Not that Schubert had much of a lifetime to compose them: he was dead two months before his 32nd birthday. Schubert produced masterful works with rich harmonies and legendary melodies for a variety of genres, and his influence proved considerable with later composers like Robert Schumann, Johannes. There are two of the most dazzling gems of 19th-century orchestral music (the Unfinished and Great C major symphonies), four profoundly original string quartets and an even greater string quintet, a wealth of glorious piano music, some of the most original choral works of the Romantic era, and an awe-inspiring legacy of well over 600 hundred songs – the latter not so much a treasure chest as an immense vault one could spend a lifetime exploring. Winterreise is a setting of poems by Thomas Müller detailing the story of a man who leaves town. Originally written for tenor, this performance has transposed the song to suit the voice - a precedent set by Schubert himself. But the best is unsurpassed – and there’s so much of it. We couldnt really pick the whole of Schubert s song-cycle Winterreise, so heres the opening movement to set the mood. And while some of his operas have begun to be reappraised in our time, they’re still far from being standard repertory. Schubert also composed some 150 part songs, some 40 liturgical compositions (including several masses) and around 20 stage works like operas and incidental. Schubert wrote no concertos and very few display pieces in any form as a pianist he was more than competent but no virtuoso. But – and granted the range of his success isn’t as stupefyingly broad as Mozart’s – I’d like to suggest that the achievement of Franz Peter Schubert is every bit as prodigious. Read the words ‘musical prodigy’ and which name comes to mind? Ten to one you’re already thinking of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: composer of his first symphony at the age of eight and his first opera at 11, performing at the Court of Louis XV at seven, and going on to enrich just about every important musical genre with significant masterpieces before dying at the obscenely early age of 35.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |