is de clamatory The composer has been self deny ing enough to dam up the abundant stream of .
,
-
.
A N ORAT OR I O
85
.
melodies and trust to a new an d less T o prove this allurin g kind o f attraction
his
,
.
here by a detailed description of the mu si c would be like analysing moonlight But we may particularise the openi ng recitative of ” “ Lazarus fo r i t s deep feeling and tenderness ; .
,
the first aria which receives a peculiar colou r ,
from the wind instruments that accompany it the re c itative of Lazarus which comes next
,
an d is most touching in its expression ; the recitative of Mary and the air which follows it
,
both
of
which are marked by
th e
utmost
charm o f melody The second part begins with an orchestral dirge where the effect of the .
trombones is especial ly powerful
The recita
.
tive and aria which come next and
are
,
sung
by the Sadducee Simon are of a dramati c power with which few would credit the gentle and tender Schubert ,
.
About the same tim e
or
soon after he began
another great work the opera ,
,
of
S ac ont ala,
which unfortunately was left unfi nished
.
A ll
FRA N Z S C H U BER T
86
.
we possess of it is a sketch o f the music of the two fir st acts which certainl y promi ses much ,
but does no t perform It is said that the c omposer s friends di ssuaded h im from setting such an i mpracticable libretto and all the author s efforts t o pro c ure a more favou rable hearing were in vain Besides the works .
’
,
’
.
al
ready mentioned he composed this year a ,
strin g quartett the chorus ,
some Italian
c a nzoni ,
religious music The story
of
water sprites -
,
several songs and some ,
.
of
this reli gious music is curiou s
.
Schubert s brother F erdin and had been just ’
,
appoi nted leader
of
,
the choir in the church of ‘
the Alt Lerchenfeld suburb The people of that district were offended at the appointment -
.
a stranger and refused him all music al help In this extremity he called for the ai d o f hi s brother and hi s friends in the Li c hten thal suburb F ranz at once wrote th e anti of
,
.
.
phons for Palm Sunday and some other pieces ,
composing the first
in
half an hour and writ -
-
,
,
FRANZ S C H UB ER T
88
.
It has always been said that Mozart s mis fortunes were caused by the neglect o f the Viennese public but thi s has been satis In the same fac t o rily refuted by O tto J ahn ’
,
.
way it is not true that Schubert s mi sfortunes were caused by false friends who surrounde d ’
him and to whos e wil l he was subserv ient ,
.
There are many other c auses for his want of success In addition to the o n e we have j u st stated he had to fight against the short .
.
,
sighted selfishness
of
music al publi shers the ,
in di fference of the public and the ,
ni t i o n
of musical societies
deserted by true friends
— half re c og
But he was never
.
'
or
,
exp loi te
by false
ones D uring the greater part o f his life he was never once in want o f warm admi r ers who .
recogni zed his talent and did their utmost to ,
brin g it before the publi c
.
That he did not
esteem his friends according to their power
of
helping him may have been unwi se but was not unn atural He was often cold towards the ,
,
.
warmest a dm irer
of
hi s
geni u s an d opened his ,
TE S TI MONI A L
To
S C H U B ER T
89
.
heart to others who valued him as a friend b ut cared little for him as a composer O r he neglected the men who could best have served him and j oined himself to those who were themselves engaged in a c onstant struggle for existence At the beginning o f 1 8 2 1 C ount D ietri c h ,
.
,
.
stein who held the post ,
of
di rector
of
musi c to
the court sent Schubert a testimoni al
eu
,
d or s e d
by himself and signed by Weigl director of the opera Salieri court chapel ,
,
,
master and others of equal rank in offi ce but ,
,
of less distinction now as a means ,
curing him some appointment
.
of
pro
The count
him self spoke of Schubert as a young Vigor ou s and extremely promising composer He ,
,
.
c onsidered it his duty as it was a pleasure ,
to him to declare publicly that Schubert had given the strongest proofs o f native genius ,
,
severe study and ,
of
the union
of
taste and
feelin g and he hoped that an opportunity would be given him of developing these ex c el
FRAN Z S C H U B ER T
90
.
'
lences to the benefit m u sic
Weigl
.
an d
of
art and
dr amati c
Salieri said much the ’
same All o f them dwelt on Schubert s eminent services to the opera hi s merits in .
,
composition his mastery
of
,
theoretical and
practical harmony The public was soon to have a c hance of j udging if these statements were correct D r S onnl ei t h n er an advocate and professor in Vienna had periodic al meetings o f musi c al friends at whi ch several o f S chubert s pie c es .
.
.
,
,
’
were performed The approval they met with was such that the host s brother Leopold S onnl ei t h ne r ventured o n the expense o f eu graving the E rl King He had already .
’
,
,
”
.
taken it round
to
the chi ef musical publishers
,
but they would not run the risk even though ,
the song was offered them as a gift They declared that the composer was unk nown and the pianoforte ac companiment was too d i fii c u lt .
,
.
However the success ,
of
the piece at his
brother s meetings encourage d Leopold Sonn ’
FRANZ S C H U B E R T
92
.
”
gramm e The E rl King was sung by Vogl an d was en c ored with boisterous applau se ” “ But the chorus of water sprites ( words by Goethe ) though it ha d been rehearsed several .
,
.
,
,
times and was s u ng to perfe ction ,
,
di d
not pro
du c e any effect on the public A s the pub The li sh er had said it w as too diffi cult .
,
.
singers had become penetrated w i th the beauty the work during their rehearsals and ex e c t e d the public to be equally impressed after p They were disappointed Instea d o n e hearin g
of
,
.
of
.
the applause they expected there was a dead
silence and they retired with an u nc om fo rt abl e feeling as if a cold d ou c h e had been ,
discharged suddenl y on their heads
Schubert
.
hi mself was no less in di gnant and the chorus certainl y did not deserve such a fate Later times have reversed that popular Ver ,
.
di ct
.
D r S onnl ei th n er gave the chorus three .
weeks afterwards at one of his meetings and the applause was general In 1 8 58 the leader ,
.
of
the Vienn ese C horal So c iety disinterred the
TH
E
AUD I ENCE
A ND
TH
E CR I T I C S
93
.
work which had been s lumbering in the me an ti m e and performed it with the same resu lts ,
,
.
Yet in 1 8 2 1 it was not only received with in di fference at the c oncert but a musical paper ,
of eminence s ai d
of
it
Herr Schubert s ’
c horu s for eight voi c es was recognized by the
publi c as an ac cumu l ation o f all musical modu lat i o ns and variations without sense ord er or ,
purpo se
.
,
In such compositions the mu sician
is like a driver with a team
of
eight horses
who goes first left and then right now turns ,
Of f
an d then turns back and carries on this ,
game road
” .
al
l
the tim e without ever coming to a
C H AP T E R V
.
1 — T R AN S A C TI O N S APPE ARAN C E O F K IN L o — B U S IN ESS M A N D WITH P U BLI S H ERS — P RO FIT M G E NI U S — CU R I O S I TY O L IT ER ATU RE — A PU L H ABI T S — H O N O U P RO FIT S — T RA D IN G N — G E AT N A M ES — D A C E MU S I C — A D M I SS I O N U — G RAN D O P ERA S SO C I E TY — C O U NT R Y x R WE B ER — P RO DU C T O N F E U R Y A NTH E S C H U B ER T C RITI C I S M H OS TI L ITY — FI S T O LI K E FI RS T — P U PP I ES THE C ASE A G AI N ST S C H UB ERT FRO M A S O N O F “
THE
E RL
G
”
-
A ND
EN
OF
IS HE R S
REP
cU
SION s I
A ND
?
OR
E B ER
T HE
O
N
E
W
B
AND
R
To
EN
F
R
T A T ION s
.
ss
A
’
OP
R
O
PF R A S
.
”
E rl Kin g appeared as Schubert s O p ’
.
and was d edic ated to C ount D ietri chstein in reward
of
his kindness and protection
.
Schu
bert felt both these very warmly but they had n o t suffi cient e ffect on him to make him writ e ,
the dedication himself
.
He was too purely a
F R ANZ S C H U B E R T
96 t e red
.
into busin ess relations with several of the
Viennese publishers and made a proposal to ,
Peters o f Leipsic The onl y one i n Vienna with whom he woul d have nothing to do was .
A rtari a ,
though some years after he relaxed this severi ty His reason was that while he w as Salieri s pupil he composed three string quartetts and offered them to A rt ari a They “ were dedicated to Salieri by his pupil F ranz Schubert and as soon as A rt ari a saw the d edi cation he replied with a rude j oke on the word pupil ( which in G erm an stands fo r .
,
’
,
,
.
,
,
”
,
,
,
s chool boy as well ) I don t take school b oy work ! N o doubt A rt ari a w as glad of the o p ort u ni t o f repenting which was given him p y later and o f makin g amends to Schubert by filli ng his o w n pockets D iabelli w as certai nl y rejoiced to offer this kind of reparation He “
-
’
-
,
”
,
,
.
.
ered Schubert
off
£ 8 0 for
the plates and copy
right o f the twelve sheets whi c h he had once refu sed as a gift and in a moment of weakness ,
perhaps of want Schubert closed with the offer ,
,
.
P ROF I T O ne
of
A ND
Loss
97
.
Schubert s friends the poet Mayr ’
,
hofe r attributes this mistake to ignoran c e o f the world in part an d in part to love of enj oy ment heightened by long privations The first ,
,
.
su
m
of
ready money no do ubt seems tempt ,
,
ing to a man in such circumstances and Schubert might be afraid that if he rej ected ,
this offer there would be no chan c e of a second He had seen these very works re fused as a gift He found other publishers not disposed to be more li beral His po pularity .
.
.
might vanish as suddenly as it had ari sen Whether these were his arguments o r not he accepted £8 0 for twelve songs by one o f which alone the publishers made during the .
,
,
forty years that they have held the copyright N o r did Schubert s app li cation to Leipsic give him any reason for removin g his works .
’
from the publishers o f Vienna Peters wrote a long letter which is worth translation as o n e .
of the characteristics , if sities Of literature ,
.
no t
one
of the curio
FRANZ S C H U B ER T
98 “
.
Many thanks for you r comm unication
regard to Herr Schubert
.
Several
of
in
his songs
are known to me favourably an d give me c on fi d en c e in what you s ay in favour o f the artist I will gladly contribute to a greater propaga ,
tion
of
h is
.
works than can be made by the
Viennese houses but before I engage ,
in
any
thing let me give y o u a short description of the state o f my affai rs .
“
At the moment when I entered upon my
present busin ess I made up my mind to earn myself a good di stinction as a publi sher never to publish anything bad but as far as possible only what was good It is no t possible to ,
,
.
carry ou t this plan altogether c ei v e
as many M S S as .
on e
f or n o e ,
cann ot re
wants from the best
ar tists and besides we publi s hers are driven by ,
circumstances t o print much whi ch I sho uld cer t ainl y n o t print without them we must publis h much that is superficial and provide for every public for if we published classical works alone ,
we should have a very limited business circle
,
FRANZ S C H U B ER T
1 00
.
maj ority of my most valued authors Spohr ,
R omberg Hum mel
,
&c
.
,
,
has be c ome a friendly
relation ; I am therefore doubly bound
to
a c cept everything which such good fri ends an d artists sen d me even if as often happens they send me much that wil l brin g in no profit This obligation takes up a great deal o f my ,
,
,
.
ti me ; for no t onl y do these artists occupy me c ontinually but I am obliged to keep s ome time in reserve for such works as c ome to me unexpectedly from them as is the case with ,
,
some of them ; and the rest
of
my time seldom
su ffi ces fo r the publication o f other necessary things so that I am alm ost always hindered ,
from formin g new conn ections with composers because I have no ti me for their works The second point which makes a new con .
ne c t i o n
first ,
diffi c u lt and which grows out ,
is the novelty
of
of
the
a rising composer and ,
fact o f his name being unkn own in my new sphere o f action I am often blam ed as bein g unwill ing to contribute to making the
th e
.
P UB LI SH ER S HA B I TS
1 01
’
.
works o f n e w composers known an d told that they cann ot become known if publishers refu se to take them ; but this blame is most unjust fo r I cannot do all thin gs a m an must foll ow ,
,
,
one plan if he is to do anything de c ent ; I look the works
fo r
of
recognised artists ;
though I print much besides yet ,
if
I
and
c an
get
enough from them I mu st leave the work ,
bringing
of
new composers to other pub They c an also do something and li sh er s many of them do this readil y be c ause they shrin k from the prices demanded by older and dearer artists But when the new c omposer ou
t
.
,
,
.
has
g
ot
ledged
a name and his works are acknow
to
,
be good then I am ,
hi s
man for then ,
the publication of his works enters into my plan which is based more on honour than o n profit and I would rather pay a higher price ,
,
for
hi s
first “
works then than buy them cheaply at ,
.
Th u s
y
ou
will see that it is
di ffi cult fo r
me
to enter at once into yo ur proposal with regard
FRANZ S C H U B ER T
1 02
.
to Herr Schubert because as I have said my time is very li mi te d and that is on e o f my ,
,
,
,
chief rea s ons ; yet from the Opinion I have ,
formed Offer
him I should be sorry
of
of
to
,
the young artist
rej ect the
I would therefore
.
propose as a compromise that Herr Schubert should send some o f the works tha t he in tends for the press for me t o l o ok at fo r I print nothing from a young and s o little known ,
composer without looking at it
If a great
.
and known artist writes anythin g bad the ,
blame falls
on
h im ,
for
h is
name
w as
my war
rant ; but if anythin g o f a new artist does not please the fault is mine for why should I ,
,
print anythin g if I am not persuaded
of
its
merit ? Here the name o f the composer is no protection to me That Herr Schubert puts .
his works
i
n
faithful hands
to me is beyond ,
in
c on fi d i n
g
them
question ; he is safe against
all
all misuse of them If I find them suit my wishes I will keep what I can o f t h enr ; but .
,
Herr Schubert must not take it ill
if
anything
FRANZ S C H U B ER T
1 04
.
been deceived but I am always more and more careful to keep up and confirm the credit whi ch I have acquired with such di ffi culty F or this reason I demand his most successfu l works of a new author that I may ,
.
,
,
at once recommend him properly
an d
,
recommendation may be justified
that my
The first
.
success often opens the way fo r the whole
of
his
following career and therefore young com ,
posers cannot be warned too often t o be care ful with their first publi cation They may .
venture much but only print little till their ,
fame is established
.
Spohr has only published
fi ft y
-
eight works .
,
A ndreas R omberg sixty six and Bernhard -
,
R omberg thirty e ight -
,
W hile
many other artists
who are much younger have printed more ,
than
hundred These artists who are recognised have composed a great deal now more but have not published it and if I am referred as a contrast to the more prolific and yet excellent Mozart Haydn Beethoven & c o ne
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
TRAD I N G
ON RE PU T A TI ON S
1 05
.
I reply that they are rare oc c urrences and though they must be taken as models yet time must show if a m an is equal to them ; and yet what a number o f the earlier works o f ,
,
Mozart “ Will ,
have not been printed o u be good enough to speak with y .
Herr Schubert on what I have here communi c at e d t o ou and arrange ac c ordingly A s ? y ,
regards his terms I beg you t o inform me o f them as it is an unpleasant feeling t o me to ,
,
make an offer for a work rest the terms
w
of
genius
ill not stand
i
n
the
F or
.
the way as ,
the regularity with which my authors stick to me is a su fficient proof that they get w
on
well
ith me and I may give myself credit for it ,
besides the terms O f a young artist will
not
be
so high a s not to be easily acceptable “ That 3 00 copies o f a work o f Herr Schu bert s will be sold in Vienn a is possible if the .
’
work is printed in Vienn a but I should scarcely Sell 1 00 there though I am in c on ,
,
ne c
t i on
with all the houses
Y ou
will easily
F R A NZ SC H U B ER T
1 06
.
understand this and I will not enter into the ,
reasons but you must believe me that it is so ; expe ri ence confirms i t only t o o much and ,
,
t
here is seldom any exception
With all
.
respect I remain your obe di ent servant B V P E T ER S ,
,
.
.
.
“
If Herr Schubert sends me songs I shoul d prefer those with names like Beet ,
,
hoven s A delai de
’
’
,
&c
.
,
to mere songs
,
fo r
so
many are published under that title that it ,
does not attract suffi cient attention
” .
We have given this letter in full and it is hardly necessary t o add that nothi ng came o f it At a later date Schubert entered in to direct relations with other publishers in Leip and Mayence but at present he di d not sic .
,
care to let Herr Peter s patronise him
.
In the year 1 8 2 1 and the three following years S chubert w r ote almost all the dance rn u s i c by which he is known It comp ri ses ,
.
FRANZ S C H U B ER T
1 08
society
.
He was naturally timid indifferent ,
.
,
and chary of his words and at a party he had ,
to shake
these characteristics
o ff
Thus the
.
number of famili es with whom he had deali n gs intimacy for any length o f time was c om arat i v el re smal l Wh il e Beethoven was p y of
.
cognise d almost exclusively among the high aristocracy S chubert mingled more with the ,
middl e c lasses But he made many fri ends of various ranks an d positions among them the O ri entalist Hammer Purgstall C arolin e Pichler who enj oyed some literary fame the patriarch .
,
-
,
,
,
Ladislaus and some
Py rk e r,
who was kno w n as a poet o f whose son gs were s e t to music by ,
Schube rt Lachner who is now chapel master in -
,
Muni ch and Moriz ,
v on
Schwind the painter ,
,
who is also settled there with others o f less wide reputation Many of the younger men ,
.
formed a group round Schubert s friend F ran z ’
von Schober and to this group though there ,
,
were very few professed musicians in it Schu bert joined himself most readily In the ,
.
COUNT RY E X C U R S I O N S
1 09
.
society of these friends he passed many plea sant days and played many wild pranks fo r though generally reserved and serious he was ,
,
,
as capable o f occasional pranks as the wildest of them They frequented cafés and gardens outside Vienna or ma de longer excursions into the country O ne of these latter was t o the Schloss O ch s enb u r on the road from St POlt en to the g Styrian Alps and Mariazell the Loretto o f .
,
.
.
,
,
Austria of
St
This Schloss belonged to the Bishop
.
POlt en ,
.
who was related to Schober s ’
famil y and here Schubert passed the autumn ,
months of the year
18 21
with Schober the ,
latter writin g the words of an opera the former ,
setting it to music
.
The opera in question is the fi rst o f the two grand operas that Schubert composed and bears the name of Alfonso and E strella Two a cts ,
.
of it were completed at the Schloss the thi rd was composed in town the ensuing F ebruary Schober s libretto was written to u s e his ow n ,
.
’
,
FRANZ S C HU B ERT
1 10 “
words
.
with great inn ocence of min d and
”
heart and though far superior to the others which fell to the lot o f Schubert it is by no means perfect It is lyric when it ought t o be dramatic and the consequences o f this fault were most disastrous t o the composer Influ ,
,
,
.
,
.
d
as he was in a great degree by the ex ample o f R ossini he was content with shower ing his copious melo di es over the broad lyr i c surface o f the libretto whenever th e situation did n ot urge hi m to energetic and dramatic expression A letter from Schober describes e nc e
,
,
.
hi s
deli ght at witnessin g the birth
of
these
Splendid melodies ; and another from Schubert
says that they expect much from the opera ,
.
Its story is as follows T ro ila King o f Leon has been deprive d Of .
,
,
throne by Mau r eg at o and has retired to a lonely valley with his son Alfonso E strella
h is
,
.
,
the daughter o f Mau r eg at o is starting for the chase when s h e is met by A dolfo her father s ,
’
,
,
general
,
w
ho
beseeches her to hear h im and on
FRANZ S C H U B ER T
1 12
.
is eas i ly persuaded by the inhabitants to remain there and both kin gdom and E strella are handed over to Alfonso Schubert clothed these nai ve situations in musi c much o f whi ch was extremely beautiful The overture is one o f his best orchestral works was played at Vienna in the year 1 8 2 3 as prelude to another piece and was repeated ,
.
