In 1818, despite his father's firm opposition and with naive illusions about art and life, Peter Schubert resolutely resigned from his position as a teacher and determined to become a "free artist." However, he never expected how unfree a composer of humble origin like him would be in Vienna in the early 19th century!
Schubert (1797~1828) was 19 The talented Austrian composer of the 19th century was born in Richtental, a suburb of Vienna. His father was a middle school teacher. In his childhood, he learned to play the organ, piano and violin from his family's musical life, and also mastered basic composition methods and choral arts. From the age of 11, he attended free seminary. At school, he participated in the student band and sometimes served as a conductor, and became familiar with many works of Vienna classical music composers. At the same time, he began intense creative activities at the age of 13. In 1813, after leaving the seminary at the age of 16, Schubert worked as an assistant teacher in his father's school. Although he was busy teaching at this time, he still created many vibrant works. In 1818, Schubert resolutely resigned from his teaching position and devoted himself to music creation. Without a fixed income, he fell into poverty and died young at the age of 31. According to his last wish, he was buried next to the tomb of Beethoven, whom he admired.
In 1811, Schubert composed his first song "Hagar's Sorrow", his First Symphony at the age of 14, and Goethe's poems "Greching at the Spinning Wheel" and "Grechen at the Spinning Wheel" at the age of 17. "Wild Rose", "The Devil" and other compositions. At the age of 18, he completed the Second and Third Symphonies, two masses, 5 operas and more than 140 songs. Schubert used harmonic color changes and various musical genres to depict personal psychological activities. He was full of the harmony and vitality of nature. It turns into a musical image and constitutes his unique romantic melody. He had a profound influence on the later development of romantic music. Although he died at the age of 31, he left a lot of musical wealth to future generations. He was especially famous for his songs and was called the "King of Songs." In total, he wrote nearly a thousand works including 14 operas, 9 symphonies, more than 100 choruses, and 567 songs. The most famous among them are: "Unfinished Symphony", "Symphony in C Major", "Death and the Maiden" Quartet, "Trout" Quintet, vocal suite "Beautiful Mill Girl", "Winter Journey" and "Swan Song", drama "Rosamund", etc.
Schubert lived at the transition between classicism and romanticism. His symphonic style inherited the tradition of classicism, but his art songs and piano works were completely romantic. His exquisite lyricism led Liszt to call him "the most poetic musician of all time." Schubert infused traditional chamber music with his own spiritual character. His chamber music bears the stamp of true Schubert, and they are among the last works of Viennese Classicism.
When Schubert lived in Vienna at the beginning of the 19th century, the society was extremely dark. The emperor's secret police were everywhere. The officials closely monitored the society's books, newspapers, dramas, performances and all cultural life, and did not allow There is a shred of democratic air. However, on the other hand, in order to corrupt and paralyze the people, the government vigorously promotes hedonistic culture and art and whitewashes peace.
Schubert was neither willing to be attached to the disciples of the powerful and be their loyal slaves, nor was he willing to use his art to whitewash peace for the rulers, and to write about glitz and emptiness that were exclusively for entertainment. works. He wanted to use his talented music to express the pain in the hearts of some progressive intellectuals at that time, and to sing out the beautiful hopes that the citizen class longed for. Because of this, Schubert's works were quickly welcomed by the public class. Because of this, he will certainly not be taken seriously and welcomed by the authorities. The Austrian Emperor once said: "We don't need geniuses, we just need servants who are loyal to their duties." An artist like Schubert was certainly not a loyal "servant" of the emperor. Schubert was recorded in state police files as a "reckless man" and was implicated in his detention when a free-thinking friend of his was arrested by the police. Although Schubert's songs and musical works were well-known and widely circulated among the citizens of Vienna at that time, they were difficult to publish and perform because they did not receive official recognition. During Schubert's lifetime, he had not even heard a performance of his own symphony.
In 1815, he wrote the immortal song "The Devil", but it took five years before the publisher reluctantly agreed to publish the song for him on the condition that he would not be paid royalties. After the song "Wanderer" he wrote was published, he only received two guilders, but the publisher made a total of 27,000 guilders from this work. Schubert was a prolific composer who sent many songs to publishers, many and fast, for only twenty cents each. Therefore, although immortal works came out one after another, Schubert could not even solve the problem of food and clothing. Once, Schubert was cold, hungry, and penniless. He had no choice but to go into a restaurant and compose a song on the menu. At first, the restaurant owner thought he was a beggar and wanted to drive him away. Later, when he saw the music score, he knew he was a composer. So the boss accepted the music and gave Schubert a plate of potatoes for free. This piece of music is the famous "Lullaby". When he was ill in bed and had no money to buy medicine before his death, his friends sent his "Winter Journey" to the publisher, but the publisher only paid one guilder for the song "The Linden Tree". Schubert lived a difficult life under the cruel exploitation of his publishers.
Schubert and Beethoven are known by later generations as the two brightest stars in the world of music. These two masters were both in the period of dark rule of the feudal dynasty at that time, and they used music and art throughout their lives to resist this rule. Although they don't interact much, they are very close friends. In the last days of Beethoven's life, he often talked about Schubert, saying that he had known Schubert for a long time, and predicted that his music would shock the world. In the last moments of Schubert's life, he often mentioned his beloved Beethoven and said that he would like to be with Beethoven. After his death, his brother spent all his savings to satisfy his brother's request.
Schubert's life was short and poor, but he composed more than 600 lyric songs with amazing perseverance. He was known as the "King of Songs" and was the greatest composer with the most songs in the world. He is a composer and the first musician to be world-famous for his excellent songwriting since the 18th and 19th centuries. He was only 17 years old when he wrote the touching song "Margarita at the Spinning Wheel". Excellent songs that are still widely circulated in the world, such as "The Devil" and "Wild Rose", were written when he was 18 years old. It is said that Beethoven once read several Schubert songs in his hospital bed before he died and said in amazement: "Really, there are magical sparks shining in this Schubert!" In addition, Schubert also composed. There are 14 operas, 6 Qing Dynasty operas, 13 symphonies, 6 overtures, 15 string quartets and many other works. Due to Schubert's status during his lifetime, most of these works were excavated and sorted out later.
Schubert has been fighting against the forces of darkness throughout his life. In his works, apart from the description of dark forces, he also shows his good expectations for future life. The style of his works is mainly lyrical, with a relatively free structure and strong melody. In terms of piano music and symphonies, Schubert inherited and developed the tradition of Viennese classical music. In terms of songs, Schubert looked for sources in folk music and pioneered romantic lyric songs.