17.3 - Sketch of the Life and Music of Franz Schubert

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From the course by Yale University

Introduction to Classical Music

1239 ratings

Yale University

Introduction to Classical Music

1239 ratings

Using a simple and enjoyable teaching style, this course introduces the novice listener to the wonders of classical music, from Bach fugues to Mozart symphonies to Puccini operas.

From the lesson

The Bridge From Classical to Romantic

If you could put a soundtrack to the French Revolution, it would surely contain music from Beethoven's "Heroic" period, during which, he “brought sound to symphonies.” We’ll see how Beethoven’s incorporation of new instruments, as well as, his creation of a large orchestra, made his symphonies much louder and "sonically vivid" than those of his predecessors. The point of focus here will be a comparison of the music of Beethoven's "Heroic" period, represented by his Symphony No. 5, with that of his "Late" period, epitomized by his famous Ode to Joy. We'll also consider Beethoven the man, as revealed through primary source accounts of his life at that time. They paint a picture of a disheveled, wild-looking Beethoven, who lived among filth and clutter and was consumed by his work. The ultimate question: in what ways might his life of isolation and his hearing disability affected the nature (style) of the great music he created?As we bid aufwiedersehen to Beethoven, we move on to full-blown musical Romanticism. Romantic music, and indeed all romantic art, was known for its idealistic views on love and nature. Occurring roughly from 1820 to 1900, musical Romanticism saw an evolution of musical style as well as a change of venue (place) for musical performance. In addition to the aristocracy and their royal palaces, a strong middle class arose in Europe during this period. With the music of the ever-lyrical Franz Schubert, we'll step into the parlor of an upper-middle class home, to experience his domestic chamber music and songs. We’ll finish off the module by asking the question: How do we use musical sound to communicate? A look at program music (instrumental music that uses musical gestures to tell a story) will help us figure this out. After a quick auditory review of the workings of program music (we'll follow Vivaldi on a spring day), we'll watch Hector Berlioz go to hell. More accurately, we’ll follow the sequence of musical gestures he employs to re-create a fantastical tale of pursuit, destruction, damnation. Having learned our lesson, we’ll end with a little fun as we try to match themes extracted from various symphonies to the mental images that the composer had in mind. Do you speak the language of program music fluently? Join us and find out!

17.1 - Introduction to Romantic Music7:05

17.2 - Domestic Music-Making of the Middle Class3:46

17.3 - Sketch of the Life and Music of Franz Schubert9:22

17.4 - Schubert's Erlkönig12:49

17.5 - Robert and Clara Schumann22:04

Meet the Instructors

Craig Wright
Henry L & Lucy G Moses Professor of Music
Department of Music

[MUSIC]

Franz Schubert was born in Vienna in 1797.

He was the son of a school principal who encouraged

the boy's obvious musical talent.

When he was 11, young Schubert competed for, and

won, a place as a boy soprano in the famous Imperial Court Chapel.

The boys of which, their descendants at least,

are still known today as the Vienna Boys Choir.

At the age of 15, Schubert's voice broke, as he said, he croaked his last.

And so he was gradually eased out of the choir, and out of the choir school,

and when on to earn an effective teaching certificate at a local college.

So he tried his hand at grade school teaching in his father's school,

but with no particular success.

So Schubert quit his day job, and although he gave music lessons from time to time,

and had some small income from publishing his songs, for the most part,

Schubert live a Bohemian existence, no steady income.

Roaming with friends and

mentors in downtown Vienna as the situation required, and

spending much of his evening pub crawling, as he called it, with his friends.

But composer Schubert was remarkably productive,

producing nearly a thousand compositions and

more than 600 songs in his short life of just 31 years, yes, 31 years.

Here's Schubert in his youth, wearing his iconic glasses.

And here's Schubert in his late 20s, one of the last portraits of him.

Mozart, Hayden, Beethoven and Schubert, well they were all 5 feet 5 inches tall or

less, and Schubert was the shortest of them all.