.
,
,
,
,
twice The parts o f the opera which relate to the lonely valley are st eeped in the fra granee o f flowers and airy with the wavings o f ,
woods
.
A ll attempts however to gain it a hearin g on ,
,
any stage were hopeless It was not till more than thirty years after its composition ( in the year 1 8 54) that it was produced and the faults which we have noticed seem then to have de .
,
cided its fate The ta ste o f the public might not have proved s o severe if it had been b rought .
out in
1 8 23 ,
ing
But when Schubert sent the opera to
.
or
the years im mediately foll ow
Madame Milder in Berlin
,
sh e
replied
,
in
a
G RAND O PERA S
1 13
.
most flattering letter that people were t o o much accustomed to high tragedy or F rench comedy t o care for anything between the two ,
.
In
18 27
the opera was rehearsed
at
Gratz and ,
the c onductor o f the orchestra at that theatre declared that it was technically i mpossible to play it Schober tried in vain for eight years to have the Opera performed making applica .
,
tion to the th eatres o f Vienna D resden Prague ,
,
Gratz Berlin and Pesth ,
,
,
The same was the
.
experience o f H fi t t enbr enner when he tried t o have Schubert s first opera The D evil s ,
’
’
,
C ountry Seat
”
played at s o nre o f the theatres O ne di rector offered to play it if assured against .
,
,
loss by the s u m o f The only performance
flo rin s of
“
.
Alfonso and
Es
”
trella that has ever taken place was under the direction o f Liszt at Weimar In 1 8 47 Liszt came t o Weimar and findi ng Schober there expressed to him a wish o f brin ging out ,
.
,
,
,
Schubert s operas Schober naturally enough suggested the on e of which he had fur
o ne
of
’
.
F R AN Z S C HU B E R T
1 14 ni sh e d
.
the libretto an d which he said though erroneously was the onl y on e that had been c om l t e d and had never been performed Thro u gh e p ,
,
,
.
’
Schober s intervention the partition was for warded to Lis zt in March 1 8 48 and with the ,
usual speed o f the Germans the performan c e ensued in J une 1 8 54 We have al ready stated that its success was mediocre The critics laid the blame chiefly on the libretto which can hardly have been gratify in g to the librettist at whose suggestion that piece was selected B ut they added that the want o f dramatic expres ,
.
.
,
.
sion in the music and the prevalence o f lyrical effusions caused a monotony which not even Schubert s wealth of melody cou l d obviate ,
,
’
.
“
An interestin g fact is connected with
Al
”
and E strella In 1 8 23 C arl Maria von Weber came to Vienna to conduct i n person the performance o f his new Opera E uryanthe which was w ritten expressly for that city The
fo n so
.
,
”
,
.
success o f the new opera fell very far short of though on the first t hat o f the .
FRANZ S C H U B ER T
116
.
The F r ei sc h ii t z was so tender and came s o from the heart that y o u were enchanted by its loveliness ; there is li ttle feeli ng to be found in E uryanthe This sentence was repeated to Weber and ’
‘
,
,
’
.
,
Weber ignorant o f the multitude ,
of
Schubert s ’
compositions exclaimed Let the dolt learn somethin g before he presumes to sit in ju dg “
,
,
,
ment
Schubert who was then
2 7,
,
and had
composed nearly a dozen operas several sym phonies and some two hundred songs was o f ,
,
fended
at
,
this remark which ,
,
course went
of
,
the round o f the musical circles o f Vienna He “ put the partition o f Alfonso and E strell a under his arm and went to call on Weber Weber looked through Schubert s opera and then referred to Schubert s j udgment o f .
”
,
.
’
,
’
”
E uryanthe But as Schubert adh ered to his former senti ments declared that there was no ” orig i nal melody in E uryanthe and poin ted .
,
,
to the partition o f his ow n opera as giving h im “ a right to speak ; Weber who thought Alfonso ,
CA S E A G AI N S T S C H U B ER T ”
117
.
and E strella was Schubert s first Opera broke “ out rather angrily I tell you t hat the first puppies and the first operas are always drowne d In spite of this momentary violence the two parted in no unfriendly manner and Weber s revenge was an attempt some years after to produ c e Schubert s opera at D resden This intention o f Weber s was expressed in a letter whi ch spoke in the most frien dly terms o f Schu bert but which cannot be found The loss of it is the more t o be regrette d as it is said to be ’
,
,
”
.
,
’
,
,
,
’
.
’
,
.
,
of some length and t o state fully the relations * between Weber and Schubert ,
.
i nc e the publ ica ti o n of the i fe of ch ub e r t the G e rm an W e b e r s l i fe by h i s n M x M a r ia n Web er h b een c o mpl ete d i n G e rm a n nd t ra n s lat e d i nto E n gl i s h I h a ve n t b ee n a bl e to e the o rigi nal nd the t r ansl ati o n i s gr e atl y c o n d e ns e d S ti ll t h e re a re n o r tw o p ass ag e s b e ari ng n th i s q ua r el t ho ugh i t s ee ms to m e t h a t the y a r e m o s t u nj us t to S c h ub e r t nd the y c o ntai n n m e n ti on of the i nte r v i e w b et w een the t w o c o mp o s e rs o r of We b e r s l e tt e r ab o u t p o du ci ng S ch ub e r t s O p e ra at D r e sd e n T al ki ng of the pr o du cti o n f E ury an the W e b e r s b i o graphe r s ay s F o r t una te l y W e b e r d ee pl y i d a s he wa s r e m ai n e d i gno rant of the d i rty w o rk go ing p N o te by t h e T r a ns la to r ” L S in
“
o
a
,
vo
.
S
’
,
,
o
s
o
.
,
s
,
as
,
a
-
a
e
.
r
o
e
,
,
,
a
o
’
r
,
c u
e
:
,
”
O
.
’
’
,
,
oc
FRANZ S C H U B ER T
1 18
.
chi e fly a m ong tho s e v e ry p e rs o ns f who s e fi n t a s te he h d wr it te n F r a n S c h ub e r t w ho w a s pr e s e n t a t s o m e of the r ehe a rs als s ai d H W e b e r will m ana g e all h i a w k w a rd m a ss e s I ca n t c o n c e i ve ; he h d b ette r h ave l eft it A n d a g ai n a l o ne t h at F ran S ch ub e r t n I t wa s n I n h i s usu a l t ee d in to o p e n ho s t il it y a g ai ns t W e b e r r o ugh m anne r w h ich h i s fri en ds call e d o p e n he arte d n e ss he d en o u n c e d We b e r s o p e ra a s u tte rl y u nmus ical d e fici e nt i n ll fo rm o r o rd e r w i tho u t ny s o l i d fo u n d a ti o n fo r the n d w he n s ci e nc e a t t e mp te d di spl ay of r e al tal e n t g i vi ng cl e a r evi d e nc e th a t the c o mp o s e r h ad s t ud i e d i n the s c hoo l of a m e r e m o unteb ank T h l a s t allus i on appl i e d f c o urs e t o Vo gl e r T h m n a bus e s R o ss i ni c o nt i n u e d the ri v al c o mp o s e r ; nd y et whe n he d oe s c o nt i e to catch a s c ra p of m el o dy he i s sur e to c rus h i t to d e ath lik e a m o us e i n a trap w it h h i s ove rw helm i ng o r c he s t r ati o n Th ni m in A nd S ch ub e r t w a s a p o w e r ful e n e m y b oth the s e p a ss ag e s i s u nmi s tak e abl e bu t the r e s ee ms l i ttl e fo un d a ti on i n fact fo r the c h a rg e s a gains t S c h ub e r t T h a t W e b e r s fee l i ng a g ain s t R o ss i ni i s far m o r e e n titl e d t o h i b i o grap he r s ep ithe t s app e a rs fro m a not h e r p a ss ag e i n the L i fe whe r e We b e r i s r e pr e s e nte d a s b eing s o mu c h ch a rm e d a gai ns t hi s n w ill by a p e rfo rm n c e of the C e n e r e n t o l a — t h a t he g ot up nd l eft the t he at r e B e i ng a s k e d t h n e xt m o rni ng wh y he h a d di s app e a re d sud d enly he u n wi ll ingl y r e pl i e d When i t cam e to su ch a p ass t h at the s e c o nfo u nd e d I tal ian ar ti s t s pl e a s e eve n m e w ith the i r t rump e ry s t uff the d e v i l mus t b e i n i t ! T he re n s tandi ng it ny l o ng e r d et ac ti o n en vy H ere ri v alry i f y l i k e i t 1 ca nno t th at S c h ub e r t s fo rm i ng a d iff re nt o p i ni o n t o t h a t of We b e r n the m e rits of t h e
or
a
z
.
,
s
ow
,
,
’
a
,
.
ow
,
e
z
r
.
-
,
,
’
,
a
a
,
a
,
w as
,
e
.
o
‘
’
a
e
.
a
,
,
r v
,
,
,
’
.
,
’
.
e
a
us
,
.
’
s
’
”
“
,
ow
a
”
a
,
.
e
so
,
,
,
w as
o
,
.
e
”
a
ou
w as
.
.
r
,
,
’
s ee
o
e
FRANZ S C H U B ER T
1 20
.
called The M ill er s F ai e i fe ” “ R osamond and the operas
”
’
the drama
,
F i errab ras ,
,
”
”
and The War i n the Household “ The drama R osamond was written by the poetess H elmi na C hezy whose memoirs have to some extent served as ground work for the following accou nt of the performance .
”
,
,
-
,
.
Schubert wrote the music in five days and ,
the piece was at once sent in to the theatre d er
Wi en
fitted
.
fo r
an
This house was no t the place best such a drama It subsisted chiefly .
by a d c ap ta nd u m pieces and scenic effects and the play which had lately produced most i m re s sro n there was o n e which turned o n a t ra p dition o f a wolf an d su c ceeded through the wolf s exc ellent acting At first the actor who represented t h e w olf had not been named on ,
,
’
.
‘
the play bil l as the manager wished to keep up the ill usion But on seeing his success as an anim al the actor m srst e d o n bein g named The Wolf by Mr S o and s o -
,
.
,
,
-
.
”
-
.
However the first performance
of
“
R osa
DRA M A OF
RO S A M OND
”
121
.
”
mond went o ff very well The overture given was that o f Alfonso and E strella which .
,
,
we have mentioned already had to be re A romance and eat e d twice over o n e o f the p choruses were also well r e cei ved and on the whole Schubert had more reason to be con tented with his present reception than with any o f t hose a c corded to his former dramatic as
,
.
,
,
,
essays But the play proved tedious and even the success o f the music coul d not ensure it more .
than
tw
,
o
or
three performances
.
Although
Schubert had by this time his admirers who came forward energetically in his favour some o f the critics accused him o f bi za rr er i e an d h i s difference w i th Weber kept away the friends ,
,
,
Of that composer
It was hard fo r Schubert to see his best operas kept off the stage and to be forced to content himself with a good first night and only one following for his smaller .
,
,
,
pieces The opera o f F i errabras was written for Barbaja who was then the manager o f t h e Im .
”
,
.
FRANZ S C H U B ER T
122
.
perial O pera But as B arb aj a s lease c ame to an end t w o years after thi s order had been ven and a new management succeeded the i g work was neither paid for no r produced The marvellous speed with which Schubert c om posed the music is about all we have to record It seems that he composed the first act which nu mbers more than 3 00 pages in seven days and the whole opera occupying about pages in four months from May 23 rd to Sep tember 2 6 th The scene is laid in Spain and the hero who gives hi s name to the piece is a Moori sh prince Some parts o f the music were given i n a concert got up by a brother o f Schu bert s a few years after his death ; and others were performed with much applause by the Viennese C horal U nion i n 1 8 58 ’
.
,
,
.
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
.
’
.
The third work the operetta War in the “ Household as it has been called o f late The ,
”
,
”
C onspirators as it was named at the time
of its birth is a small but dainty j ewel ,
.
of
The
libretto was written by C astelli a Vienn ese ,
FRANZ S C H U B ER T
1 24
.
wou l d only give us words H ere are words gentlemen If y ou are good enough to aecom pany the m with notes may I beg you t o let my words count for something and no t ’
.
,
.
,
,
to damage the in telli gibili ty o f the intri gu e by preferrin g rou l ades to musical charac I hold that an opera must be a t eri s t i c s dramati c action accompanied by music not music with words placed under i t and in my u dgment the e ffect of the whole is more i m j portant than the opportuni ty given t o on e S inger of showing the facility of hi s throttle .
,
,
.
Let us do somethi ng for what is really the ' German opera gentlemen These words i mply that the author o f the 77
,
libretto
was ignorant that it had been s et to music and by no less a composer than Schu ,
bert Being spoken to o n t h e subj ect when very o ld C astelli had some idea o f havi n g once heard that Schubert who was a personal ac quaintan c e of his had begun composin g this operetta A s however it had never been pro .
,
,
,
.
,
,
ANO TH ER G RAND O PERA d u c e d,
an
d
1 25
.
it had been whi spered to C astelli
that the composer had not entered into the spirit of the piece but had made it into a gloomy and sentimental opera he l ost all ,
interest in it formed
.
When
th e ’
p
was per
e ret t a
C as t elli
short time before
a
o
’
death he
s
,
recanted this heresy and admitted that he ,
been wrongly informed
h ad
But he was unable
.
to give any assistance towards determining the real date o f the composition as the whole affair ,
had passed from his min d speaks
of
Schubert s brother ’
.
the operetta as composed in
1 8 23,
the
same year as the libretto was published by C astelli The character of the music wou l d .
certainl y suggest ou r placing it about this time the period o f Schubert s fu llest maturity But the copy o f the partition made by Schubert s brother ( the original is no t to be found ) bears ,
’
.
’
the date
of
18 19
.
Another contemporary
of
Schubert s the dramatis t Bauernfeld names ’
,
the year and
1 8 24
,
as the time
H ii t t enb renn er
of
its production ;
asserts positively that it
FRANZ S C H U BER T
126
.
was first played to h i m on the pianoforte either in 1 8 2 4 o r 1 8 2 5 It is certain that Schubert never breathed a word of the composition of the Operetta t o the .
author of the libretto and perhaps this reserve ,
lost him valuable assistance It is said that he was s o much pleased with his ow n music that he wished to have the piece produced on the .
stage ; it passed the censorsh ip in original title
of
“
1 8 24
The C onspirators
”
The
.
was of ,
course too dangerous and it was changed to ,
,
”
the War in the Household But the approval o f the censorship did not remove al l .
the Obstacles in the way of its performance We are told that Schubert sent it i n to the di rection of the Opera and waited a year before .
,
a pplyin g for an answer
A t the end
.
of
that
time he thought the direction must have made up its min d to u s e a metaphorical expression -
—
It
and he inquired about the fate was returned to
h im fi o m ‘
of
his work
the library
of
.
the
theatre rolled up wrapped up and tied up ,
,
,
FRANZ S C H U B ER T
1 28
.
The operetta was given there on the 29 th of Augu st 1 8 6 1 and was greeted enthusiastically After this it made the round o f Germ any The Vienn ese opera which had kept it a year .
,
,
.
,
and retur ned it
un
opened followed the ex ,
ample of F rank fort ; and a year later the piece was given in Munich Lachn er the conductor i n Muni ch had been a friend and colleague o f Schubert s and this friendshi p may have been ,
.
,
’
,
one reason for so speedy a performance
in
a
theat re which has generally been but tardy in producing novelties
.
It is to this same period that we owe the delicious cycle of songs called F air Wife
” .
“
The Miller s ’
Schubert paid a Visit one day to
his friend R an dh art in g er who was then private secretary to a count but is now Imperi al C hapelmaster ; and he had scarcely entered the room before the secretary was summoned to ,
,
his master Left alone Schubert took up a volume o f poems read two or three of them then put the book in his pocket and walked o ff .
,
,
,
,
GENE S I S OF S O ME S ON GS
with it
129
.
The owner came back almost imme d iat ely missed his book and went next morn ing t o Schubert to claim it Schubert pleaded .
,
,
.
in excuse the interest caused h i m by the poems in proof o f which he showed his friend the “ music o f the first Songs o f the Mill which he had composed during the night A further
,
»
”
,
.
proof o f his intellectual activity and of the way in which he overcame his bodily i nfi rm i t i e s is furnished by the same series Many o f the songs belonging to it were written down in the hospital to which he was driven by severe ,
.
,
illness Another song which belongs to this year is .
”
The D warf on e of the very finest o f Schu bert s It is generally recognised as a master piece a most enthralli ng most dramatic com position Schubert s publisher had pressed “
,
’
.
,
,
’
.
a song and about the same moment friend R andh arting er c ame in to take him
him fo r hi s
,
,
for a walk Without the slightest preparation o f any kin d Schubert flung the music of the .
,
i t:
FRANZ S C H UB ERT
13 0 “
.
”
D warf on paper , talking all the while with
his friend and hurrying so as not to keep him ,
,
waiting The year which foll ows ( 1 8 24) is o n e o f the two years o f which we have some record in .
Schube rt s own handwriting A letter to an artist friend in R om e and some entries in a ’
.
,
j ournal show too clearly the depression which ,
weighed
the composer
on
.
The failure of so
many hopes especiall y those attaching to his ,
operas his poverty his low state ,
,
absence
of
of
health the ,
his best friends and the angui sh ,
of
disappointed love ( he followed the E sterhazy family to Hungary again this year ) dr ove him ,
almost to despair
.
His friend Kupelwieser to ,
whom the following letter is addressed was to be heard o f at the C affe Greco the great haunt o f painters in R ome ,
,
,
“
Y ou
.
are so good and kind
” ,
writes Schu
“
bert that y o u will fo rg rv e me much which others would take very ill from me In a ,
.
word I feel myself the most unhappy most ,
,
FRANZ SC H UBER T
13 2
.
in Berlin and received with appla u se s o that I have set two more operas without avail I ,
,
.
have written few new songs but have tried my hand i n instrumental pieces composin g two quartetts for violins viola and Vi oloncello and an octett t o which I shall add another quartett ,
,
,
,
,
,
by this means I shall lead the way
to
a grand
symphony The chief news in Vienna is that Beet .
“
hoven is going to give a concert in which he ,
will produce his new symphony ( the ni nth ) three pie c es from his new mass and a new
,
,
overtu re If God wil l I intend to give a similar concert next year The passages from his diary run as fol lows .
,
”
.
Grief sharpens the understandin g and strengthens the heart whil e j oy cares little about the first and makes the second effem i nate or frivolous ,
,
.
“
o ne
-
F rom the bottom of my heart I detest that side dness which makes so many wretches
A DE SP OND I N G D I ARY
133
.
th ink that what they are doing is perfect and all other things are nothing O ne beauty should attend a man throughout hi s life ; that is true ; but the gleam o f this enthusiasm shou l d light up all others ,
.
.
March 2 7t h grief o f another “
.
—N o
o ne
understands th e o f another We
the j oy always believe that we are going to each other and we are only going by th e side o f each other C misery to him who recognises this ! “ My musical produ c tions have been created by my mind and my grief ; the world seems to prefer those which spring from grief alone “ There is but on e step from the height of enthusiasm to the ridic u l ous and fi o m the deepest wisdom to the crassest stupidity “ Man comes into the world with faith it is far ah ead o f reason and knowle dge ; for t o understand anything I must first beli eve some thing ; i t is the higher basis on whi ch weak reason plants its first pillars o f proof R eason ,
or
.
,
.
.
’
,
.
,
.
is nothing but belief analyzed
.
FRAN Z S C HU B ER T
1 34
— O
“
.
Mar c h 2 9 th F ancy thou inscru table fount from which artists and men O f learning dri nk ! Abide with u s though acknowledg ed .
,
,
,
and honou red b u t by few to guard us agai nst that so call ed enlightenment that skeleton ,
-
,
”
without flesh and blood ! This depression however di d not have any effect o n Schubert s powers o f production The instrumental pieces to which he alludes in the letter we have quoted were the octett ( O p ,
,
’
.
