Franz Schubert

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Franz Schubert Life

He spent his life largely in Vienna, enjoying the company of friends, but never holding any position in the musical establishment or attracting the kind of patronage that Beethoven had twenty years earlier.

- MIDI FILE - "Serenade" (3'36'')

His final years were clouded by illness, as the result of a syphilitic infection, and he died in 1828, leaving much unfinished.

- MIDI FILE - Ave Maria (2'04'')

His gifts had been most notably expressed in song, his talent for melody always evident in his other compositions.

- MIDI FILE - Wander Fantasie for piano (complete) (20'45'')

Schubert's compositions are generally numbered according to the Deutsch catalogue, with the letter D.

Franz Schubert Works

His best known compositions of this kind include the music for the unsuccessful play Rosamunde, Fuerstin von Zypern (Rosamunde, Princess of Cyprus), mounted at the Theater an der Wien in December 1823.

The ballet music and entracte from Rosamunde are particularly well known.

- MIDI FILE - from Sonatina op.137 No.3, for vl. and pno: 4th Mov (4'25'')

- MIDI FILE - 1th Variation from Trout-Quintet (0'59'')

Among the various works Schubert wrote for church use particular mention may be made of the second of his six settings of the Mass.

Schubert wrote for mixed voices, male voices and female voices, but by far the most famous of his vocal compositions are the five hundred or so songs, settings of verses ranging from Shakespeare to his friends and contemporaries.

His song cycles, published in his lifetime are Die schoene Muellerin (The Fair Maid of the Mill) and Die Winterreise (The Winter Journey), while Schwanengesang (Swan-Song) was compiled by a publisher after the composer's early death.

- MIDI FILE - from "Die sch鰊e M黮lerin": Der M黮ler und der Bach (3'42'')

Many of these songs by Schubert are very familiar, including Der Erlkoenig, the Mignon songs from Goethe and the Songs of Norma from Sir Walter Scott.

The Unfinished Symphony of Schubert was written in 1822, but no addition was made to the two movements of the work.

- MIDI FILE - from Unfinished Symphony: 1th Mov. (12'01'')

Other symphonies of the eight more or less completed include the Great C major Symphony and the charming and classical Fifth Symphony.

His various Overtures include two "in the Italian style".

Of Schubert's various string quartets the Quartet in A minor, with its variations on the well known Rosamunde theme and the Quartet in D minor, Death and the Maiden, with variations on the song of that name, are the most familiar.

The Piano Quintet Die Forelle (The Trout) includes a movement of variations on that song, while the great C major String Quintet of 1828 is of unsurpassable beauty.

- MIDI FILE - from "Forellenquintett": 1th Variation (0'45'')

The two Piano Trios and the single movement Notturno date from the same year. Schubert's Octet, for clarinet, horn, bassoon, two violins, viola, cello and double bass was written early in 1824.

To the violin sonatas (sonatinas) of 1816 may be added the more ambitious Duo for violin and piano, D. 574, of the following year, and the Fantasy, D. 934, published in 1828, the year of Schubert's death.

The Arpeggione Sonata was written for a newly devised and soon obselete stringed instrument, the Arpeggione.

It now provides additional repertoire for the cello or viola.

Schubert's compositions for piano include a number of sonatas as well as the Wanderer Fantasia and two sets of Impromptus, D. 899 and D. 935.

- MIDI FILE - Impromptu op.90 No.2 for piano (4'30'')

He also wrote a number of dances for piano, waltzes, Laendler and German dances.

His music for piano duet includes a Divertissement ?l'hongroise, marches and polonaises.

Franz Schubert Operas

Franz Schubert Catalogue and Lieder (complete)

The Lieder (complete) of F. Schubert