His diminutive size and glasses exempted him from military services,

a boon to music history.

Anyway, although Schubert wrote in all genres of music, operas, religious music,

chamber music, piano sonatas, and symphonies, he's known today firstly,

as a composer of art songs, as we said, more than 600 of them.

Indeed, Schubert created the art song of classical music,

the art song as we know it in classical music today.

The Germans call the 19th century art song, and we often do as well,

we English speakers do as well, they called it a Lied, Lieder in the plural.

The high art song with piano accompaniment of the 19th century.

To the extent that Schubert was known at all in Vienna, and he didn't really become

famous until after his death, he was known as the composer of Lieder.

But let's back up to Schubert's early years.

Indeed, he was a prodigy as a composer, like Mozart before him.

Here's a song Schubert wrote in 1816, when he was 19.

It's about a fish, a trout, again, more nature in the romantic era.

The visuals of this video are a little bit silly, but

we get a good English translation of the German and

the singer here is the incomparable Leider specialist Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

[MUSIC]

Phrase one, part one.

[MUSIC]

Part two.

[MUSIC]

Phrase two, part one.

[MUSIC]

Phrase two, part two.

[MUSIC]

Phrase two, part two repeated.

[MUSIC]

Now because this is a strophic song,

the music is gonna start all over again with a new text.

Phrase one, part one

[MUSIC]

Phrase one, part two.

[MUSIC]

Phrase two, part one.

[MUSIC]

Phrase two, part two.

[MUSIC]

And phrase two part two, repeated.

And that's probably enough of that,

he faded out right about here, lovely.

What we're paying attention to in particular here,

is the ingratiating melody, and the bubbling accompaniment.

It's typical of the freshness and sweetness of the Schubert sound.

Now Schubert knew a good thing when he heard it, or at least when he created it.

And as it heightened before him, Schubert took an excellent song tune and

made it even greater, made even more out of it.

He used it again as a piece of chamber music,

specifically here in a quintet for piano and strings a few year later.

So again, he's taking this preexisting song, and

he's gonna use it as a movement in a quintet for a piano and strings.

As you watch this video from a group of Korea, first a question,

which instrument is playing Schubert's song?

[MUSIC]

Tempo's a little bit slower.

[MUSIC]

And notice now in the chamber version, Schubert repeats

the phrases of the melody, this is phrase one repeated.

[MUSIC]

And of course the question was, who's playing the melody?

Well the first violinist is playing the melody.

Now we're going on to phrase two.

[MUSIC]

That's the viola.

[MUSIC]

And back to the first violin, this is the end of our second phrase.

[MUSIC]

Now the piano will jump in, with the melody ornamented.

[MUSIC]

Repeat, the other strings are just adding counterpoint,

fast counterpoint against the piano.

[MUSIC]

The second phrase.

[MUSIC]

There's our violist providing counterpoint.

Here's the unusual distribution.

We don't really have a string quartet here, but

a quartet first violin, viola, cello, and double bass.

There's no second violin, the double bass replaces the second violin here.

Who's got the melody now?

[MUSIC]

Well not the first violin, he's playing counterpoint, mostly scalar fashion.

[MUSIC]

There it is to the right, the viola has the melody.

[MUSIC]

Here's our second phrase, viola.

[MUSIC]

The piano is just answering, responding to the cello.

[MUSIC]

Next, a variation.

[MUSIC]

Double bass now has the melody, as you can see.

[MUSIC]

Okay, let's phase it out here,

with a sense of the wonderful quality of what is arguably one of the funniest,

and most ingratiating pieces in the entire repertoire of chamber music.

This music built on a song by Franz Schubert.

And this gives you a sense of the seemingly effortless ease,

with which Schubert could write this sort of melody.

Shubert's like Mozart in this regard, seemingly effortless lyricism,

as we heard here, in the case of our scaly friends Trout, in the Trout quintet.

But let's back up further to a Lied that Schubert wrote a year earlier, in 1815,

Erlkonig, or Erlking, then as now, Schubert's best known work.

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