.
three string quartetts a sonata and the Salve R eg i na ( O p In May 1 8 24 he v isited the E sterhazy family in Hungary and ,
,
.
,
,
,
during his stay there he produced several i m portant compositions The quiet and enj oy ment of this countr y retreat the kin dness an d appreciation show n him by the family worked ,
.
,
,
well
on
his spirits
.
In a letter to his brother
,
he speaks of himself as fully restored t o cheer “ “ fulness It i s true he says that the happy time in which everything seems eu ”
,
.
cir cled with
a
youthfu l halo
,
of
glory has fle d ,
,
FRANZ S C H UB ER T
13 6
.
remai ned the property o f the E sterhazy family for whom it was composed as the eldest ,
daugh ter attached great value to the exclusive possession of a manuscript of Schubert s The year 1 8 2 5 was marked by a journey ’
.
over ground which is now famili ar to many — summer tourists the beautiful Salzkamm er gut
U nfortunately we have few records
.
of
the tour and but few o f the tourist s impres sions It is perhaps sign ificant that his songs ’
,
.
”
“
from Scott s Lady o f the Lake date from his visit to the lakes o f U pper Austria and that his grand sonata for the pianoforte in A ’
,
,
minor w as completed at Gastein R obert Schumann characterises t hi s sonata as glori ous and says of it The first movement is so quiet and d reamy as almost to bring the tears into one s eyes ; while the two subjects o f which it is constructed are put together with ’
such ease and simplicity that one cannot but Wond er at the magic which has succeeded s o happily in combining and c ontrastin g them
” .
GMU NDEN
13 7
.
The tour began at Steyer where Schubert met his friend the singer Vogl at the end of ,
,
,
May Some letters which passed between Schubert and various friends durin g the summer though no t worth quoting at length give us much detail of his life and their .
,
,
’
interest in him
A t the beginning
.
of
J une
,
Madame Milder who has already been men t i o ne d in connection with Goethe wrote to ,
,
Schubert announc i ng that she had sung some of
his compositions at Berlin and that they ,
had pleased beyond measure
.
A letter from
Schubert to his parents describes the environs of
Gmunden as truly heavenly
songs from Walter Scott s ’
had great success
.
“ .
My new
Lady o f the Lake
”
People wondered m u ch at
my piety which I have expressed in the ,
”
“
Hymn t o the Virgin and whi ch seems to possess all hearts and tune them to devotion I believe this proceeds from my never forcing myself to devotion and never composing hymns or prayers unless I am overpowered by ,
.
,
FRANZ S C H UB E R T
138
.
it b u t then it is generally the right and true “ devotion Later he says In publishing ,
”
,
.
these songs I think of acting di fferently from the usual way as they bear the honoured name o f Scott and might excite more curiosity an d ,
,
,
,
if the E nglish words were added might make ,
me better known in E ngland If one cou l d of only do anythin g decent with these — dealers but the wise and b enefi c ent pro .
Visions
of
the State have already taken care
that the artist shall ever remain the slave o f ea ch miserable huckster A s for the letter of Madame Milder I am .
,
extremely pleased at the favourable reception o f my Suleika but I wish the criticism she men tions had come to hand so that I mi ght s e e if ’
,
,
there was anything to be learned o u t o f it ; for however favourable the judgment may be it may be equally ridiculous if the critic as often happens wants the necessary un derstanding ,
,
,
.
I have found my compositions all about U pper Austria particularly in the monasteries o f F10 ,
FRANZ S C H U B ER T
1 40
.
letter from the painter Moriz von S c h w rn d states that Tieck has g o t a place at the th eatre '
,
in
D resden and that one of Schubert s fri ends ’
,
has spoken to him about the opera o f Alfonso and E strella Then comes a long letter from “
”
.
Schubert to his brother F erdinand givin g some more details o f what he has seen in the moun ,
tains
.
B R O T H ER would gla dl y accede to your request and describe fully our journey to Salzburg and Gastein but y ou know how little “
D EAR
,
—I
,
turn I have for narrative and description H ow ever as in any case I should have to relate my journey o n my return to Vienna I wil l venture .
,
,
on a written rather than a verbal attempt at a weak picture o f all these extraor di nary beauties as I believe I can do it better in writing than in ,
,
,
We left Steyer about the middle of Augu st and came by
Kr em sm ii n s t er ,
,
which indee d I ,
seen several tim es but cannot pass over as its situation is s o beautiful Y ou look over
h ave
,
,
.
WA Y T O
GA ST E I N
1 41
.
a very lovely valley broken by some small gentle hills on the right o f which rises a c on si ,
,
mountain through whose peaks the
d erabl e
,
vast monastery heightened by the tower o f the observatory comes in full sight from the post road whi ch crosses a stream We did not stop here though we were received in a very friendly mann er but continued ou r j ourney to VOkla b rii c k a wretched hole The next day we came by Strasswal chen and F rankenmarkt to N eumarkt where we dined These places which are in the Salzburg district are di stin u i s h e d by the peculi ar build o f their houses g ,
,
[
.
,
,
.
,
.
,
,
,
.
A l m ost
everythin g is
kitchen utensils are
on
of
wood
.
The wooden
wooden stands fastened ,
on the outside of the houses which are su r rounded with wooden galleries A ll sorts of shattered targets hang o n the houses kept as trophi es o f Victory from times long past for the dates 1 6 00 and 1 500 are often found u pon them ,
.
,
,
.
Here too Bavarian money begin s F rom N eu markt which is the last stage before Salz ,
,
,
FRANZ S C H UB ER T
1 42
.
burg you s ee mounta in peaks rising ou t o f the Salzburg valley and freshly covered with snow About a league from N eumarkt the country ,
.
,
,
begins t o look beautiful
The Wallersee which ,
.
spreads i t s clear blue green waters on the right -
the road ani mates thi s charming sc ene most exquisitely The c ountry li es very high and
of
,
,
.
from hence y ou descend all the way to Salzbur g The mountains grow higher and higher the fab ul ous U ntersberg especially ri ses like magic .
,
from among the rest
The vill ages show traces
.
the s o u th w e s t of the gree n p lai n th a t gi rdl e s in the r o ck of S al burg t he gi g antic m a ss of the U n t e rsb e rg fr o n s o v e r t he r o a d w hich w i n ds up a l o ng d e fil e to the gl e n nd lak e of B e rch t e sgad e n T he re fa r up a m o ng i ts l acc e ss i bl e to h um an foot l i m e s t o e c rags i n a S p ot t he p e as ant s of the v a ll e y p oi n t o u t t o the travell e r t he bl ack m o u t h of a ca v e rn nd te ll h i m th at with in B arb a r o ss a l i e s am i d hi s kni ght s i n n e nc h an t e d S l ee p wai ting the ho ur when the ra ve ns Shall c e a s e to hove r ro und the n d the p e a r t r ee bl o ss o m i n t h v ll e y to d e s c e n d w it h e ak p h i s c rus a d e rs nd bri ng b ack t G e m any the gold e n g of p e c e nd s tr eng t h n d unity —T h H ly R m n E mp i by Jam e s B ry c e D A S als o A Vi s i n f B b b y W S t i g nt To
-
z
.
w
a
,
.
n
s c arc e v
,
,
,
a
a
,
a
e
a
a
,
o
a
a
,
,
.
,
a
.
.
ee
,
r
a
e
.
a
o
o
o
o
a
e
re ,
a r a ros s a ,
1 44
R AN Z S C H UB ER T
F
.
the broad streets and passing the strangely ,
bedecked house o f Theophrastus Paracelsus we ,
cross the bri dge over the Salzach which rushes ,
by in a strong but dark and turbid current ,
.
The town itself made a rather dismal impres sion on me as bad weather added a gloom to the ol d buildin gs and the fortress whi ch li es on ,
,
the highest peak
of
the M onchberg nods down ,
a ghostly welcome into all the streets A s u n lucki ly it began to rain the moment after o u r arrival often the case here we could s ee little besides the many palaces and splen di d churches which we caught sight o f as we passed N ext morning we ascended the M onchberg from which you have a Vi ew of a great part o f .
,
,
,
the town and ,
I
was astonished at the multi
i d
tude o f splen d buildings palaces and churches Yet there are few inhabitants here many of the buildings are empty many others are i nh abited by o n e two o r at the most three fami lies In the squares o f which there are many ,
,
.
,
,
,
,
.
and
,
fin e
,
ones too grass grows between the ,
WA Y
G A ST
TO
E IN
1 45
.
pavin g stones so little are they trodden T he C athedral is a heav enly buil di n g on the plan of St Peter s in R ome o f course o n a smaller -
.
,
,
’
.
,
s c ale T he body of the church i s in the form of a cross is surrounded by four great courts eac h of which makes a separate squ are Before .
,
,
.
the entrance stand the Apostles colossal figures ,
carve d in stone
T h e interior
.
of
the church is
supported by many marble columns is adorned with the portraits of the electors and perfe c tly beautiful in all its parts T he light whi c h ,
,
.
,
streams in through the cupola ill umi nes every ,
corn er This extraordinary lightness produces a glorious effect and is to be recommended to all churches In the four squares whi ch su r .
,
.
round the church are large fountai ns adorned wi th the grandest and boldest fig u res F rom hence we went into the monastery of St Peter where Michael Haydn lived Here you know ,
,
.
.
,
.
is the monument to M Haydn .
does not stand out
-
in
-
It is fine but ,
a good place being put in an
o f the way corner -
.
,
.
T he s e pie c es of p aper
FRAN Z S C H UBER T
1 46
.
lyi ng about have a chil dish air ; his head i s c on the urn “ In the afternoon the weather let us go out
t ai n e d in
,
and we went up the N onn enb erg which is no t very high but has the lov eliest vi ew You look over the lower part o f the Salzbu rg vall ey ,
.
,
.
thi s valley is almost impossible Picture to yourself a garden T o describe the lovelin ess
of
.
many miles in extent wi th in numerable castles ,
estates peepin g through or o u t o f the trees ; picture to yourself a river that wi n ds thr ough a nd
,
with the u tmost variety of c u rves ; fields and meadows lik e s o many carpets o f the fairest hues ; the glorious masses which enclose them lik e gi rdl es and league long all eys o f enormous trees ; all thi s sh ut in by the highest moun tains lik e the guar di ans of thi s heavenly valley ; and you have but a weak idea o f its me) : pressible beauty — l September 2 s t T o continue my d e s c ri p tion T he day that foll owed was the finest in the world and o f the world T he ,
,
i
.
,
.
F R ANZ S C H UB ER T
1 48
.
inh abitants lo ok like ghosts pale hollow eye d and thin The contrast between this town of rats and the valley we had j ust passed w as frightful We drove on past Golling where you catch sight of the first high im pass able mountains through whose fearful gorges -
,
,
,
.
,
.
,
runs the pass of Lueg
After we had crawled
.
painfu lly up an enormous hil l w i th terr i ble mountains before us and on either side s o that o n e might think the world was nailed up here — suddenl y on gaining th e highest w ith boards point we looked down into a frightfu l cavern ,
,
,
,
,
,
and for the first moment one s heart began to quake After we had recovered a little from ’
,
,
.
the first fright we gazed at the terrific wall s of rock which seemed to close up at some di stance lik e a bli nd alley an d we tried in vain to detect a way out from them Here where nature i s so dr ead fii l man has endeavoured to im m or talise his more dreadful brutality F or this was th e spot where the Bavarians on the one side and the Tyrolese on the other side of the ,
,
,
.
,
,
.
,
S
C E NE S FRO M T H E WA R I N T H E TY R O L
1 49
.
Salzach which cleaves its noisy way down far below di d those horrible murders T h e Tyrol ese hidden in the hollows o f the ro c ks fired down with cries of helli sh joy o n the Bavarians ,
,
.
,
,
,
who tried to gain the pass and who rolled into the depths without seeing w hence the shots came This most shameful action which was continued for many days and weeks is now to be recorded by a chapel o n the Bavarian side and a red cross o n the r o c k s o n the Tyrolese side as if those sacred signs would atone for the deed o f blood But let us turn away from these thoughts and rather speculate how ,
.
,
,
,
,
,
we are to g e t o u t A fter descending for some time the walls of rock coming nearer and .
,
nearer and the road with the stream being limited to a breadth of two fathoms the road turns where it was least expected and to the agreeable surprise of the wanderer under an overhanging rock by the angry raging of the ,
,
,
,
wedged in Salzach
We are still s h ut in by
-
mountains th at
ch to heaven but the roa d
rea
,
FRANZ S C H UB ER T
1 50
.
becomes broad and even Heavens ! i s s omethi ng appallin g a book o f travels I can write 11 0 more A s I shall be in Vienna the first days of O ctober I wi ll g i ve you thi s s c rib ble i n person and tell you th e rest by word of ” mouth The consequence of whi ch is that the read ers o f Schubert s life are robbed of hi s further .
,
,
.
,
,
.
,
’
travels
.
FRANZ S C H UB ER T
1 52
.
chapel The news o f this offer was brought at once to Schubert s father and caused him n o .
’
,
little pleasure
But Schubert hi mself declin ed
.
the post T o his father s remonstrances he probably replied that he could n ot enter into a position where his ti me would no longer be hi s o w n and his independence would be sacrificed ’
.
,
.
Yet the post really entail ed
li ttle
loss
of
ei ther and Schubert had subsequent reasons to ,
regret his refusal
.
Later in life he used t o argue though onl y among his friends and not then wi th serious ness that the state ought t o main tain him s o that he might compose fi e ely and without the pressure o f care Ju v enal had said the same ,
,
,
,
.
h im
before
e u e e ni m can tar e sub an tr o Pi e ri o th rs m e p ote s t c on ti n g ere s ana Pa p e t as a t q u e seri s in o ps q o n o c te d i e q u e C o rpus e g et ; s at ur e s t c m d ici t H o ra ti us evoe m s c r min e s o l o Q u i s l o c us in g e ni o ni s i V e x n t e t d o m i ni s C y h ae N y s aeq e fe r n t Pe c to r a n o s tra du a s n o n ad mi t t enti a c uras N q
v
.
r
u
u
v
,
,
u
u
cu
a
rr
,
,
e
,
a
u
u
ur
.
S C H UB ER T T R I E S FO R
AN
AP P O
I NTME NT
1 53
.
A cting on these prin ciples Schubert applied in the year 18 2 6 for the place of vice chapel master The death o f Sali eri i n 1 8 2 5 had -
.
led to the promotion of E i bler the former vice to be fu ll chapel master and the lower grade ,
,
-
,
was still vacant There were eight competi tors named in the report o f C ount Harrach who was then charged with the su perin tendence o f the court music C f Schubert the report says : Schubert bases his claim o n his .
,
.
services as court sin ger confirmed by a c erti fi c at e from Salieri w h o taught him composi ,
ti on ; and declares that he has already com posed five masses whi ch have been produced ”
in various churches T hi s last sentence makes it plain that none o f Schubert s masses had found their way into .
’
the court chapel Schubert s o w n statement to a friend the followin g year shows that the fault di d n o t rest wi th hi mself I took he ’
.
”
,
.
said a mass to the chapel master E ibler for performance in the court chapel O n learning “
-
.
FRAN Z S C H UBERT
1 54
.
my name E ibl er said that he had never heard I certainl y do no t o n e o f my compositions think much o f m y s elf b u t I had supposed that the chapel master to the court in Vienna mi ght have heard some of my music Wh en I came back a few weeks after to learn the fate of my offspri ng B ibler said the mass was good but was not composed in the style whi ch the emperor lik ed I took my leave thinkin g that I was not lucky enou gh to be able to compose i n the imperial style A s the style whi ch pleased ,
.
'
,
-
.
,
,
.
,
”
.
the emperor was
short easy ,
of
performance
,
and consisting of fugues appropriately carried through it is no wonder that neither Schu bert nor Beethoven were recogni sed by hi m a s great ecclesiastical composers The place for whi ch Schubert competed was ”
,
.
given to Weigl the composer of the popular ,
”
S w iss F ami ly The salary attac hi n g to the place was twelve hundred flori n s and .
would have enabled Schubert to live i n com fort But when he heard the name o f his s u c .
F R AN Z S C H UB E R T
1 56
.
candidate was to s et some operatic scenes th e words of whi ch were written for the purpose At the first rehearsal Mdlle S c h ec h n er who ,
.
.
sang the prin cipal part called the composer s ’
,
attention to the impracticable nature
the
of
chief aria She begged hi m to alter it to make it rather shorter and simplify the ac c om .
,
,
Schubert refused all changes most p emphatically At the first orchestral rehearsal ani m ent
.
.
it was plain that the sin ger could not make herself heard and alterations were pressed on Schubert by all his friends and acquaintances Still he refused When the general rehearsal came on all these anticipations proved correct E verythin g went well till the grand aria The singer engaged in a perpetual contest with the orchestra and especially the wind in str u ments was crushed by the masses brought to bear o n her colossal voice She sank exhausted on a chair by the side of the proscenium There was a dead silence throughout the house and expectation on every fa c e D urin g this D uport ,
.
.
,
.
.
,
,
,
.
.
,
.
O PER A
S CENE I N T H E
HOU SE
1 57
.
was seen goi ng first to one then to another of ,
the groups forming on the stage and then talking in a low tone to the singer and the chapel masters present Schubert sat through t his s cene s o agon izing to the spectators lik e a ,
,
-
.
figu r e of marble his eye s fixed on the partition which lay open before hi m A ft er a long de ,
.
liberation D uport came forward to the orchestra “ and said politely ; Herr Schubert we w ill
,
,
postpone the performance a few days and I beg y o u to make the necessary changes in the aria at least so as to facili tate it for Mdlle ,
,
S c h e c h n er
.
”
Several o f the musicians in the orchestra j oined in begging Schubert to yi eld He had listened wi th rising anger t o the whole .
.
occurren c e and now he cried o u t at the top o f his voi c e I wi ll make no changes l sh ut up the partition with a loud bang put it under his arm and left the house There was an end of ,
,
,
.
the appointment S u ch is Schindler s account We shall see presently that Schin dl er has fallen into one .
’
.
FRANZ S C H UB ER T
1 58
error about Schubert ;
on
.
this o ccasi on th e
Schubert to whom he introduces us i s a very di fferent character fr Om the simple and good natured being o f whom we have written An eye witness o f the scene in the theatre F ranz Z ierer Professor at the C onservatory o f Vienn a .
,
,
,
admi ts that Schubert s aria was too diffi t for the singer o n account o f the great interval s to b e overcome and the growi ng decay o f M dl le ’
,
.
S c h e c h n er
voice But he entirely denies the truth o f the scene described by Schindl er and s ay s that Schubert was as calm and qui et as ’
s
.
,
usual durin g the rehearsal
He adds that in
.
,
his opini on Schubert never stood for the post ,
of
conductor
M dl le
.
.
Joseph
S c h e c h n er
what she
H ut t e n b r en n e r
says that
was most contented with “
called Schubert s lovely aria and that it was not the obstinacy attributed to Schubert but theatrical intrigues whi ch pre vented h im from getting the place O ne thing only is certain among these con ’
’
,
,
,
.
t rad i c t i on s ,
that the appointment was not given
FRANZ S C H UB ER T
160
.
Probst of Leipsic writes August 2 6 th 1 8 2 6 o n the great and val uable honour of making Schubert s acquaintance and declares hi mself ready to contrib ute with all hi s p ower t o the di ssemination o f Schubert s fame But he must ow n that the character of Schubert s ,
,
,
’
,
’
.
’
works though marked by geni us is often strange and odd and is not suffi ciently under ,
,
,
stood by the public
He requests S c hubert
.
to
bear this in mi nd and to send hi m a go o d selection of songs pieces for the pianoforte not ,
,
,
too hard agreeable and easily intelli gible ,
“
‘
,
When we have once made a beginning
.
,
everything finds a hearing ; but at first we must make some concessions to the public ”
.
