Franz_Schubert

Romantic Composer ~ Franz Schubert Franz Schubert was a composer, more famous after his time. His father had introduced music to him at the age of five and his friends and family supported him along the way. Throughout his lifetime he wrote about 600 lieder, some solo piano music, operas, nine symphonies and more. Although his friends and family recognized and appreciated Schubert’s compositions it was not widespread until many years after he died. Franz Schubert was born in Vienna, Austria on the last day of January, 1797. His father, Franz Florian was a schoolmaster on Himmelpfortgrund. He had five living siblings. While his father did not know many things about music he taught the basics of violin to his son when he was five. About a year later Schubert was enrolled at the school his father taught at. When he was seven he was given formal lessons under the instruction of Michael Holzer. When he was eleven he began attending Stadtkonvikt where he was introduced to overtures and symphonies of Mozart that helped open the doors to his greater musical knowledge. Antonio Salieri, an Italian composer and conductor, began teaching him Music theory and compostition. While remaining at Stadkonvikt he wrote a wide variety of songs, chamber music, a Kyrie, a Salve Regina, an octate for wind instruments, and a few pieces for pianoforte. Every Sunday and holidays he, his two brothers and his father would play his composed chamber music, forming their own little amateur orchestra. When Schubert was eighteen one of his old schoolfriends, Jospeh von Spaun became a bit more well known and had played a few of Schubert’s compositions at his house where another student, Franz Schober who came from a family of good status within the community and some personal wealth had heard them. He proposed to Schubert to take him away from the cage of school and let him compose unharnessed. After Schubert’s father gave his consent he eagerly accepted, as he had just been turned down to two other schools. Schubert was steadily meeting more and more kind people who each helped him be recognized. They all offered something: offered lodging, food, money for scoring, and others simply played his songs to be more recognized. As he became more famous from his friends performing his compositions at various places he finally got Anton Diabelli to publish some of his pieces. He began earning very small amounts of money from the publishing’s but was neglected by the public. No one is absolutely sure of Franz Schubert’s cause of death, however he had been battling syphilis for six years before his death and had hints of mercury poisoning in his system, which was the treatment for syphilis at the time. He was reading in his brother’s apartment in Vienna when he died Wednesday, November 19, 1828 at the age thirty-one. As requested he was buried next to Beethoven in Wahring until he and Beethoven were both moved to Simmeringer Hauptstraße 230-244 and buried in Vienna’s most famous cemetery, Zentralfriedhof. Franz Schubert had a good, successful life. He frolicked through the meadows as a child, composed beautiful pieces as an adult, and read a book as he died. Whilst Franz Schubert has passed, his music LIVES ON and he is remembered.