Brief synopsis' of the most popular classical music by
Franz Schubert
Born January 31, 1797 in
Lichtenthal, AUSTRIA Died, of Typhus November 19, 1828 in Vienna ~
age 31 Wrote 600 songs, over 1000 other works
Otto Deutch kept a catalog of Schuberts works, 900 bear the D catalog
number.
Schubert Die
Schone Mullerin
Schubert Erlkonig
Schubert 'Fantasy in c'
One of Schubert's earliest compositions, it is based on one of Mozart's
Fantasies. (K 475).
Schubert Rosamunde
Schubert composed the music for the stage play 'Rosamunde, Princess of
Cyprus', in 1823. It was a full fledged romantic drama in four acts
commissioned for the 'Teatre An Der Wein' by his friend Joseph Kupelweiser
who was in love with the actress he wanted for the lead part. It was
written in three weeks and was FP on the 20th of December, 1823. The
audiences were not enchanted with the work and it closed after a few
performances but symphonic concert goers for generations have enjoyed the
rousing overture.
Schubert
String Quartet
In d, Death and the Maiden. The background of this quartet is not
certain. Not much is known as to why
it was composed, or how much effort went into it. Nor how well it was
received at the time. It was composed in the last months of his life and
was his last chamber work. It is one of the finest in the chamber
repertoire. A fine recording is available by Isaac Stern, Pablo Casals and
Pierre Tortelier made in 1953 and released on CD by SONY MPK 44853.
Schubert String
Quartet in G, Op 161
Schubert Sym No 1
Schubert 2nd
Sym
This sym was influenced by music of Haydn and Mozart. It was written when
the Austrian composer was 18 years old. A fresh and bright piece.
Schubert Sym No 3
Schubert Sym No 4
FP in Leipzig on November 19, 1849. This was 20 years after Schubert's
death. Tragic was inscribed by his hand on the manuscript but it appears
to have no specific meaning other than perhaps a youthful experience. He
was 19 years old when it was written.
Schubert Sym No 5
Franz Schubert's Fifth Sym was written in the same year as his Fourth Sym.
It is scored for a small orchestra, and it appears that Schubert
deliberatly wrote this work in the style of Mozart. Finished on October
third, 1816...
He was only 19 years
old when he composed this little symphony. After Schubert's death, the
manuscript for this work was lost, and it was almost 40 years before the
orchestral parts were discovered in Vienna by musicologist George Grove
and Sir Arthur Sullivan.
Schubert Sym No 6
Written between October 1817 and February 1818. First played at the home of Otto Hatwig in Vienna, with first public performance by the Vienna Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde on December 14, 1828.
[There is No Sym No 7]
Schubert Sym No 8 Unfinished
The Viennese composers most active years in his 31 year life span were 1797
to 1828. Born in poverty he became a celebrated musician of his time. A
devoted Beethoven fan, after his untimly death from typus he was buried near
him in the Central Cemetery in
Vienna. There is no Sym No 7, his Unfinished is known as his 8th. It
was
composed in 1822. It was intended to be a four movement work. No one knows why he composed only two movements.
It was lost for over forty years.
Schubert Sym
No 9 in C, The
Great
Believed to have been composed in the summer of 1825. It was revised in
1828 shortly before his death that year. Robert Schumann found the work
and performed it it Leipzig ten years later...to an enthusiastic audience.
The symphony is called the Great C Major to distinguish it from a smaller
one he wrote in the same key.
Schubert Traumerei op 15
From the Kinderscenen Songs of Childhood.
Schubert Ten Variations
on an
original theme in F major D 156
One of Schubert's few essays in variations form. Written when he was a
young man of 18. (1815)
Schubert Trout Quintet
written when he was 22 years old, in the summer of 1819. The Trout
Quintet is a set of variations on Schubert's well known song, The Trout.
You might see the trout as it flashes through the water in the 4th mmt.
The work has five mmts.
The piano quintet was a popular form of chamber music in the 19th
century. Usually two violins, viola, cello and piano. However the scoring
for The Trout was written for violin, viola, cello, double bass and
piano....note a richer darker sound. Enjoy the steady pace of the andante,
sunny and bright in its mood.
Schubert WandererFantasy in C
Op
15
Composed in 1822 six years before his death. It is dedicated to a land
baron named Liebenberg, and is based on one of Schubert's songs called
The Wanderer set to a poem by Schmidt von Lubeck.
Schubert Winterreise Lied cycle on Wilhelm Muller poems
Winterreise
Translations