Breitkopf and H artel more reserve d
.
,
of
Leipsic are even ,
T hey state their ignoran ce
of
the mercantile results o f Schubert s composi tions and must therefore de c lin e to make any ’
,
pecuniary offer
.
T hey will be glad however ,
,
to Open agreeable relations wi th Schubert if he ,
will faci litate their attempt by accepting a
CORRE SP ONDENCE
161
.
certain number o f copies in remuneration fo r the first work that he may entrust to them They d o not doubt his complian ce wi th thi s suggestion a s like them he must look less to th e mere publication o f one w ork than to the formation o f a lasting connectio n A ppar ently Schubert was not o f the same .
,
,
.
,
opinion
.
However he made ,
u se
of
th e of er
he received from Probst and sent h i m some MS S next year But Probst was too busy to publi sh them j ust then as his hands w ere full ,
.
.
,
with the complete w o rk s o f K alkbrenner He found moreover that the s u m o f eighty florins ‘
.
demanded for each manuscript was rather h igh
.
Schubert had calculated
on
the
receipt o f higher prices fi o m the publishers o f N orth Germany than were vouchsafed him by the pu blishers o f Vienn a but his appli cations to th e publi shers o f N orth Germany led to Very slight results Another letter fi o m Probst in F ebruary '
,
‘
.
‘
,
18 2 8 ,
is worth givin g at greater length
“ .
It
FRANZ S C H UBER T
162
.
caused me serious regret that th e divergence of o u r views before my j o u r ney t o Vie nna left your valuable offer about the publication of your compositions by my hous e wi thout su c c ess Last year however when I had the .
,
,
pleasure of formin g your personal acquaint ance I said that it wo ul d be very agreeable to me to receive some newer works from you and you promi sed to grant my wi sh Since then I ,
,
.
have heard your new songs
,
an d
have seen fr om
them more and more how adm irably how clearly and h o w feeli ngly y ou utter the im agi nations o f your so u l I have also delighted ,
,
.
myself with several works for fo u r hands such a s the four Polonaises O p 7 5; the variations “ o n the Mill er s Song O p 8 2 and am more ,
.
,
”
’
,
.
and more convi nced that they will suc c eed in S prea di ng your name well and widely through out Germany and the N orth a work t o whi ch with such talents a s yours I readil y c on tribute ,
,
,
.
“
Will you therefore be good enough to ,
,
FRANZ S C H UB ER T
1 64
.
terms Schubert must have been delighted at such an opening To one who had met wi th nothing b u t failures and repu l ses whose operas had been returned unopened an d whose masses had not suited Imperial ears the first gleam of success must h ave been overpowerin g He an swered at once and sent in a li st o f his c om .
.
,
,
,
.
,
positions A n other c l vi l letter and more pro m ises of li berality But fo r their engage .
.
ments Schott s sons would have purcha sed all hi s MS S A S it w as they had a di ffi culty i n choosing his works were all s o enti cing ’
,
.
,
.
,
However they ordered eight compositi ons which they would publish by degrees and for each of which they would pay o n its publica tion O ne sentence in the letter had a new
,
,
,
.
signi ficance While leaving Schubert free to demand as many copies a s he liked for di st ri b u ting among his fri ends the publishers added Y o u will of course name a s moderate a remun eration a s possible Schubert s answer does n ot appear but from .
,
”
.
’
,
L OW
TERM S OFFERED
165
.
the next letter of Schott s sons it seems that h e named the very moderate remunerati on o f ’
,
£6
for four impromptus and a glee ,
fo r
five
voices This accordingly was paid h im but when he asked the same price for a quin
m ale
.
,
the publishers remarked that it was too
t et t ,
dear there were only si x pri nted pages and ” “ they thou ght he must have made a mistake ,
,
.
They offered him j ust half and sent a chequ e ,
for that sum wi th th eir letter o n the principl e of the bird in the hand which is always s o ,
,
potent when a c ting with those in needy c i r In their first letter they had held c u m s t an c e s out to him as an addi tional in ducement that .
,
,
they had a house i n Pari s a s w ell as one in Mayen c e and that by publishin g with them h e would gai n a footing with the F rench publi c N ow howev er they found that hi s works were too difficu l t for Paris and they asked fo r some thi ng less di ffi cult and yet brillia nt O f course they could not have predicted that the plot of ,
,
.
,
,
,
.
one of Scri be s most favourite c omedi es would ’
FRANZ S C H UB ER T
166
turn on
melod i es d e S c h u ber t,
character
of
.
whi ch from the ,
Scribe himself and his audien c es
is equivalent to the very
i dest
w
popularity
fo r
the works o f the composer With Probst Schubert had le ss to expect His trio an d was therefore less di sappointed .
,
,
.
in E flat O p 1 00 was purchased for the sum of £2 and published in 1 8 2 8 This was the only work that appeared from a fir m ou t o f ,
,
.
.
,
Austria durin g the composer s l i fetime ’
was
on e o f
played
in
.
It
the few instrumental compositions
public c oncerts by
di stinguished
musicians and received with de c ided applause ,
during the same period At o ne of its private performances the piani st sprang up in rapture .
,
,
kissed Schubert s hand and cried out to the hearers that they little knew what a treasure ’
,
they had in the composer The same might have been said o f Probst While publishing the trio he continued to ask Schubert for smaller and easier pieces as a trio w as indeed a thing that di d a m an honour but brought in .
.
,
,
,
,
,
C H A P T ER VIII
.
C O M P OS IN G U N D ER D I F F I C U L T I E s — D IFFI C U LTY TH E T ES T O F G E N I U S — S C H U B ERT AN D B EE TH O V E N — FI RS T N O TI C E F RO M — B EE TH O V E N S C HI N D LER S A CC O U NT O F TH EI R MEE TIN G — N O T A T H O ME — B EE TH O V E N A — D IN ER LAT E A P P RE C I ATI O N— LAU DA R I A LAUD A T O VIR —D EA TH F B EE T H O V E N —H I S F U N ERAL — S C H U B R T A T O R C H B ARER D R IN K IN G T o H I MSE L F — VI S I T T o G RAT Z — C O MPO S I TI O NS 1 8 2 7 — REAS O NS F O R D E C LI N I N G A OF OE M C O MP OSE R AND PO ET — R ULE S F O R MU S I C AL SETT IN G — S C H U B ERT AND ME DE L SS O HN ’
”
“
T
N
O
o
E
-
P
N
E
-
.
WH ILE Schubert was thus trying in vain for material recognition h i s musical genius was ev er more and m o re developing The year 1 8 2 6 wi tnessed the production o f many admi rable songs and instrumental pie c es and the genesis of one of the former was not a li ttle ,
.
,
C OMP O S IN G UNDER D I FF I CU L T I E S
169
.
curious The o n e to which we all ude is the serenade ( S t and c h e n ) written t o words of Grillparzer s Schubert was making a Sunday excursion w ith a party o f fii end s and in r e turning through the village o f W ahrin g he caught S ight o f another friend sitting at a table in the garden o f an inn A halt was called .
,
’
.
'
,
'
,
,
.
and the party repaired to the garden whi ch ,
presented the usual appearance beer garden
on
of
a suburban
a Viennese Sunday
F iddles
.
were o n o n e sid e o n another the c on stant r u mble o f heavy wooden balls and the clatter o f falli ng pins proclaimed the national skittles ; guests talked and sang and shouted ,
,
,
at every table and waiters rushed t o and fro wi th a noise o f di shes and a runn ing fire o f answers to all quarters o f the garden In the midst o f thi s Schubert had taken up a book which the soli tary friend had been readi ng He looked through it and suddenly “ ex claimed poin ting to o ne poem I have g o t ,
,
.
,
.
,
,
a pretty melody
fo r
this j ust com e into my
F R ANZ S C H UB ER T
1 70
.
”
head if I had but some music paper The onl y paper of any ki nd at hand was the bill of fare O ne of the party rul ed the back of it .
,
.
wi th the lines required and with all the noi se going on around him Schubert wrote down ,
,
,
the deli cious and most characteristic melody At the end of
letter
18 26
Schubert received a
thanks accompani ed by a
of
of a
,
hun dr ed
from the C ommittee
flo rin s ,
.
of
the
”
Society o f the Lovers of Music fo r his repeated proofs o f the interest he took in i t s workings In return for this courtesy Schu bert presented the Society about a year after “
,
.
wards wi th
,
hi s
great Symphony
in C
.
,
which
rank s a s one o f his most important works and will be described in its due order U nfort u nately the performers of the Society found the work t o o diffi cu l t fo r them and declined it as ,
.
,
”
“
impracticable The same term has often been applied to the later works of Beethoven In both cases it has been left for posterity to revere those very di ffi culties which once .
.
F RANZ
172 “
he said : I thin k who c an hope to
S
C H UB ER T
.
myself sometimes ; yet anythin g after Beet
so
do
”
hoven ? O ne reason why the two composers meet till just before the death
of
di d
not
the elder
on e ,
was that Beethoven was by no means acc es sible Their ways were radi call y di fferent Schubert s character approached that o f .
.
’
Mozart of
.
He was easil y pleased and possessed ,
almost childish
’
natvete, '
unpra c tical
in life ,
fond of agreeable society and of a good glass o f wine like a true son of Vienna Beethoven ,
.
was capricious and distrustful sarcastic
an d
,
sensitively proud ; but in the depth of his geni us and the largeness o f his soul his ,
classical
an
d
general c u l tivation he was above ,
Mozart as well as above Schubert It is prob able that he knew little of the musical g i ft s o f the latter till Schubert s four handed variations O p 1 0 with their de di cation to hi m were put i n hi s hands Schindler relates the scene of their being put in B e ethoven s hands and .
’
-
,
.
,
,
.
’
,
S C H U B ER T AND B EE T H O VE N
173
.
In the year 1 8 2 2 he says Schu bert set out to present his variations for four hands on a ,
,
F rench song which were dedicated to Beet hoven to the master he so much honoured ,
,
.
Although he was accompani ed by D iabelli who acted as the interpreter Of his feelings for
,
Beethoven Schubert played a part very dis agreeable to himself at the meeting The courage which kept h im up till he came t o the house forsook him altogether at the sight o f the artist monarch And when Beethoven ex pressed a wi sh for Schubert to write down the answers to his questions Schubert s hand ,
.
’
,
seemed fettered C
.
Beethoven ran through the
opy which was presented to
hi m ,
and lighted
on a fault in harmony He pointed it ou t in mild terms to the young man addi ng that it .
,
was not a deadly sin ; but perhaps owing to thi s g en tl e r em ark Schubert lost all command It was not till he had left the o f hi mself house that he recovered hi mself and vented his fu ry in violent reproaches against h i s ow n c o n ,
,
'
,
.
,
»
FRAN Z S C H UB E R T
1 74
.
duct This was his first and last meeting wi th Beethoven for after that he never could muster up c ourage to present himself again Lik e t h e sketch o f Schubert in the Karnth ner Thor Theatre this scene does not bear marks O ne fact is conclusive as a o f verisim ilitude refutation Joseph H ij tt enb r enn er states dis t i n c t ly that a short ti me after the publication of these variations Schubert gave him his o w n account o f the visit to Beethoven What Schubert himself said was that he went t o Beethoven s house with the variations but that Beethoven was not at home and he therefore .
,
.
,
.
.
,
.
’
,
,
gave them to the servant Since then he added that he had neith er seen nor spoken to ,
.
,
Beethoven He was much pleased to hear that Beethoven full y appreciated the variations and .
,
often played them through with his nephew This puts an end t o the story o f the inte r vi ew
.
.
A letter fi om R ochlitz the great musical criti c also throws doubt o n the statement that Schu °
,
bert and Beethoven had never met before
,
.
FRANZ S C H UB ER T
176
bert s songs were ’
hi s
.
great consolation and a ,
few hours before hi s death he asked to have the E rl Kin g played t o h im In his description of the death of Beethoven “ Schindler writes : A s the di sease to whi ch ”
.
Bee t hoven succumbed after fou r months suffering made it ,
im possible
very first to exert
hi s
of
for him from the
wonted intellectual
activity it was necessary to find some amuse ,
ment suited to
hi m
.
Hence it came that I put
before h im a collection of Schubert s songs about S ixty in all many of them stil l in manu script This was not done merely with a vi ew of providing hi m an agreeable occupation but also to give him a proper idea of Schubert and ’
,
,
.
,
,
enable him to form a more favourable opinion on his talent which had been put before him by exalted admir ers in a way to make him suspicious The great master who had not ,
.
known more than five songs of Schubert s before was astoni shed at their number and would not believe that Schubert had c omposed ’
,
,
LA
TE A PP REC I A T I ON
177
.
more than 500 already But if he was s u r prised at their number he was filled with the utmost astonishment by their merits F or .
,
.
several days he could not tear himself away from them and he passed many hours daily ,
”
“
over Iphigenia The Bou nds o f Humanity “ “ O mnipotence The Young N un Viola , The Mill er Songs and others He cried o u t ,
”
”
,
”
,
”
,
.
several times with joyful enthusiasm : There ‘
is i ndeed a divine spark in Schubert 1 If I had had thi s poem I should also have s et it to ’
‘
,
music !
It was the same wi th most
’
of
the
poems he could not praise their subj ect and ,
Schubert s original treatment o f them t o o much And he co u l d not conceive how Schubert found ’
.
leisure to exercise himself o n so many poems ‘
each
of
whi ch contai ns ten others ”
’
,
,
as he ex
pressed himself High praise from such a master ; but there was ample ground for it O f these greater poems Schubert composed more than a hun dred not mere lyrics but long ballads and .
.
,
,
FRANZ S C H U B ER T
178
scenes
.
dialogue the dramatic treatment of
in
,
which would entitle them to be performed at the Opera and would ensure them a favourable hearin g What would the great master have ,
.
“
said if he had seen such pieces as the Ballads from O ssian The Surety E lysium “ The D iver and others which hav e been ? lately published A s it was the admi ration he ”
”
”
,
,
,
”
,
,
formed
fo r
Schubert s talents was such that he ’
,
desired t o see hi s operas and works for t h e pianoforte but his illn ess grew so much worse ,
,
.
that this wish could no t be gratified
.
However
,
he spoke much o f Schubert prophesied that he ,
would make a great sensation in the world and regretted that he had n ot known him earli er ,
.
Anselm H ii tt enbr enn er on receivi ng t h e news o f Beethoven s serious ill ness hurrie d ,
’
,
away from Gratz arrived in V ienna j ust befor e Beethoven s death and remained to close hi eyes Anselm s brother Joseph had take leave of the dying man a few days before H ,
’
,
’
.
,
,
.
FRAN Z S C H UB ER T
18 0
.
cross bearer came first then four trombone -
,
players followed by a choir
of s
,
ingers which ,
alternately with the trombone qu artett per formed the Miserere N ext in order came the high priest followed by the coffin which was attended by eight chapel masters as pall bearers F rom the beginning o f the procession to the coffin were the torch bearers in full mourning with white roses and bunches o f lili es fastened to the crape o n their arms Besides Schubert and Lachner A n s c h ii t z C astelli C arl C zerny D avid and Grillparzer were among the num ber The brother of Beethoven followed as chief mourner At the cemetery of Wahring A n sc h ii t z the actor recited a discourse written by Grill parzer ; C astelli read a short poem and before the grave was c losed Hummel laid three wreaths o f laurel o n the coffin R eturning from the fun eral with Lachner and another Schubert went into a tavern and called for win e A fter drinking a glass to the memory of the great man whom they had borne ,
.
,
,
-
-
.
-
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
'
.
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
.
D R I NKIN G
H IM S E LF
To
18 1
.
to the tomb he called fo r a second to that one of the three then present who should soonest l follow He drank t o himself It is a rather curious coincidence that S hortly after Beethoven s funeral Schubert acted a s his ,
.
,
’
,
substitute in a visit to the Pac hl er family at Gratz The family was musical D r C arl Pac h le r the father was an advocate o f good standi ng and his wife had evinced singular ,
.
.
.
,
,
,
talents from an early age In her ninth year she practised composition and played B e eth o ven s sonatas with a fine touch and thorough appreciation o f their meani ng Beethoven .
,
’
,
.
made her acquaintance at Vienna i n 1 8 1 7 and spoke warmly o f her musical faculties He was ,
.
to have visited the
in
Pac h l ers
1 8 2 7,
but his
death put an end to their long cherished hope -
of
seein g
who was
him to
under their roof
.
hav e accompanied Beethoven to
Gratz accompanied Schubert ,
The friend
.
Great was the excitement in this musi cal family when the day approached for the vi si t .
FRANZ S C H UB ER T
182
.
The son who is still livi ng remembers his ,
,
un
will ingness to go to bed at the orthodox hour chi ldren o f seven till he was paci fied by a promise that he should greet the composer at
fo r
,
breakfast C oming down the next morning he at once recognised Schubert from the por .
,
,
,
trait he had seen o f him and he remembers now the green coat and white trousers whi ch formed the dr ess of his idol Schubert s stay ,
’
.
Gratz las t ed the best part o f a month and was o n e o f the happie st parts o f his life Mu Si c
in
,
.
at home excursions into the beautiful coun try round were pleasant indeed wi th people who appreciated the man and loved his geni us ,
,
,
O n leaving Gratz “
,
.
Schubert gave his opera ”
Alfonso and E strella to D r
.
Pac h l e r,
that he
might try and have it produced at the the atre H e wrote several pieces o f dance music during .
-
his stay and these appeared as the ,
Galops
” ,
an d
the
Gratz Waltzes
Gratz
” .
It was imme di ately after his return from Winter Gratz that Schubert finished the ,
FRANZ S C H UB ER T
184
.
not from any vanity or personal c onsiderations but because a fine field w as afforded for Beet
‘
hoven s rich imagination and great art in musi ’
cal painting Speaking o f Weber s setting which had been received with great applause ’
,
.
at Prague Mann hei m Leipsic Munich and ,
,
,
,
F rankfort R ochlitz said
The poem has already been s et to music but n ot well and o ur artist will n o t feel tempted to set it in the ,
,
,
same way although that composition is almost ,
entirely u nk nown and ,
he
is the last man in the
world to have anything to fear from such a c ol ”
However Beethoven di d no t accept the proposal He replied that the setting o f The F irst Sound would necessarily call up
li s i o n
.
,
.
”
“
the thought of Haydn s ’
“
C reation
Schubert
seems to have held the same opi nion
.
Had Schubert been more pliable he n o doubt have found reason to regret it ,
,
stead
of
.
In
suggesting the poem and leavi ng th e ,
composer free t o follow the bent o f his o w n genius R ochli tz was good enough to prescribe ,
COMP O S ER the details he said tion
,
of
of
no t
AND
P OE T
musical treatment
18 5
.
To suggest
.
to prescribe ; but a mere
su
gg
,
es
this kind is very embarrassing and is ,
certain to lead t o unpleasantness When the poet surrenders his work to the c omposer he surrenders it entirely Subs equent obj ections .
,
.
are ou t o f place and prelimin ary suggestions are likely to cause subsequent obj ections If ,
.
the poet has c ourse
no t
made his meaning clear in the
his ow n workmanship it is his fault n o t the composer s S hould the composer fail to apprehend his meanin g To come forward then and censure the composer for not catch in g the secret motives which prompted the of
,
,
’
,
.
,
,
poet but whi ch the poet w ,
as
unable to express
,
is merely di sguising incapacity under an as su m p tion
superiority The poet who leaves his o w n work uni ntelli gible and blames the c o m poser for not giving it the clearness that was wantin g from the first i s as bad a s the o ne w h o substitutes high demands from the composer of
.
,
,
for
a high standard in his own workmanship
.
FRANZ S C H UB E R T
18 6
.
It is well that a man who i s c onsci ous o f having failed in making hi s meani ng clear ,
sho u ld accompany his poem by carefu l notes to gu ide the composer wards that
” ,
to
.
But it is
I meant this
y,
sa
where somethi ng
something
di fferent
” ,
difi er ent ’
late after
too
“
or
I meant
was said and
was understood
,
And in
.
the same way t o give general ideas of the course you woul d adopt yourself if yo u were ,
composing does not add to the comprehension o f the poem but either fetters the musician or ,
,
chall enges comparison and censure
If the
.
poem is properly written it suggests its o w n music ; if the composer is a man of genius the music which a poem will suggest to him will be much better than the music of the poet and if th e composer tortures the poem i nto a ,
,
meaning that does not belong to it and is ,
merely an arbitrary Vi ew o f his o w n the poet had better withdraw his words on the first ,
intimation Schubert seems to have followed the wisest course i n abstaining from the com .
FRANZ S C H UB ER T
18 8
or horn
.
N ext beginning softly and going
.
,
into darkness
—
O ff
more harmonious than melo
— n a
dio s sort o f chaos that unfolds itself very gradually and becomes light er Wh ether the overture should end here o r this be foll owed .
,
by an allegro I will not determin e ; if the ,
second course is chosen the allegro S hould be ,
serious but very vigorous and brill iant and ,
furnished with a dyin g cadence from
first
the
movement N ow declamation w ithout music till the words w i rlc en g eg eben where the orches .
,
tra comes in softly with sustain ed chords and ,
from this there
w
ill be a Spoken passage with
S hort musical interludes at the chief breaks ,
down to the word
E r d enr ei c h
and more gloomy interl u de gentler
one
after ”
G o tt ;
Here a longer
.
,
A shorter and ,
the following sentence
without music and so o n The perversity of Schubert in declin ing this —
.
poem was only equalled by his refusal to s et “ Midnight R eview The poem Z e dl i t Z S represents the ghost of N apoleon reviewin g ”
’
.
S C H U B ER T AND MENDE L SS O H N
18 9
.
the ghosts of his armies by midnight o n the C hamps E lys ees and the idea has been taken ,
up by many pictorial illustrators Z edlitz gave the poem to Schubert an d asked him to give it .
,
musical honours but aft er carrying the poem ,
about A
S
fo r
h is
some time Schubert returned it ,
neglect of
R o c h li t Z
’
s
.
poem had been
countenanced by the example o f Beethoven s o “ h i s refu sal o f the Midnight R eview was ,
”
followed by Mendelssohn s et a descriptive poem
which the latter
,
take
it,
music
,
.
did
no t
It is
di fii c u lt t o
were the words wi th
u s t ifi e d
Schubert said that he task and that he had
”
“
no t
his abstenti on feel equal
the courage
to
to
.
the
under
feeli ng that he cou l d not make good
ou t
of the poem
.
C H AP T E R IX
.
— L IF E
L A S T YEAR O F S C H U B ER T S MU S I C AL A C T I VI T Y SE V E NTH SY MPH O NY — JU D G ME NT O F S C H U MANN — S C H U MANN S V I S IT T o V I E NN A — TH E S IX SYMPH ON I ES— A G ER M A N C R ITI C AN D AN E N G LI S H P OE T— TH E D A N U B E ANALY S I S O F TH E SYMP H O NY — WO ND E RF U L TAL E NT — — R N E M P O A R I E T oo E T E NA L Y O U TH PO STER I TY AN D C o T R s H A R D T o B E P ER F ORM E D — O TH ER WO R K S O F T H E SAM E YEAR— L AT E ST S o N A T A s — S C H UMANN S R E C E P TI O N O F A D E D I CATI O N — S C H U B E R T AN D HI S FAM ILY — S C H U B ERT S O N LY C O N C ERT— G RE AT S U CC ESS — TH E S PRIN G— TH O U G HTS OF A T O U R — AB A N D O N E D F OR WANT O F MO N EY— B E G I N N I N G S O F ILLN ESS — L A C HN ER AT P ES TH — L E TT ER F RO M — E S C HIN D L R S C H U B ER T T oo IL L T o T RAV EL ’
’
’
’
.
WE
enter
now
earthl y li fe w
i th
tions
n ew
.
.
last year
on t h e H e h ad
strength
an d
An other tri p
of
Schubert s ’
returned from Styri a steeled
w as
t o n ew
meditated
fo r
e xe r
thi s
FRANZ S C H UB ERT
192
.
Wahrin g it struck Schumann that F erdinand ,
Schubert the brother ,
he writes
of “
,
F ranz was still livi ng ,
went
call on him
to
.
.
He knew me from the enthusiasm for his brother whi ch I had often publicly expressed
,
and he told and Showed me much some o f which has already by his permission appeared ,
,
Jou r na l
in the
,
under the name
F inally he showed me some
of
of
relics
the treasures
.
of
F ranz Schubert s composition whi ch are still ’
,
In
his hands
.
The wealth accumulated here
made me shudder with
d elight ;
I
di d
not
kn ow where to begin where to leave
o ff
,
.
Among other things he showed me the parti ,
tions of several symphonies many of which ,
have never yet been heard and even when ,
at
tempted have been laid aside again a s too ,
diffi cult and too bombastic
.
O ne must know
Vienna the peculiar laws which govern its concerts and the di fficulty o f getting together ,
,
the means for great perform ances the place where Schubert
li ved
,
to
pardon it
and wrote
,
,
fo r
S E VEN TH SY MPH ON Y
193
.
only letti ng us hear his songs and little ,
nothing
of
or
his greater and instrumental works
Wh o knows how long this symph ony
.
of
which I am speaking might not have been left in dus t and obscurity if I had not come to a speedy ,
arrangement wi th F erdinand Schubert it to Leipsic either to the direction ,
Gewand haus C oncerts
,
or
to
send
of
the
to the artist himself
who conducts them and whose keen glance does n ot overlook n o d e s t and bu d ding b eau ty ,
i
much less a beauty so patent to every beaming wi th such mastery
.
o ne ,
So it happened
.
The symphony arrived at Leipsic was heard appreciated ; heard again and j oyfully al most
,
,
,
,
universally admired ,
.
The energetic firm
of
Breitkopf and H artel bought the work and the copyright and th u s it is ,
no w
lyi ng before us
complete in all its parts as we shall perhaps soo n have the partition for the u s e and delight of the world ,
”
.
R ather late in the day for such an epi thet
be applied to a firm that had the chan c e
to of
FRANZ S C H UB ER T
194
.
being energetic elev en years before mann proceeds :
“
Schu
.
Let me s ay it at once and
openl y ; any one who does not know this sym phony knows little o f Schubert though after all that Schubert ha s already given to the art ,
of music this may seem a scarcely credibl e ,
panegyric C omposers have s o oft en and so much to their annoyan ce been warned t o abstain from all ideas of symphonies afte r .
,
,
Beethoven ; and this is partly true for with ,
,
the exception o f some solitary works o f orches tral i mportance ( which however were always more interesting as signs of the development ,
,
,
of their composers but did not exercise a .
,
decided i nfluence
on
the mass or ,
on
the pro
gress o f that gen u s ) all the rest or nearly all were tame reflections of Beethoven s method ; and this wi thout allu ding to those lame and wearisome symphony mongers w h o were j ust able to produce passable Imi tations o f the powder and perukes of Haydn and Mozart ,
,
,
’
'
-
,
but without the hea ds that belonged to them
.
FRANZ S C H UB ER T
196
.
soon be released from thei r d ungeon the most ,
insignificant
of
them wil l have its Schubertian
significance ; aye
the Viennese copyists of
,
sym phonies need not have looked laurels that they wanted
fo r
,
so
far for the
they lay seven
fold in F erdinand Schubert s little study in a ’
,
suburb “
of
Vienna
* .
Here was a worth y crown to b e bestowed is
But this
often the case : if in Vienna
speak of
y
ou
they know no end to their
praise o f F ranz Schubert but when they are b y themselves they don t think mu c h of either ’
,
on e
the other
or
.
Be thi s as it may let us ,
refresh ourselves now
w
ith that fountain
genius which pours from thi s precious work
of
.
“
It i s true this Vienna with i t s tower o f St Stephen s its lovely women its pageantry and ,
.
,
’
,
,
,
the way it spreads over the smili ng plain that ,
allus i o n to th pri e o ffe re d f sy mphoni e s i n 1 8 8 6 by the Vi e nn e s e Mus ical S o ci ety ; i t ca rr i e d ff by i n t F r an L c h n e r f Mu n i c h w i th the S i nf m A p p in C m i no r In
e
z
or
o
w as
'
z
a
,
.
o
,
o
a
as s o
a a
VI S I T
H IS
To
VI ENNA
19 7
.
gradually rises i nto ever lo ftier hills enwound * by the D anube wi th countless bands this ,
,
Vienn a with all its memories of the greatest ,
German masters must be a ,
the musician s fancy
fi
field for
u i t fu l
O ften when I gazed
’
.
,
on
it from the mountain tops it came into my -
,
mind how often Beethoven s eyes must have wandered restlessly to that distant chain o f ’
'
Alps ; how often Mozart may have followed
dream il y the c ourse
of
the D anube which ,
always seems to swim in wood and forest IS
;
n ot thi s e x c tl y i d e n t ica l wi th T e nn y s o n s ’
a
“
he r gr e a t D an ub e r o ll in g fai r E n w in d he r i sl e s Let
an d othe r p a ss g e s h ave the s a me r e s e mbl nc e C o mpar e a g ain S ch u m nn s i t p g e an t ry nd T enny s o n s a
a
’
a
“
An d
“
s
”
a
.
'
a
y et my s e l f h a ve he ard h i m
s ay ,
h a t n ot in an y m othe r to w n Wi th s t tel i e r pr o gre ss t o an d fro T he d o ubl e t i d e s o f c h r i ot s flo B y p ar k an d suburb u n d e r b r o w n
T
a
a
Of
lus ti e r l e ave
s.
”
w
FRANZ S C H UB ER T
1 98
.
and how often father Haydn may have looked up at the tower
St Stephen s and shook his
of
’
.
,
head at such a giddy height
The pictures of
.
the D anu be the tower of St Stephen s and ’
.
,
,
the distant Alpine summits put in one frame and breathed upon with a faint odour of ,
C atholic incense
—
,
that is a picture of Vienna ;
and with that charming landscape living before you you feel that chords are touched within ,
you which otherw ise would never have vi b rat e d
A t the touch of Schubert s ’
.
s
m y
phony and the C lear blossoming romantic life ,
,
,
in it the town rises more clearly than ever before me and again I s ee most plainly that i t ,
,
is just in such a neighbourhood that such works can be born
.
I wil l n o t attempt to explain t h e sy m phony D ifferent ages of life form such differ ent v i ews in what they derive from music and the youth o f eighteen often sees an event o f “
.
,
universal significance in music which to the man seems to shadow something purely local
,
FRANZ S C H U B ER T
2 00
.
ii
to an end and that for the best of all reasons i n order that the reader may hav e plenty to thin k about H ow refr eshing this is this feel ,
,
.
of fulness everywhere while wi th others
i ng
,
one is always afraid of the end and is so often ,
vexed at being disappointed
.
It would be
impossible to guess h o w Schubert suddenly attained this playful brill iant mastery in the management of the orchestra if one di d not ,
,
know that the symphony was preceded by six others and was writ t en * m anhood ,
in
the ripest force
of
.
It is a proof of hi s extraordinary talent that little a s he h ad heard o f his own i n st ru mental works during his lifetime Schubert “
,
,
should have succeeded in such an o rig in al treatment of the several instruments and the ,
body of the orchestra as to produce an effe ct like the alternation of human voices and chorus I have never met with this resem ,
.
Marc h
i s ri tte n o n the p a ti ti o n ; an d S c h ub e r t d i e d the e n su in g N ove m b e r “
w
r
.
ANA LYS I S OF T H E SYMP H ONY
2 01
.
blance to the human voice in so startlin g and deceptiv e a degree s av e in many o f Beeth oven s works ; it is j ust the reverse of Meyer ,
’
’
beer s treatment
of
the voice
of the masculine origin
of
A nother S ign
.
the symphony is
it s
entire in d ependence o f Beethoven s O bserve in it how c orrectly and wisely Schubert s ’
.
’
genius mani fests i tself C onscious of his lower powers he avoids all imitation o f the g ro t e s q u e forms the daring situations which we find in the later works o f Beethoven He .
,
,
.
gives us a work and yet
on
of
the most attractive form
a new plan never diverging ,
t oo
,
far
from the centre point and always returning to it again This must be the conclusion of everyone w h o gives more than one examination to the symphony Some indeed might b e con fused at the begin ning ( as t h e first sight o f anything unusual is likely to confuse ) by the brilliancy and novelty of the instrumentation the breadth o f form the charming alternation ,
.
.
,
,
,
,
of
sentiment
,
th e
new world into which we are fit:
FRANZ S C H UB ER T
2 02
.
thrown ; but even then it leav es a d eli ci ous feeling like a fairy tale or play o f magic ; we feel that the composer was master o f his s u b un and that everything will b e duly e c t j ravelled This effect of certainty is produced ,
,
,
b y the sumpt u ous romance
the Introduction although everything is st il l ve i led in mystery of
.
The transition from thence to the Allegro is perfectly new the temp o does not seem to change ; we have arrived without knowin g h o w ,
.
It would give no pleasure to ourselves or to others to analyse the various movements ; o ne would have to copy o u t the whole symphony to give an idea of the rom an tic spirit that breathes through it
But I cannot part
.
w
ithout a word
from the second movement which speaks to us ,
in such touching tones
.
it where a horn sou n ds a s
There is one place in fi om °
a distance as if ,
it came down from another sphere E verything else listens as if a heavenly Visitor were gliding about the orchestra N o symphony has had such an effect on us .
,
.
FRANZ S C H U B ER T
2 04
.
neglect as his operas O n the rejection of h i s se v enth as too difficult he recommended the .
,
Society to try hi s S ixth but he did not live to witness its performance It was not till eleven years after the composition of the Seventh ,
.
Symphony that it was brought t o light as Schumann ha s narrated O n the 2 2n d o f March 1 8 3 9 i t was performed in the Gewand ,
.
*
,
,
haus at Leipsic with Mendelssohn for con ,
ductor
,
an
d
the applause it met with on all
sides was something unparall eled E ven this success in Leipsic
.
di d
ensure the symphony a proper reception in Vienna no t
.
It was announced for a concert in D ecember 18 3 9 ,
and was to be given entire
first orchestral rehearsal
,
.
,
But at the
the paid artists
refused to go through the practice necessary for a good performance and the result was that only the two first movements were given wi th an Italian a ri a bet w een them The work went ,
,
.
sleep again fo r another period o f eleven years and it was not till 1 8 50 that the public to
,
O TH ER W OR K S
2 05
.
Vienna h ad an opportunity of hearing it in its complet e ness N o r w as there m u ch ap even then The symphony which l au s e p Mendelssohn and Schumann considered the most important orchestral work after the sym phoni es of Beethoven h as never yet been of
.
.
,
properly recognised composer
in
,
the birthplace
of
its
.
O ther works
the same year are the flat the S plendid string quintett
Mass in
of
,
in C the cantata c alled Miriam s Song o f Tri umph in which Schuber t s native genius ’
,
”
’
,
rises to Handelian greatness the
Hymn to
“
,
the Holy Ghost
”
for eight voices the last ,
three sonatas for the pianoforte and several vocal pieces T he last three sonatas were i n tended by Schubert for de di cation to Hummel but their publishers dedicated them to Schu mann T hey were brought o u t by D iabelli as “ Schu bert s very last compositions but as i t was natural for their publishers to attach as much interest to the m as possible we have ,
.
,
.
’
”
,
,
,
FRANZ S C H UB ER T
2 06
.
some excuse for doubting if they were really “ what he represented them R emarkably “ enough s ay s Schumann the sonatas are described as Schubert s last composition A ny .
”
,
,
,
’
.
who was ignorant of the time of t heir pro duction would probably j udge otherwi se I myself should perhaps have assigned them to
o ne
,
,
o ne
of the artist s earli er periods as the trio in ’
,
E flat has always seemed to me Schubert s last ’
work his most in dependent and most cha ,
r ac
t eri s t i c
.
It were indeed superhuman for ,
,
any one who composed so much an d s o much daily as Schubert t o go on always rising and always surpassing hi mself and therefore these ,
,
,
,
,
,
sonatas may reall y b e the last work o f his hands I have not been able to learn if h e .
composed them on his death bed the music -
,
itself would almost tempt o n e to believe it However this may be these sonatas seem to me strikingly different from his others especially .
,
,
in thei much greater si mplicity of invention their will ing resignation of that brilliant novelty r
,
F R ANZ S C H UB ER T
2 08
perform an ce
c e s sfiI l
o f o ne
of
.
his p i eces the ,
trio in E flat At the same time the composer is mi ndfu l o f the wants o f his family The .
.
place of draw in g master at the normal school in Gratz ( where Anselm H ii t t enb renn er was ) happened to be vacant and Schubert proposed “ his brother C arl as a fitting candidate My -
,
.
”
brother is very C lever he wrote both as landscape painter and as dr aughtsman If y o u “
,
,
-
.
can do anything to get him the post you wil l confer an endless obligation o n me He is married and has a fami ly and would b e very .
glad of a settled employm ent R emember that anythin g you d o for my brother yo u do fo r .
me
.
Schubert s c ompositions especially his songs ’
,
,
had produced a great effect in various concerts ”
since the first success o f his E rl K ing and the composer himself had often accompani ed them on the piano His friends had O ften s u g ,
.
gested t o him that he should g i ve a concert o f his o w n but he was not quick enou gh in taking ,
S C H U BER T S ONL Y CONCER T
2 09
’
measures to advance his had hitherto declined
ow n
.
interests and he ,
A t last as his
.
fii
,
e nd s
grew urgent and he found the publi shers tardy in their acceptance o f the mass of songs he ,
prod uced Schubert consented He gave a p ri vate concert in the hall of th e Musical U nion All the pieces o n the 2 6 th o f March 18 28 .
,
.
,
performed were o f his ow n composition programme advertised in a newspaper day ran a s follows
The o f the
.
,
“
String Q uar performed by Messrs B ohm Holz Weiss
1
t e tt ,
.
F irst movement
of
a
n ew '
.
and Linke 2 F our songs : a
,
,
.
.
.
‘
The C rusade ;
’
b
‘
.
The
Stars c T h e Wand er e r t o th e Moon ; d F rag ment from [E sc h ylu s sung by Herr Vogl Im ’
‘
‘
.
.
»
,
perial R oyal retired opera singer with piano forte accompani ment Serenade words by Grillparzer soprano 3 solo and chorus performed b y Dlle Josephin e ,
.
’
.
,
,
.
,
F rOhli c h and the pupil s of the C onservatoire 4
.
N ew Trio for Pianofort e
,
.
Violin and
FRANZ S C H U B ER T
2 10
.
Violoncello performed by Messrs B ohm and Linke ,
B o oklet ,
.
.
5
‘
.
O n the Stream , words by R ell st ab ’
song wi th accompaniment
of
horn and piano
forte performed by Messrs Tietze and Lew y .
,
junior 6
.
‘ .
O mni potence words b y La di slaus Pyr ’
,
ker song with pianoforte accompani ment sung ,
,
b y Herr Vogl
.
Battle Song by Klopstock double cho rus for male voices 7
’
.
,
,
.
E ntrance
,
T h e hall
3 flo rin s
Viennese
” .
was full to overflowi ng and the ,
success of the concert was s o bril liant that a repetition was proposed But Schubert di d not li ve to carry out this plan The present concert was his first and last ; the two which were got up later served to defray the expenses o f his tomb A s the spring advanced Schubert looked for ward to a summer trip either to Gratz o r Gmunden The friend in the latter place .
.
.
,
FRANZ S C H UB ERT
2 12
.
in order t o take instant fli ght fo r upper ” Au stria While thus giving up all chance o f a vi sit in July Schubert and his friend still clung to the hope of getting to Gr atz in September But even this had to be abandoned Instead of recruiting his health in the fresh air o f Styr i a and cheering up his spirits in the pleasant and .
,
.
.
,
attached family
of
the
Pac h l e r s ,
Schubert had
to remain in Vienna U nfortun ately t o o he moved at this time into a newly built house the damp and cold of whose wall s had probably much to do in laying the seeds of his fatal illness .
,
,
,
.
T he b eg irming
thi s ill ness prevented Schu bert from accompanying his friend Lachner o n an expedition t o the capital o f Hungary Lachn er who had then an appointment as chapel master at the Karnthn er Thor Theatre had been in vited to Pesth to superin tend the production o f his firs t opera The invi tation proceeded from Anton S c hindler the bio of
.
,
-
,
,
.
,
TH O U GHTS
graph e r
of
A
OF
T OUR
2 13
.
Beethoven whose sister was one of ,
the singers in the Pesth theatre and Lachner ,
s tarted for Pesth in September Before leaving Vienna he tried to induce Schubert to follow .
him and Schubert promised to be present at ,
the first performance if i t Could possibly b e managed A short ti me before the opera was r eady Schin dl er wrote a most press in g letter ,
.
,
to back up Lac h n er s solicitations “ My dear good friend Schubert ( it runs ) our friend Lachner is too busy wi th the arrangement o f his opera and therefore I ’
.
,
,
,
,
undertak e not only to invite you in his name to be present on the important day when thi s ,
great work will b e performed but to add my own an d my sister s i nvi tation and o u r wi sh to ,
’
receive y ou amongst us and show you honour as a trul y excellent friend There is plenty of room fo r us all under one roof and at one table and we shall rej oice to s ee you accept without a refusal and occupy wi thout delay the pla c e which i s provi ded for you You must there .
,
,
,
.
,
FRANZ S C H UB E R T
2 14
.
fore make arrangements to start
on
,
the
2 2nd
at latest by the diligence ; please let us know two days beforehand if we may expect you o n the — 2 4t h n This is o e part the other follows .
“
.
A s your name is in good report here we ,
propose you
.
make the following specu l ation
to
Y ou
w
ith
must resolve to give a private con
cert here compose d principally o f your own vocal pieces A good result is expected from '
,
.
it and ,
as
it is known that your tim idity and
love of your
ow n
ease wi ll not naturally lead
you to embark in such an undertaking let me ,
tell you that there are people here who wil l most willingly raise you up by the Shoulders although you are heavy
.
However you must ,
contribute somethin g to this b y getti ng five ,
Six
letters of in troduction
,
fl om
or
noble houses in
Vienna t o noble houses here D on t b e troubled by t h e thought o f this for it entai ls neither trouble nor paying court ; y ou present the ’
.
~
,
letters if you think it necessary and bas ta ,
pocket a few hundred
flo rin s
.
To
in this way is not
FRANZ S C HU B ER T
2 16
.
Vienn a the beginn in g o f the next month and found that his fi i end had been ill for three
to
‘
weeks The t w o men spent s ome hours t o gether and thi s was their last meetin g on earth Lachner received orders just then to make a tour through Germ any and pick up singers for the K arnth ner Thor Theatre While he was o n this j ourney a letter from a common fri end i nformed him o f Schubert s death .
,
.
'
.
’
.
C H AP T E R X
.
S C H U B E R T S IL L N ESS — N O THIN G SER I O U S A PP RE H E N D E D TH E LAS T D A Y s — S C H U B ER T S D E ATH — P RO P ER TY H E LE FT— HI S M O N UM E NT — S C H UMA NN O N FAI RER H O P ES S C H UB E RT S P ERS O NA L A PP EARAN C E — N O TH IN G RE MARK — H I S AB L E I N FA C E A SE C O ND FAL STAFF— H I S C HARA C TER — S C H I ND L ER O N H I S LI FE — P R O D I G A LI TY — AB SEN C E O F P RA CTI C A L I N D U S T R Y — I NSTA N C ES— P L AY I N G 1 N C O MPANY A C C U ST O ME D I O N E G L E C T— S C H U B E RT WI TH H I S FRI ENDS — L O VE O F WI N E — O CC AS I O NA L E X C ESSES — B REA K I N G G LASS E S — L ATER F E E LI N G S — RE V I E W O F H I S LI FE ’
’
’
'
.
in September 1 8 2 8 that S c hubert beg an t o feel the approach of illn ess He bec ame subj ect to giddiness and a rush o f bloo d to t h e head and the doctors ordered him moderation and exerc i se in th e open air A li t tle trip he took wi th h i s brother and t w o IT
w as
,
,
.
,
,
.
10
FRANZ S C HU B E R T
2 18
.
friends to E isenstadt and the grave of Haydn seemed t o do him g o Od in body ; it certainly raised his spirits But o n his return to Vienna his ilhi e s s came back again D ining at an inn ,
,
.
.
the last day o f O ctober he suddenl y flung down his knife and fork and said the fish he had j ust begun eating filled him with a sensation of disgust and horror as if he had taken poison F rom this time forward he sc ar c ely touched ,
.
,
any food took much medicine and exercise O n the 3 rd of N ovember he took a long walk to hear a Latin requiem composed b y his brother F erdinand the last music that he ever heard Going home after walkin g fo r t hree hours he complained much o f weariness E ven then he did not apprehend any serious illness for he was meditating lessons in the art of writing fugues He had lately taken much .
,
,
,
.
,
.
,
,
.
to the study of Handel and he consulted the C ourt organ ist S echter on the subj ect o f c on t rapu nt al i nstruction But increasing weak ,
.
ness confined him to his bed and though he ,
FRANZ S C H UB ER T
2 20
.
He passed away the next d ay the ,
N ovember
1 9 th
of
at three in the afternoon hav ing not yet completed his thirty secon d 1 8 28 ,
,
,
-
year
Two days afterwards
.
hi s
body was
c onveye d to the c hurchyard at W ahring '
,
and c onsigned to a grave next but three to Beethoven s It had b een Schubert s wi sh t o repose near the great composer whom he s o ’
’
.
loved and honoured h im
possessed h e told
hi s
In the delirium whi c h
.
the night before his death when
brother that he was
in
a strange
room he had answered all assurances that this was i ndeed his own room and his own bed with the words N o that is no t true ” for Beethoven is not here Many o f hi s friends and admirers j oined in the pro c ession ,
,
,
,
,
.
,
and
hi s
bier was covered with many garland s
Poems tributes ,
of
.
affecti on musi cal composi ,
tions were devo ted to th e memory o f the young ,
composer and a subscri ption was at once started am ong his friends to rai se a monument over his ,
grave
.
PR O PER T Y L EF T
221
.
T hat
nei ther the cost o f the monument o f the requiems performed in two churches or e ven of the funeral itself could b e defrayed witho u t assistance was plain from the circum stances o f Schubert s family The property ,
,
,
,
’
.
left by the composer himself consisted simply o f his clothing and was offi cially valued at a ,
little
more than £ 6 More than four times this s u m had b een expended b y his father on me di cal attendance and o n the funeral It .
.
,
was therefore necessary that Schubert s friends shoul d club toge ther and either raise the money ’
,
,
,
themselves
or
pro cure it from the public
.
N one of them being very wealthy the latter ,
exp edient was adopted
A concert was
.
g
ot
up several of Schubert s pieces were given and the success o f the first concert was so ’
,
,
great that it led to a second
.
What
w
i th
the
sums thus collected and a few frien dl y offer ings a monument was put up in the church yard at Wahrin g The bust of Schubert ,
'
.
F RANZ S C H U B ER T
2 22
.
adorns thi s monument and below runs the inscription penn ed by the p oe t Gri llparzer : ,
D
e ath buri e d he r e a ri c h p o ss e ss i o n B t y et fai r e r ho p H r e l i e s F r an S c h ub e r t B o r n Jan u a ry 3 1 s t 1 7 9 7 D i e d N ove m b e r 1 9 t h 1 8 2 8 A g e d 3 1 y e a rs
,
u
z
e
.
.
,
,
.
”
.
The second lin e
of
this inscripti on
h as
pro
and continues to provoke much ad verse criticism Schumann closes his discussion “ of the last sonatas with the words Schubert might await his last minute with a serene
v ok e d ,
,
.
,
countenance And if on his g rave stone we find the words th at a rich possession but still -
.
,
fairer hopes lie buried b eneath it we will merely thin k wi th gratitude of the first T o speculate o n what he m ight hav e attained leads But at the time when Grillparzer to nothing ,
.
”
.
wrote these words the greater part of Schubert s songs were still unknown to the public It ’
.
FRANZ S C H UBER T
2 24
.
When his remai ns were d isinterred in 1 8 63 the doctors who examined his skull were as ,
t oni sh e d
at its femini ne organi sation
.
,
N ei th er
sku ll nor that o f Beethoven showed the bump o f music in the place generally indicated The rest of Schubert s person bore out the de s c ription given of his face and confirmed by hi s
,
,
.
’
,
the bust over his grave middle
height
.
He was under the
round backed
and
-
,
roun d
shouldered wi th thick fleshy arms and hand s ,
and short fingers able
in
,
There was nothing remark
.
his
the expression of
face his look was ,
neither clever nor pleasing But when the conversation turned on music and especially .
,
on Beethoven his face lighted ,
u
p
and his eyes
“
began to sparkle He was exactly like a tallow ketch in outward appearance says .
”
’
-
,
one who knew Schubert and seems “ had F alst aff in his mind ; but ,
have hi s eye to
glittered s o that the first g lance betrayed the ” fire within .
C ertainly his
i
teri or did not bear out the
n
S
’
C H UBE R T S C H A R AC TE R
22 5
.
nfavourable promise of his outward appear an c e A l l his friends and relations vied in praising h im as a good s o n a loving brother u
.
,
a true friend good tempered well meani n g -
-
,
free fi o m °
,
,
hatred and envy large hearted and -
,
enthusiastic for nature held sacred
an
d
,
the art which
he
He was lively and good h u moured -
.
,
honest and straightforward and free from all affectation and sentim entalism He had not ,
.
the opportunities vouchsafed to Handel and Mozart of seeing the world and gaining large experience o f men and things of maki ng great ,
j ourneys and performing o r producing works before courts and potentates N or had he ,
.
the literary training the politi c al sympathies ,
Beethoven or the wide culture o f Men His education at d el s s o h n and Schumann of
,
.
home had b een confined to the b ar e s t rudi ments and in the C onv i c t he had given more time to composing than to sterner studies ,
.
But we must not conclude from this that he was ignorant o r uncultivated and that the ,
F R AN Z S C H U B ER T
2 26
beauties
of
.
his music c ame to
s c ious inspiration as ,
if
he was
h im i
n
by
u nc o n
a dream
in what Vogl called a state of musical
o r ,
c la i r
v o a nc e
y
.
‘
It is tr u e
” ,
says Schindler whose state
ments must however be taken with some re ,
s
erve
in
“ ,
that there was neither hil l nor valley
Schubert s life nothin g but a level plain ’
,
over which he moved at an even pace frame
of
mind was also flat
a nd
,
His
.
smooth as a
mirror diffi cult to be irritated by external ,
thing
of
s
his
,
an d
in perfect harmony with the essence
character
His days passed as
.
b efit te d
an offspring o fa lower sphere who had b een born ,
poor and remai ned poor his tenth year ;
fi om ‘
Livi ng at home ti ll
.
thence to his seventeenth
year a si nger in the i mperial
C onv i c t, and
on the
benches of the gymnasium ; three years usher with hi s father in the Li c h t h ent h al school ; finally a pianoforte player T
i ll h i s t e l fth wo ul d w
,
be
an d
an ad mirable
n e re r the m a rk a
.
FRANZ S C H UB ER T
22 8
.
lifetime lay in a certain obstinacy an unben d ,
,
ing habit which without detracting from his declared independence made him absolutely deaf to good and practical counsels o n the part of w ell meanin g fi i end s This characteristic often appeared i n social intercourse as well ,
,
,
“
-
.
,
as
in
musical matters but it is ,
not
buted to an excessive self esteem -
ing self c onfi d en c e -
.
,
or
to be
att ri
overween
The devotion shown by
Schubert o n all occasions for the great musicians hi s
,
unwearied endeavours to improve him self
,
show that there is no ground for such an accu sation Schu bert did not know the feelings o f j ealousy and thirst for fame which do s o mu ch in .
stimulating some artists to activi ty ; his love o f retirement and h i s quiet life bear witness t o the purity of his ambition He was qui ck to ,
,
.
detect flattery however cautiously it was ,
ad
ministered and he was positively in di fferent to praise ; the utmost applause bestowed on any ,
of his works did not produce a change of coun t enan ce ”
.
P RAC T I CA L I ND U S T R Y
22 9
.
Looking over the list of Schubert s works it i s evident that his fertil ity must have been equalled by his ease and fluency He generally began working early i n the morning sitting o n his bed and writing o r going in the utmost ’
,
.
,
,
l i g g
ne
'
e
to
the piano and extemporising ,
He
.
worked till the mid dle of the day without inter ruption His whole soul was then in his music and people who have seen him at work de clare that his eyes would sometimes brighten and ,
.
,
his voice would change showing the power of the thoughts to which he was giving expressi on ,
.
But while thus
i
dustrious in his art he was
n
,
a stranger to any practical industry u
.
He was
npunctual at rehearsals and was loth to go ,
to
them o r to undertake any duties that entailed pu n ctu ality In like manner he generally ab ,
.
sented himself from the performance of his own works He scarcely ever made any corrections .
,
as is proved b y the state of his manus c ripts O ne of the results of this is that the close o f .
,
many
of
his instrumental works is inferior to
FRANZ S C H UB ER T
23 0
what has gone before
.
But the sh orter pi e c e s
.
,
which were pou red upon the paper under the i mmediate
e ffect
of
inspirati on seem to have ,
needed none of the labour them perfect Some instances
the file to make
of
.
r
Schubert s astoni shin g
of
apidi ty have been
’
i ven g
already especially ,
”
in
“
the c ase of the E rl K ing and the Sere nade But there are others no less strikin g ”
.
“
If fertili ty
” ,
says Schu m ann
test of genius Schubert ,
is
“
.
is the chi ef
one of the greatest
geniuses He might b y degrees have s et the whole literature of Germany to musi c and Telemann s dictum that a good composer should b e able to s et a placard to music is best an .
,
,
,
’
,
,
b y Schubert
Whatever he touched music flowed from it ZE s c h ylu s K lopstock diffi cult as they are yielded to his hand and he touched the deepest strin gs of the lighter pieces of such as W Mi fll er O ne of hi s sw e r e d
.
,
.
,
,
,
,
”
.
.
overtures is endorsed Written in N ovember in Herr Joseph H i i t t enb renn er s room ; to ok “
,
,
’
F R AN Z
232
was di d
S
C H UB E R T
.
properly recogni sed But Schubert not need her ex c uses While thanking her no t
.
.
for her courtesy he replied that he was ,
t oo
mu ch a c customed to such treatment to b e hur t by i t Among his friends the composer was under no such restraint an d in no lack of recogni ti on His tongue was loosed and he was merry Practical j okes parodies and humours o f all kinds abounded So comm on were they and .
.
,
.
,
,
,
.
,
clos ely associated wi th the composer s n ame ’
so
that they were called
S c h u b e r t i ad s
,
Though Schubert did not dance he was often a guest at balls in the houses of famili ar fi i end s would sit at the piano for hours and extemporise deli .
,
’
,
,
cion s music while the others danced to it aft ernoons wer e almost always spent
.
,
His lik e
German afternoons in pleasure and amuse ment In fine weather the lovely environs o f Vienn a were the constant resort and when the scenery was beautiful and the wine in ,
.
,
some suburban tavern had equal charms even ,
L O VE i ng w
WI NE
OF
23 3
.
engagements were too often throw n
inds
It
to
the
.
is
certain that S chubert loved good win e
.
Some have gone s o far as to call him a drunka and there seems reason to believe that he some times ex c eeded the bounds o f moderation same however is said ,
,
of
The
.
Beethoven who was ,
habitually moderate ; but was led b y example ,
or temptation to exceed occasionally in
on e
,
year of his
life
Yet Schubert s excesses were ’
.
c ertainly more frequent
When there was much good win e on the table it was necessary .
,
for
hi s
friends to keep an eye on h i m He coul d .
not bear a great quantity and his taste was ,
criti cal to allow a dilution with water of
.
t oo
Some
his friends attribute his last illn ess to his
in dulgence in
liquor and attribute his head ,
ches and the rushes of blood under which he
a
,
s u ffered to the same cause ,
.
Wilhelm C hezy
,
the s on o f H elmina C hezy whose name we hav e mentioned apropos o f a drama to which Schu ,
bert fu rnished the music gives in his auto bio -
,
,
F RANZ S C H U B ER T
234
.
graphical recoll ecti ons a strange picture o f “ Schubert s revels He was as devoted to wine as any young learner to the loveliest art But when the blood of the grape glowed in hi s veins ,
’
.
.
,
he was not noisy ; he l oved to s it reti red in a corner and give h imself up in comfort to silent ,
fu ry a laughing tyrant who when the humour ,
,
,
ook him destroyed wi thout the sli ghtest noise
,
glasses plates or cups smi ling all the while
,
t
,
,
,
,
,
and squeez in g his eyelids together till his eyes were
ah n o s t
shut
” .
When Schubert had drunk
more than his friends approved he would ,
make secret signs to the waiter at the time of reckoning and keeping his hand low ,
down
,
that his friends could not
SO
s ee ,
would
hold out as ma ny fingers a s he had drunk measur es .
That these excesses
di d
not recur oft en
i s,
however proved by the narrow circumst ances in which Schubert passed his life as well as by the enormous quantity o f music he composed A man who is always poor and is yet partie n ,
,
.
,
F R ANZ S C H UB E R T
23 6
— li fe
events in his
.
hav e been told an d we think ,
readers will come to th e same conclu sion
ou r
.
T h ey have s een the composer stru gglin g against
want from the very first ; gifted wi th a geni us which all who came in contact wi th him were qu i ck to recogni se and which yet could not ,
w
in
its way to the public s o as to earn a c ompetence fo r
its possessor ; repulsed by publishers man ,
agers chapel masters -
,
,
or
put
o ff
with praise and
promises ; and dyi n g at last before a fifth
o f hi s
works were known at an age when many hav e not done more than lay the foundati on of thei r ,
greatness when some most prolific authors have not even begun to write and others wi thout ,
,
,
bein g either famous or prolifi c are ,
earning their livelihood
.
al
ready
Vienna killed her
prophets and stoned those who were s ent unto ,
her
.
N either Mozart nor Beethoven were
recognised while they were li ving by the city i n ,
,
which they had settled ; and if that city was hard to strangers she was still more unjust ,
her
ow n
son
.
so
to
To the names of Mozart and
R E VI E W OF
H IS
LI FE
23 7
.
Beeth oven to th e histori es of two s u ch ,
c om
p o sers wh o were either starv e d or negle c ted we may add the nam e and history o f a third ,
on wh om both those fates were vi si ted the subje c t o f ou r narrati v e F ranz S c hubert ,
,
.
C H A P T ER XI
.
— S C H UB ER T S WO R K S S K E T C H O F T H E G ER MA N SO N G IT S — — E AR LY HI S T ORY E FFE C T O F T H E RE F OR MA TI O N N O R TH — — — E E ET R M o z T A G E R MANY R I S E O F G ERM A N P OE T R Y — — — R H OV E N S C H U B E R T P OE T S C H OSE N B Y S C H U B E T C Y —
’
— — I M l R A PO S I TI O NS M
SO N G S —
C LES L ARG ER C O T R EAT M ENT O F T H E E xoD u s — S H U R E R T S SO N G S D U R IN G H I S — — LI F E T IME H IS POS TH U MO S P O P LA TY HI S M S E — — — S NAT s l o s T R M E A P I R A T E AT P RA G U SY P H O N I S S C H U MANN O N T H E S O NATAS — A LU D I C R O U S END I N G C O MPAR D WI TH B E E TH O VE N— O TH E R Wo R K s C O N C L U S I O N OF
M
’
C
U
U
A
RI
O
E
s
S
A
E
.
that remai ns fo r us now i s t o take a sur vey of the works whi ch Schubert left behind him and to s e e how far h i s time was justifie d in its neglect o f him This survey I s the more ne c essary as s o many of his c ompositions are A
LL
.
,
still
u nk
nown and as it was impossible to ,
c on
FRANZ S C HU B ER T
240
.
tunes and o f fixing them o n paper B u t music ians began to see what powerfu l spell s were c ontained in these melo di es and they liar
.
,
worked up the pop ul ar songs i nto a more artisti c form .
In the s i xteenth century the R eformation gave a new significance to relig i ous chants C horuses were got up and the C horale was to '
.
,
s ome extent developed from the popular song But as musi c b eg an to exercise a more genera l power on the nati on the popular song was d ri ven more an d more into the backgr o und It gave way to the national song somethin g .
,
.
,
b etwe en the actual song of
t he
people
,
an d
the
rtisti c form into which that song of the people had been laboured The greatest masters did not despise the employment of these humbler t u nes and thus w on an easy way to the heart o f the people The i mperishable greatness of Handel s oratorios proceeds in great part fr om
a
.
,
.
’
the nati onal element that pervades the choruses In the v o c al and instru mental music
of
.
Haydn
NOR TH GERMANY
2 41
.
and Sebastian Bach in the finished operas ,
of
Mozart and Weber thi s national element i s also found and it i nfu ses the freshness of y o uth and unri valled powers of attraction T ill the ei ghteenth cent u ry the art song had b een supported entirely b y the n orth of Germany The north possesse d a b o dy of composers bent o n main taining an d improv in g ,
,
.
-
,
.
the old tradition ; while in South Germany and notably in Vienna the prevalence ,
Italian
of
singing had driven out the national feeling
.
In the north of Germany Italian opera exerted but a slight influence D ramatic music was .
confined to the s i ng sp i el more resembling the E nglish opera o r F rench v a u d evi lle than the -
,
kind sual in Italy and this g sp i el had much effect in preserving the German song More o ver i n the mi ddle o f the last century German u
s in
,
-
.
,
lyri c poetry began
to
make itself felt
.
The
odes o f K lopstock were composed by several musicians and b y Gluck among the number though with no v ery decided success But ,
,
.
F R AN Z S C H UB ER T
242
.
when Herder revi ved the old feeling for the popular song an d Goethe s songs gave birth to a new spring of lyric al poetry a ne w peri o d ’
,
,
began At first the north of Germany retained .
supremacy
But the composers
.
of
its
the south
,
though thei r contributions to the song were di s pr O p o rti o nat e
in
other
bran ches showed a superior geni us
The
to
t he i r
efforts
,
.
songs of Haydn Mozart and Beethoven were masterpieces both in melody and harmony ,
,
,
and eclipsed all that had gone before does
Mozart
.
seem to have been acquainted wi th
no t
Goethe s poems and was not in spired by the ’
,
much weaker lyri cs p
orari e s
of
some other contem
What he might have done wi th
.
Goethe is shown b y the onl y ,
one o f
Goethe s ’
songs he c omposed that exqu i site song The Violet Beethoven s et ten of Goethe s poems to music on e of them four times over He “
,
,
’
.
,
also made use airs
in
of
many of th e loveli est pop u la r
the adagi os of
hi s
in strumental pieces
,
F R AN Z
2 44
S
C H UB ER T
.
Schubert s great fellow countryman Goethe ’
-
,
.
’
He set no less than si xty of Goethe s songs as has already been stated an d about twenty of Sc hill er s The poems o f his fi i end s Mayr hofer and Schober figure largely in his list ,
,
’
'
.
.
Heine s appearanc e as a poet dates from th e ’
last years of Schubert s li fe which ac counts for the fact that onl y six o f Hei ne s songs have ’
,
’
been set to Schubert s music ’
6 00
songs in cluding those ,
and Heine the cycles ,
of
.
of
But
,
of
all these
Goethe Schill er ,
songs from O ssian
from Walter Scott and less famous poets not ,
more than
,
have b een published
3 60
A
.
nd ,
while some of the publi shed songs might easily be spared without much loss to the c omposer s ’
fame some ,
of
th e unpublished ones wou ld
advance it signally and are too precious to be withh eld from the public ,
.
Speci al mention must be made of the songs which form a cycle either i ntentionally on the ,
part
of
feelin g
.
Schubert
,
or
W e allude
from their to
the
ow n “
unity of
Miller s F air ’
‘
Wi fe
” ,
“
th e
C Y C LE S OF S ON GS
245
.
Songs from O ssian
”
the songs
,
”
from the Lady of the Lake and the ” “ Winter Journey In these the character o f “
,
,
.
the in di vi dual song is expanded t i nu i t y
of
,
and
the
c on
a larger work imparted to the series th e
We notice particularly
.
a cc ompaniment to ”
the songs of the M iller s F air Wife in which the sound of falling water is exactly imi tated “
’
,
.
“
The
Winter Journey
”
is often supposed to
testify to the existence of i ngs
in its c omposer ; an
sad
and bitter feel
ai r o f
deep and cheer
less depression breathes through the gloomy melodies reminding us ofthe bounded landscape ,
and bounded sky of wi nter lyr i c al expression
,
in
Yet
.
,
in
power
,
of
simple and harmonious
unity these songs are equal if not superi or to ,
,
most of Schubert s other pro d u c ti ons The melody and the instrumentation are full o f novelties which mark a transition in S chu ’
.
,
bert s style and prepare the way for those later ’
,
composers
,
w
ho
have followed
in
his track
.
Glees part songs hymns and c antatas flowed ,
,
2 46
FRANZ S C H U B ER T
in
.
’
plenty from Schubert s pen ; many o f them were wri tten fo r friends and social gatherings .
But the most i mportant of the s e have found their place Aft er
in
the
L azarus
the story
cantatas
Schubert s life
of
of
’
Prometheus
Miriam s Song ’
of
Triumph
.
and ”
is
most important The words o f this cantata are by Grillparzer and both poet and composer .
,
were inspired by s o grand a subj ect as the safe passage of the R ed Sea by the Israelites the ,
destruction
of
exultation
of
escape
and
the bands
of
the tyrant and the ,
the delivered people at their
their safety
.
The history of the
Israeli te exodus and the passage through the desert is the grandest in stance of a national ,
triumph Moses has inspired R ossini wi th a splendid revolutionary epic as it was natural .
,
that an Italian should feel keenly the deli very from E gypt and should look forward to a N o t only did s imil ar release from bondage ,
.
Moses bring out the children
of
Israel but he ,
freed the m from the degraded mind an d the
F R ANZ S C H U B ER T
2 48
.
his li fetime as a c omposer of songs i t i s astoni shi ng how small a proporti on even of his most popular works found thei r way to the pu bli c N o t more than a hundred o f his songs were published before his death When we consider that his great works remained u n known for many years aft erwards and that his ,
.
.
,
fame was based purely on these songs it is hard to exaggerate the inj ustice done him It is ,
.
plain that he was esteemed for a small side
of
his character and that even this small S ide was imperfectly known His larger works did not ,
.
begin to make their appearance till his fame as a song writer was well established F ragments of them indeed were resuscitated by d ifferent -
.
,
,
mu sical d irectors and received wi th favour by the public But this was no t enough to c o n vince the directors o f greater musical in s t it u tions that there was a mine o f wealth in the remains of Schubert and his acceptance has ,
.
,
b een almost as tardy sin c e h i s d eath
d u ring his lifetime
.
as
it was
S
C H U B ER T S S ON G S
T hat
249
’
.
S c hubert s songs have made the round of E urope and America are most popular i n F rance an d household words in Germany is ’
,
,
,
more grati fyin g as an e vi den c e of public ta ste than as a tribute to the composer s genius We ’
.
may say i t boldly e v en now Schubert is not fully o r properly appre c iated e i ther in his songs o r his greater compositi ons T here are stil l manuscripts wi thou t number which have not s een the light ; songs overtures orchestral pieces operas and religious works of which no t a n ote has been heard Many valuable compo s i t i o n s have vanished altogether have been cut up into autographs o r sold t o foreign collectors ,
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
.
,
In the year
18 35
Schubert s survi vin g brother ’
,
F erdinand addressed theatrical directors and ,
conductors of concerts in a public advertise ment offering them nine operas ,
,
sym
S ix
phonies and four masses for a small sum He seems not to have received an answer The opinion entertained by an imperial .
,
.
chapel master on Schubert s masses has found ’
-
,
250
F R AN Z S C H U B E R T
.
later perhaps uncons c i ous echoes ,
,
S c ar c ely
.
any of the se pieces hav e passed the Austri an frontier
Some of them are occasionally gi ven
.
in
Vienna ; the S tab at Mater of 1 8 1 6 was
in
18 63 ,
ears y
after lying dorm ant for twenty two -
But
.
i ve n g
a proof o f the general ignoran ce
as
of Schubert s masses nothing can be m ore ’
,
striki ng than t h e m y s tifi c ati on practised by a recent compo ser The chapel master of a church in Pragu e p ub lished Schubert s Mass in G as -
.
’
his
ow
ame
n
,
n
composition stamped it with
an
d
,
h is
own
dedicated it as his own work to an
Austrian Archduchess daring to do
so ,
.
T he mere fact
Speaks volumes
.
of
his
Many men
steal wi th some slight disguise ; many steal without being consciou s o f it But as no man would steal anything that was not worth havi ng .
,
and
man
wou ld steal anything if he was certain o f bein g detected this action o f the Pragu e chapel master bears witness to the u ni v ersal ignorance of S c hubert s masses while it establishes their i ntrinsi c value no
,
-
’
,
.
F R AN Z S C H U B E R T
2 52
.
sonatas in A minor and G major the three last sonatas and the t w o tri os are perhaps the best ,
,
Instances
,
.
O f these the s ym phony and the last sonata s have already been desc ribe d and we wil l onl y ,
a few words about the others The two y trios were performed in priv ate circles during sa
.
their composer s life and are the most fami li arly known of this class o f his works The y ’
,
.
were composed within a short time '
each
of
other and belong to Schubert s last period O f “ the trio in B flat Schumann says : A glance ’
,
.
at Schubert s trio ’
an
,
lov ely once more
.
d
the world is fresh and
The tri o which has just
appeared seems older than that in E flat though the style does not betray an earlier period But the two trios are materially di fferent The ,
.
.
first movement which in the work i n E flat expresses deep rage an d overflowing desire is here cheerfu l confident and virgin li ke ; th e ,
,
'
-
,
adagio which there is a sigh rising almost to h e art b reakin g -
ang u ish is here a blissful dream ,
,
S ONA T A
S
2 53
.
a rise and fall of lovely human feelin gs The scherzo in e ach is alike though I give the pre .
,
ference to the one in the t rio which was wri tten later but appeared earlier O n the last move ments I will n o t decide In a word the tri o in .
.
E flat is more manly and dramatic ; thi s one is
more womanly and lyric ; the other acts th is ,
”
suffers O f S chubert s fantasias the g rand F antasia i n .
’
C Op ,
.
1 5,
is on e o f his most important works fo r
the pianoforte and perhaps his most attra c tive ,
.
The construction of the first and last movements is indeed rather c lumsy but the music is full of ,
beauties
,
With the exception of the song woven
.
into the middle the whole work is
so
,
well
suited to orchestration that Liszt composed the orchestral accompaniment for it and it has
fre
quently b een performed in that shape
The
,
F antasia sonata in G major O p -
,
.
78,
direct cont rast to the work just cited
.
forms a D ream
like and idyllic is the feeling that pervades the two first movements and the trio o f the minuet ,
,
F R ANZ S C H UB E R T
254
yi eldi ng to tantali sing play
in
.
th e
al
legrett o
.
The sonata in A minor O p 42 is o ne of the most pop u lar as well as the most fini shed ,
.
,
.
,
T h e first movement i s
fill ed
w
ith a certai n
di s
qu i etu de and secret anxiety —though that i s har dl y the opi nion of R ober t Schu mann whom we had better hear o n the subj ect o f t h e ,
sonatas
Speaking
.
o f th e
F ant asia
-
sonata in G
maj or the sonata in A minor and th e sonata in D maj or O p 53 S c humann says : A s we ,
,
,
,
.
must c haracterise all the three sonatas as simply glori ous wi thout using a thousand ’
‘
,
words where one suffi c es we must yet consider ,
the F antasia sonata the most perfect in form -
and spirit of all Schubert s similar works E verything in it i s organi c everything breathes ’
.
,
the same life
.
But let the man
w
ho
has no
imagination of his own to solve its problems keep away from the last movement .
The mos t closely related to it is the one in A min or T he first part i s so stil l s o dr eamy ; .
,
it alm o st moves one to tears ; at the same
F R ANZ S C H U B E R T
2 56
.
musi cal and independent 1n themselves A s a pianoforte composer especially he surpasses others and even Beethoven hi mself ( th o ugh even after his deafness the ear of Beethoven s .
,
’
imagination was wonderfully acute ) in this respect that he wrote thoroughly for t h e piano everything in him sounds properly i t ,
,
comes from the very d epths of the piano ; while in Beethoven we must borrow something fi o m ‘
the horn or the oboe to gi ve the note i t s full expression If we were to s ay anything more about the internal characte ristics o f these creations we should say this ,
.
.
Schubert has notes for the finest sensi b ili t i e s thoughts nay for e v ent s and situa “
,
,
,
tions Although there are myriad forms of human wi sh and endeavour Schubert s musi c .
’
,
has myriad ways of expressing them All that he sees or touches is transformed into music .
living forms spring out of the s t ones he casts as once wi th D eucalion and Pyrrha It is difficult to go through the list of Schu ”
.
,
CONC L U S I ON
2 57
.
bert s other c ompositions without trenchin g on what has b een said already We thi nk that ’
.
enough has b een said to give the reader an idea o f that wonderful geni us and still more wonderful fertility which were s o little appre ,
,
while their o w ner Was li vin g an d even now have not b een duly recognized O nce c i at e d
,
.
before we have said that a mere detailed account o f musical pieces is unsatisfactory ; and though we have given several passages from Schumann s writings as conveyi ng in the ’
most picturesque manner all that can b e said in description we have not attempted t o add ,
anyt hing of o u r
and we hav e left many o f
ow n ,
Schumann s words unquote d Weber said that music must b e heard to be appreciated ; and his biographer has acted wi sely in abstaining from all analysis The same choice is not left to the biographer of Schubert F or though the great and glorious part of Schubert s life is written in his works and may b e sought there by all who would really know him ou r know ’
.
.
.
’
,
.
,
FRANZ S C H UB ER T
2 58
.
le dge of th e m an woul d b e imperfe c t i f it d i d not in c lude a knowledge of his stru ggles and di stresses hi s short and his marvellous ac tivi ty hi s attem ts an d hi s failure p ,
.
A PP E N D IX
.
O N M U SI CA L BI O G R A PHY A N E S S AY
T HE
o bje c ti ons whi ch
.
hav e b e en m ade to
literary bi ographi es apply wi th equal force to ,
musical biographies
I S peak
.
of
the higher
kind of obj ections ; those which are b e s t stated in
T ennyson
Letters
” .
are made
’
s li nes
“
A fter readin g a Life and
F or the lower ki nd those which ,
fo r
the benefit of the general reader
have n ot the same c hance of applying
.
Musicians as a ru l e li ve a more active life than men of letters T heir bi ographies are fuller of .
inci dent and ane c dote present
.
— in
all
cases ex c ept the
They are often called upon to s how
A PP
26 2
E ND I X
.
thei r skill before the great and illustri ous and ,
sometimes thei r employment ab o ut c ou rts brings them in close contact wi th royalty
.
Th o se of them who hav e written for the stage have mi xed wi th actors and actresses and their ,
bi ography has touched on e c orner at least of the w i de field of theatrical anecdote .
A ssu mi ng that biography i s to present us
wi th an i nteresting picture of its subj e c t wi thin c ertain b ou nds let us ask how far th i s
,
,
requ i rement mu si ci ans
to de cide
.
.
is
b y the
fulfilled
lives
What these boun ds are it i s easy ,
Biography
is
to be made an
n ot
engine for the diffu sion of i dle gossip
.
What
we want to learn is the man s character ’
the dark side
of
it
.
We do
no t
sketched from the point of no r
of
vi
,
no t
want the hero
ew of his valet
,
do we want the hero s friends as they ’
wou ld b e di scussed downstairs while they were dini n g wi th the hero This val et element in biography is the first thing to b e avoided and .
,
the first thing to b e sought by the biographer
A PPEND I X
264
.
g a ve the p eo pl e f h i s b e s t H i w o rs t he k e p t h i s b e s t he g a ve My S h k p c urs e o n cl o w n an d k na ve Wh wi ll n ot l et h i s a s he s r e s t ! He
o
s
:
,
a
s
.
’
e are s
o
Wh o m a k e
s ee m m o r e sw eet to b e T he l i tt l e l i fe f b an k n d br i e r T he b i rd th a t p i p e s h i s l n d e s i r e A n d d i e s un he a rd w i th in hi t r ee it
o
a
,
o
e
s
,
h an he th a t w a rbl e s l o n g an d l o ud A n d dro ps a t G l o ry s te m pl e ga te s F o r w ho m the car ri o n v ul t ur e w a i t s T o te a r h i s h e ar t b e fo r e the c r o wd T
,
’
-
,
But the severi ty
of
these lines
gainst the true art of biography
a
.
is
not aimed The fitting
presentation of great men as they lived sh ould di scou raged ,
not b e
because many lives have
fallen i nto bad hands and have been m ade to seem worthless If any were to imply from ,
.
Tennyson s li nes that a poet s life i s altogether private and that biography should b e confined ’
’
,
ki ngs and statesmen they would c ommit a grievous error O f all others kin gs and states men are the least suited for biography They
to
,
.
,
.
ON MU S I CA L B I O GRAPH Y
265
have two lives a private and a public life and ,
,
o ften when their public life is best fitted to
grace the rolls
of
history their private life is ,
the most worthless the most suited fo r obli vion The true poet on the other hand lives but one life and as this life is written in ,
.
,
,
,
his works it is already in some sense given to ,
the public
T he fact
that his genius has
marked him out a s bei ng apart from his kind makes him a beacon to his kind In this way
,
.
even his faults are valuable for if he were ,
without our faults he would b e too much removed from o u r sympathy Sometimes his ,
.
faults make his verse more dear to us and the ,
coldest poems grow warm when read by the light of their parents struggles ’
.
The
ma n
who is sliding and fallin g takes heart at seeing where another and a greater has slipped and fal len and he fights his way on as he feels the ,
other must have fought
.
There is scarcely
any poet whose li fe does not furnish morals as striking as his works furnish and reverent ,
A PPEND I X
26 6
.
spirits are as grateful for the one as for the other If this man had not stumbled we .
,
shoul d hav e fallen ; h e showed u s the danger whil e his greater strength enabled ou s part ,
him to re c over hi mself
.
Written in thi s tone , biography wou l d b e
most in structive
But if a man resents
.
stru ction being made
ou
t
o f h im ,
in
on th e ground
that he has not li ved a public life we must ask ,
if the
most reti ring the hum blest ,
c an escape th e effects
of
in
the world
his example
T he
.
man who commi ts a crime i s hel d up t o exe c ra tion ; the man who does a good acti on may d o it by steal th but he wil l blush to find it fame ,
D oes any man lead a dee dfu l life
troops to
of
unr ecordin g
fi i e nd s ?
look at the examples
of
an d
.
find
W e have only
those who li ve more
retired more tru l y pri vate li ves than men of ,
geni us ever have lived or ever c an live the publi city that attends on goodness ,
,
.
to
s ee
All
who hav e a right to es c ape are those whom
A PPEND I X
26 8
.
onl y way to destroy a false theory of his opini ons was to give the true history
of
their growth
.
This however is rather beside the present ,
,
question
A s far as I am aware no claim
.
,
h as
been put forward by musicians for the priva cy of their lives
.
O ne
them has written an
of
autobiography ; others have left diaries behin d them ; one o f the most recent has foun d a biographer in his son which would har dl y have b een th e case if a biography had b een opposed ,
to the parental wishes
And as musical li ves
.
are marked by a certain simil ari ty there has ,
generally b een a c ertain sim ilarity in the b io g
h e rs p
ra
Till the life of Weber which I hop e
.
,
may b e taken as markin g an epoch
in
music al
biography there seemed to be two ways in which the life o f a musician c ould be written ,
.
There is first the pur ely musical way which ,
consists in a classified c atalogue of a man s ’
works with a quotation o f a few bars to giv e the general reader an i d ea o f the beauty of some grand composition or in describing a ,
ON M U S I CA L B I O G RA PHY m an
’
s work s by means
of
269
.
rhaps o dies
There
.
is next th e purely biographical way b y whic h ,
instead
of
havi ng the music without the com
po s e r we have the c omposer wi thout the ,
In the first case the man reti res with becoming modesty in to t he background in musi c
.
,
order that the li ves
of
his operas oratorios or ,
,
symphonies may b e told in the fullest detail
.
In the secon d c ase you might be reading ab o ut a butcher
or
,
a baker
,
or
wh o went to the opera and spent the
larly
“
a c an dlestick maker
or
the concerts regu
balance
”
his ti me in
of
hi s profitable b ut mechanical avocations of
the most c omplete I cannot ,
i nstances
Life
of
of
,
this second style
is
R ossini b y a notorious
y
sa
O ne
.
the best
,
a small F rench bi og
h er p
ra
and the most striking passage in it is a v ehement apostrophe t o the c omposer : pas l e feu C ele st e ! It
is
the
Y ou
rather rash to “
Barbiere
”
in
N on vous n av e z ’
,
bargain for asparagus !
”
that the man who wrote y
sa
thirteen days had
not
the
sac red fire even though he did c ommit such an ,
A PPEND I X
270
.
unpardonable crime as that of bargaining for asparagus
.
But wi th such a biographer we
may well ask if the fact is certain
.
Who are
th e wi tnesses ? What are the original ritie s on which the biographer relies ?
au t h o
And
perhaps e v en if the fact is true and its ,
,
u se
can b e justified in a musical biography it may Perhaps it took adm it o f some explanation ,
.
place late in the season when the first fierce rage inspired b y the feu c eles te and the thought of asparagus had subsided in to calm deli ght A biographer who attaches such weight to these facts shoul d take care to make them impreg '
.
nable O therwise if he was going to write my life how should I shudder at the thought that ,
.
,
in a restaurant o f the Palais R oyal I once fu sed to give fi v e fran cs for a peach
re
.
Better infinitely better than this i s the first ,
,
kind of musical biography though no on e reads it The se c ond kin d degrades it s subj ect ; the first kind has a chance of being utilized at ,
.
.
some future time
.
We must look
on
many
of
A PPEND I X
2 72
.
and all that he was seei ng and doing The actual events o f his li fe were few but he made .
,
v ery much
them How much we are indebted for our knowledge o f Mozart to his father s interest in him and to the fact o f h i s being away from home is evident by the of
.
’
,
,
sudden falling o ff in the bulk and in terest of his letters w ith the death o f his father In youth when he had little to say and when his .
,
judgment was not matured his correspondence is full In his later y ears when he was ,
.
,
composing
“
D on Juan ,
”
the
“
Magic F lute
” ,
”
the R equiem when he was pouring forth his ripest and richest creations i n a way to make ,
any allusion to them on his own part extremely
valuable his letters are fewer and shorter There is one reason for our not regretting this .
,
much as otherwise we should do Work and t ro ubl e and fail u re had told severely on Mozart as
.
,
and the cheerful fun of his boyish style had changed to b itte r and sarcastic tones E ven .
whil e you ng he despi sed the j udgments
w
h i ch
ON M U S I CA L B I O G RAPHY he heard aroun d
h im , an d
273
.
the music whi ch had
ex c lusive p ossessi on of the field
.
When a boy,
h e was maki ng a to u r through Germany and ,
seeking employment
vain
in
At
.
Mann heim
he heard the organists o f the c ourt and his ver di ct was not V ery flatterin g ,
.
Wh o
”
is
that playing ? he asked ” “ O ur second organist
.
.
”
He plays miserably A short time elapsed and another suc c eeded .
,
“
And who is that ?
”
O ur first organist
”
.
.
Why he plays still worse
” .
But at Vienna in after years when his works ,
had placed him first among li ving composers
,
Mozart had to struggle against worse obsta cles the emperor s ear was closed against him b y ’
Intriguers , and his rivals c ommanded the
market
“ .
It wou l d b e an ev erlasting shame
for Germany bitter i rony
,
”
he remarks in on e letter wi th
“
if we Germans ever began
,
se
riously to think i n German to act like Germans ,
,
A PPEND I X
2 74
.
”
to speak German and even to sing in German ! ,
And
another
in
“
If Germany my beloved ,
,
cou ntry of which as yo u know I am proud will ,
,
not receive me then in Go d s name F rance ’
,
or
E ngland must be made richer by another
talented German m an
nation
” .
the disgrace of the Ger
to
Might not these very words
have been written b y Schubert ? Might they no t have been written by almost every c omposer The o ne point at whi ch nearly all musical biography seems to touch is failure
C an we nam e any great composer
.
whose genius was fully recogni sed during his lifetime who depending on mu sic for his bread ,
,
,
got anything more than dry bread by his music ? Some have been fully recognised and almost starved
.
O thers have had food and have wanted
recognition
O thers agai n li ke Schubert have
wanted b oth
,
,
.
.
F or
an
have only to open the
example of the first we Life o f R ossini
” .
The
R ossini fu r or e at Vienna has already been men t i on e d
in this volume but the whole of R ossini s ’
,
A PPEND I X
276
the gayest
in
pedantic
The result
.
.
the world certainly the least ,
of
this characteristic
of
the Venetians i s that they want music to consist above all o f agreeable airs more light than impassioned They had exactly what they ,
.
wanted in the I ta li a na
no people ever had a
spectacle more suited to their character ; and of all the operas that ever existed this is the one that should best please the Venetians Thus .
it
in
was that travelling in the Venetian terri tory 18 17
I ta li a na
I fo u nd them playing the
at the same time in Brescia Verona Vicenza ,
and Treviso
W e must confess that in many of
.
these towns Vicenza for example this music ,
,
Was
sung b y singers whom one wo uld compli
ment too highly by compari ng them with the worst of
ou r
sin gers ; but there was a
v erv e
in
the execution a br i o a general entrainement which we never fin d at the o pera in our ,
,
reasoni ng climates I s aw thi s sort of musical madness seize on the orchestra an d the s p ec t a .
tors from the beginning of the
fir st
act with ,
ON M U S I CA L B I O GRA PHY
27 7
.
the first access of somewhat warm applau se and give each the most rapturous
leasure p
.
I t o ok my part in this fu r or e which caused so much j oy in a mean theatre where assuredly nothing was above mediocrity I cannot ex .
plain the reason
of
it all
.
N othing was made
to recall the reality and the melancholy of this life
There was not one hea d in the house
.
attempting to j udge what it
s aw
.
We were
all given up to the wi ldest il lusions of music
.
T he a c tors emboldened inspired b y the extra ,
,
vagant applause and the cries of th e spectators took liberties which they would to repeat the next day q
u i si t e
not
,
have dared
I have heard the ex
.
bufio Pac c nn , who played
Messer T a ddeo
in th e San Benedetto Theatre at Veni ce admit at the end of an evening o f great success and h a u te ,
that no pleasure in the world was equal to f such a performance oli e
”
Here is the fullest recog niti on other si d e of the account
.
.
Let us
N ow fo r the see
how this
man who was so general ly applauded ,
,
and
A PPEND I X
2 78
.
whose lightest works caused such popu lar frenzy supported himself by hi s music Beyle s ’
,
.
description o f R ossini s way oflife i s exc ee di ngly ’
happy
“ .
in F rance
It was a life entirely without analogy R ossi ni went successively through
.
all the towns in Italy passin g two or three ,
months in each
.
At
his arrival he was received
,
feasted raised to the skies by the d iletta nti of the ,
place ; the first fifteen or twenty days were spent in ac c epting dinners and shrugging hi s shoulders at the stupidity of the libretto Besides havin g
an
astonishing fire in his
.
ow n
composition R ossin i had b een familiarised b y his first mistress w ith Ariosto Machiavelli s come ,
’
»
,
di es ,
Gozzi and Buratti and he could have no ,
,
d ifli c u l t y i n
Y ou
detecting the inanities o f a libretto hav e giv en me verses b ut not situations
.
,
I have often heard him s ay to the poet an d the poet would pour forth excuses and come ,
back in two hours with a sonnet or
twenty days
of
thi s
.
di ssipated
After fifteen
life R ossini ,
begins to refuse din ners and musical soiré e s
,
A PP END I X
280
.
generally about three in the morning that he gets his most brilliant ideas He writes them ,
.
dow n o n little scraps o f paper hurri edly and wi thout a piano and arranges them the next day i nstruments them as he says while talk ing with his friends At length c omes ,
,
,
,
,
,
the decisive evening The ma es tr o takes h is s eat ; the theatre is as full as it can hold .
.
People have come in
fi om :
twenty mil es
md
r or
.
Some bivouac in their carriages in the street ; the i nns are ful l to bursting A ll other o c c u at i o n s are at an end F rom the moment the p .
.
performance begi ns the town has the look o f a desert All the passions the uncertai nti es .
,
,
the very life of the population are concentrated ,
in
the theatre
.
R ossi ni
presides during the first
three representations o f his new opera : after that he receives his £3 2 has a farewell dinne r ,
i i h m ven g
by his fri ends and goes
next town
”
,
o ff
to the
.
R eceives his £3 2 : that is the moral operas a year for rather more than .
F our £ 120
.
ON MU S I C A L B I O G RA PHY T hi s is the history
of
28 1
.
R ossini s youth
No
’
.
wonder that he composed as long as he was forced to do s o ; then made haste to marry for money ; and after pocketing what he could of the wealth of E ngland and F rance flung d o wn ,
the lavish pen from which had flowed the B a rbi er e the I ta li a na O tello Mos e, S emi ,
ra
mi d e,
,
the
The life conclusion
.
G a zza L a dr a , of
the
one
time it was the result
But a public which received
.
”
coldly and left the greatest ,
religious composer to of
ith Italians in the
v ie w
operas can hardly b e said to ,
have recognised his genius the history contrast
to
.
,
Messiah
composition
G u i lla u me T ell
Handel made money and if he
speculation “
and
Handel leads to the opposite
became bankrupt at of
,
of
.
E ven with this
Handel s life stands in pleas ing
that
’
of
some of his greatest
su c
But then Handel had the wisdom to renounce his own country It is a sin gular
c e ss o r s
.
.
fate which condemns composers like prophets ,
to b e without hono ur in their
ow n
country
.
,
A PPEND I X
28 2
.
made hi s
fortune b y leavi ng Italy What might not Mozart have made if he h ad left Vi enna ? Haydn s j o urn ey t o E ngland R ossini
.
’
turned
ou t
so
prosperously that
“
it brought
his b e st works to light an d founded th e fortune on which he retired from public li fe Its most stri king effect however was t o s om e
of
,
.
,
,
Silence professional enmity
Haydn descri bed
.
him self on hi s r eturn as for the first tim e free from the malevolen c e
of
ri vals
But musical
biography does not teach us that the rule su cc ess abroad i s a s uni versal as that at home p
Mozart tried in vain to find
.
in Paris
at i o n
was fatal
of
,
an d
of
failure oc c u
Weber s vi sit to London ’
In all respects save this however
.
,
Weber s biography agrees with the lives ’
other musicians
.
,
of
He too was ever struggli n g ,
,
and ever unsuccessfu l It may seem natural that such a musician as Beethoven wh o se .
,
works were written for the minority du ring his lifetim e and could not be accepted by the majority till they had filtered through the ,
A PPEND I X
284
c ollections
of
letters
of
.
Mozart and Beethoven
.
D r N o hl has fallen i nto a mistake which i s .
very common with the Germans an d is fatal ,
to all literature of putting the interesting part ,
of his work in to notes and foundi n g a thin ,
dry allusive text upon them ,
is very diffuse
He devotes
.
,
Then too he
.
,
43 6
,
pages to the
twenty two least eventfu l years of Beethoven s ’
-
life a period of which the facts might be told ,
in fifty pages i ntroduces
Beethoven s birth at Bonn ’
.
a long description
the character of R hin elanders and Westphalians His sp ec i of
.
fi is a quality common s c h es
brings
D eu ts c h thu m,
in
A Slight
an account
which I need h ardly s ay to
of
all German heroes
the German character
eg i me,
.
hint that he took an interest in
politics justifies one chapter r
,
on
the
A
nc i en
and another on the R evolution ; and
whi le a j ourney to Vienn a leads
to
an account
music in Austria a youth passed at Bonn i s a hint for a history of the E lector o f C ologne
of
,
during whose reign Beethoven was born , a
ON M U S I CA L B I O GRA PHY c atalogue
of
28 5
.
the musicians and men
letters
of
who flourished before or together with
B eeth
similar catalogue o f the members the orchestra and theatre at Bonn and e ven o ven ,
a
,
the repertory of the theatre
of of
.
N o w have facts o f this ki nd any right to b e included in a musical biography ? T hey may ,
have if the biography is called
“
,
Times of Beethoven “
graphy and a st andard o ne ,
an
bio
”
Times b y a different
d
and while we are curious about the ,
We may judge b y Mozart s letters ’
.
what sort
of
digression is allowable ; anythi ng
ill ustrates
c u m s t an c e s
hi s
But we judge a
’
we have learnt by experience to avoid the
other that
Life
The Life and
sheds light
ow n
life
,
or
his cir
anything that occurring wi thin ,
experience
ow n
T oo
;
the man s ’
on
,
or
affectin g him strongly
the time in which he lives
.
many modern biographies are S poilt b y
plethora b y the habit ,
of
publishing
every
without regard either to its intrinsic interest or i t s value as ill ustrating the cha lette r
,
A PPEND I X
28 6 r ac
t er
of the hero
.
This would b e avoide d if
.
coll ections of letters were published separately and the letters o f great men woul d certainl y
,
never lack readers
.
Where there is little to
b e told and there are many interestin g letters , ,
the obj ection does no t apply The artistic way in which Moore and Lo ckhart have woven to .
gether biography i ntense i nterest
from
A r nold
’
s
di ary ,
,
an d letters ; the
which Stanley has extracted li fe ,
are more apt to make
others despair than to assist them in their task Yet even if the abili ty i s wantin g an ,
.
,
in fusion
sense
,
the spirit o f true bi ography and a the value o f biographi cal materi als
of
of
,
,
may be derived
fi om °
the study o f those works ;
and no wi se man has ever turned away from models because he despaired of equalli ng them
.
If i t c an once b e recognised that the same meri ts are ne eded in musical biography that ,
we want a picture of the man and he li ved not an acc ount of his works ,
have heard or read or seen them ,
,
of
— ,
the w e
ah ead ‘
y;
li fe
may nor
S ari s ! Fi fe in Eil mt h lg OP
.
I N I O NS O F TH E P RE SS M Wi l b r for ce i s ve r y pl ea s a n t a n d a g r eeab l e r ite r h os e p i n i o n i s ort h h ea i n g o n h s u bj e c t o f mod e r n t w h c h e n te rs l rg e l y i n t o th e d y R i m atte r o f h d c o rs — S The S o c a l L i fe i s a l t og et h e r a n a dm i r ab l e p h ot og ra p h ic p ictu e s h p a n d c l ea a n d t r ue i eve r y l i n e o f l i g h t a n d s h a d —Sp t t o M r Wi l be for ce h d e d cate s h i s w e ll r itte n v ol m e t o h i s u n c l e t h e t o g iv e B i h op o f O xford b ri n g s fr e s h e m e mor ie s a n d b r i g h te pow e e xpr e ss i o n t o t h e m — A th m M Wi l be r for ce h a s r itte n a c l e v e a n d h a acte r i s ti c acc o u n t o f t h i s famo u s c it y o f a r t H h a s h a d g ood oppo tu n itie s for ob s e rvati on a n d h a s u s e d t h e m ca re fu ll y T h e b ook i s c ompr e h e n s i v e i n its po i n t s o f ie ; a n d it c n tai n s t h e prom i s e of m c h i n t r uctive s tu d y of t h e r ea l c h a r c e s t c s o f G e rm a n o ciet y G d i We c o n c l d e by r ec omm e n d i n g t h i s pl ea s a n t b oo k t o a ll r ea d e s W h at w e h a v e s ai d o f it a n d h at w e h a v e e t racte d g ive n o a d e q uat e n o ti o o f it s l ive l i n e ss s e n s e a n d e te n t o f r ea l a n d pract ca l i n form ati o n r t E di b g h C W r itte n t h ro u g h o ut i n a pl ea s i n g l ive l y s t rai n it i s e vi d e n t l y t h e wor k o f a k ee n o b s e r ve r h be n e fi t s t h e G e rm n s h i ls t h e a m s e s h i s c o u n t ry m e n — R d M r Wi l be r for ce b r i n g s t o g et h e a n u m be r f a m u s i n g e xp e r ie n ce s o f M u n ic h l f — P M Wi l be r for ce i fav o u r ab l y k n o n b y h i s S k etc h e s o f B r a i l t o m a n y ea d e rs o f l i g h t d e s c r i p tive b ook s o f t ra 1 T h e y i l l fi d h i s a m o u n t o f M u n i ch o n e o f t h e mos t a g r eeab l y r itte n wor k s o f t h i s l a ss —L d r
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OP
I N I O NS O F TH E P R E SS p ai s e i t D r e sd e n p i c tu e s I f t h e b oo k c o n tai n e d n o o t h e r po i n t f h A not h er wo u ld pl ace O h i g h a mo g s t t h e b e s t n o ve ls o f t h e s ea so n —A th m t a n ord i n a r y n o l I t i s f ll o f a U n q e s ti o n b l y t h e b oo k i s k i n d o f i n te ll ect a l r e ma r k a n d a k i n d o f s h r e wd n o f o b s e rv ti on h ic h a r e i n n o ve ls T h e k n o l e d g e o f t h e world n d icate d i s l a rg e t h e k n o l e d g e o f i matte rs s ti ll l a rg e r d t h e y for o tli o f ch a c o n s i d e r b l — Sp t t t R u n s ea s i l y o n it s c o rs e c os t s n o A b r i s k l i v e l y r att l i n g t or y t oub l e i n r ea d i g a n d s u ppl ie s a q ic k s cce ss i o n o f s ce n e a n d i n c i d e nt —G di T h i s i s a n i n te r e s ti n g s t or y a n d t h e aut h or te lls it e ll — D ily ZV a lmost fe l t t h at e r e a g ai n i n c omp a n y U po n p e n i n g t h i s n o v e l w it h t h e l ate C p tai n M y t t so m uc h do e s M r Wi l b e rfo c e s m a nn e r o f d e s c r i b i n g t h e s ea rc h for a n d c tti n—g o ut a pi r ate r e s e m b l e t h at o f o n e o f B ll W kly M be s t s tan d a rd r ite rs o f fi t i g I n sp ite of B r a il ia n p i r —te s a n d A ctic p e r i ls T h e r e i s no t h i n g s e n ati o n a l i t h i s n o vel R d M r Wi l b e r f r ce s fi rs t n o ve l m a y be r a n k e d a s a s ucce s for mor e t h a n o n e r ea o n O it h An o t h e r i s a fre s h d i g o o u s b oo k wor t h y o f t I ll d im .
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