Franz Schubert as the first Romantic composer. Schubert - the first Austrian romantic composer

Composers have two lives: one ends with their death; the other continues after the death of the author in his creations and, perhaps, will never fade away, preserved by subsequent generations, grateful to the creator for the joy that the fruits of his labor bring to people. Sometimes the life of these creatures begins only after the death of the creator, no matter how bitter it is. This is how the fate of Schubert and his works developed. Most of it the best essays, especially large genres, was not heard by the author. Much of his music could have disappeared without a trace if it were not for the energetic search and the enormous work of some ardent connoisseurs of Schubert. And so, when the ardent heart of a great musician stopped beating, his best works began to be “born again”, they themselves started talking about the composer, captivating listeners with their beauty, deep content and skill. His music began to gradually sound everywhere where only true art is appreciated.

Schubert created a huge number of works of all genres that existed in his time without exception - from vocal and piano miniatures to symphonies. Every area except theater music, he said a unique and new word, left wonderful works that still live. With their abundance, the extraordinary variety of melody, rhythm, and harmony is striking.

Schubert's song richness is especially great. His songs are valuable and dear to us not only as independent works of art. They helped the composer find his musical language in other genres. The connection with the songs consisted not only in general intonations and rhythms, but also in the peculiarities of presentation, development of themes, expressiveness and colorfulness of harmonic means. Schubert opened the way for many new musical genres- impromptu, musical moments, song cycles, lyric-dramatic symphony. But in whatever genre Schubert wrote - in traditional or created by him - everywhere he acts as a composer new era, the era of romanticism, although his work is firmly based on classical musical art. Many features of the new romantic style were then developed in the work of Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, Russian composers of the second half of the 19th century. Schubert's music is dear to us not only as a magnificent artistic monument. It touches the audience deeply. Whether it sprinkles with fun, plunges into deep reflections, or causes suffering - it is close, understandable to everyone, so vividly and truthfully does it reveal human feelings and thoughts expressed by Schubert, great in his boundless simplicity.

The Austrian composer Franz Schubert lived only thirty years, but managed to write over a thousand musical works. His talent was truly amazing, his melodic gift was inexhaustible, but only a few of Schubert's contemporaries were able to appreciate his creations.
The wonderful Schubert music won the widest fame when the composer was no longer in the world, when he passed short life full of want and deprivation.

Schubert's creations glorified his name in the history of the world musical art. He wrote more than 600 songs, numerous works for piano (including twenty-one sonatas), quartets and trios, symphonies and overtures, operas and singspiel (comic operas in the folk spirit), music for the drama Rosamund, etc.

Even during the life of Schubert, his songs enjoyed well-deserved fame among friends. In this genre, his great predecessors were Mozart and Beethoven, whose songs are full of unfading charm. But it was Schubert who filled the song with an amazing poetic feeling and melodic charm. Schubert gave the song a new meaning, expanded the range of images and moods, found a bright and expressive musical language, close to every listener.

The ballad "The Forest King" sounds like a dramatic story. Sincere lyrics are imbued with "Rose" and "Serenade" ("My song flies with a prayer"), deep meditation is felt in "Wanderer".

Schubert wrote two famous song cycles - "The Beautiful Miller" and "Winter Way", where individual songs are links big story. The story of the wandering love of a young miller is revealed in such famous songs cycles, such as “On the Road” (“The miller leads his life in motion”), “Where”, “Lullaby of the Stream” and others.

The song cycle "Winter Way" belongs to the last works of Schubert; it is dominated by sad and gloomy moods. The final song "The Organ Grinder" is written simply and sincerely. Its sad melody tells about the experiences of a poor and lonely person.

Schubert was one of the creators of the lyrical piano miniature genre. His graceful landlers - old German waltzes - are melodic and cheerful, sometimes covered with a light haze of lyrical dreams. Schubert's wonderful piano impromptu and musical moments are widely known.

The song was very dear to the composer's heart, and he often introduced its images and melodies into personal chamber and symphonic works. The beauty of the melodious song melody fills his piano sonatas. In the fantasy "Wanderer" (for piano), the second movement is a variation on the theme of the song of the same name.

The music of the famous "Forellen Quintet" breathes cheerfulness, in one of the parts of which the composer varies the melody "Trout". And the dramatic and tense "Death and the Maiden" is being developed in a string quartet in D minor. Remarkable in beauty and richness of melodies are two piano trios by Schubert. Everywhere and everywhere in the music of the great Austrian composer the song melody flows freely.

Among Schubert's symphonies, two stand out - in C major and in B minor (“Unfinished”), found only after the death of the composer (in 1838 and 1865). They have firmly entered the world concert repertoire. The symphony in C major is full of grandeur and power. When you listen to it, before your eyes there are pictures of the struggle of mighty forces, the victorious mighty procession of the masses.

The romantically agitated music of the "Unfinished" symphony is a story about the experience, about disappointments and hopes. Schubert's symphonies combine richness of content with simplicity and accessibility. musical images. And it is no coincidence that the “Unfinished” symphony can be heard performed by amateur, amateur orchestras. Schubert knew how to speak in music about the big and important, about the experienced and felt with simplicity, sincerity and sincerity. This made his art forever young, loved and close to all people.

creative life Schubert is estimated at only seventeen years. Nevertheless, to list everything he wrote is even more difficult than to list the works of Mozart, creative way which was longer. Just like Mozart, Schubert did not bypass any area of ​​musical art. Some of his heritage (mainly operatic and spiritual works) was pushed aside by time itself. But in a song or a symphony, in a piano miniature or a chamber ensemble, the best aspects of Schubert's genius, the wonderful immediacy and ardor of the romantic imagination, the lyrical warmth and quest of the thinking human XIX century.

In these areas musical creativity Schubert's innovation manifested itself with the greatest courage and scope. He is the founder of the lyrical instrumental miniature, the romantic symphony - lyrical-dramatic and epic. Schubert fundamentally changes the figurative content in large forms chamber music: V piano sonatas ah, string quartets. Finally, the true brainchild of Schubert is a song, the creation of which is simply inseparable from his very name.

The democratism of Austrian folk music, the music of Vienna, is fanned by the work of Haydn and Mozart, Beethoven also experienced its influence, but Schubert is a child of this culture. For his commitment to her, he even had to listen to reproaches from friends. Schubert speaks the language of genre music, thinks in its images; from them grow works of high forms of art of the most diverse plan. In a broad generalization of the song lyrical intonations that matured in the musical routine of the burghers, in the democratic environment of the city and its suburbs - the nationality of Schubert's creativity. The lyrical-dramatic "Unfinished" symphony unfolds on a song and dance basis. The transformation of genre material can be felt both in the epic canvas of the “Great” symphony in C-dur and in an intimate lyrical miniature or instrumental ensemble.

The element of song permeated all spheres of his work. Song melody forms the thematic basis of Schubert's instrumental compositions. For example, in the piano fantasy on the theme of the song "Wanderer", in the piano quintet "Trout", where the melody of the song of the same name serves as the theme for variations of the finale, in the d-moll quartet, where the song "Death and the Maiden" is introduced. But in other works that are not related to the themes of certain songs - in sonatas, in symphonies - the song warehouse of thematism determines the features of the structure, the methods of developing the material.

It is natural, therefore, that although the beginning of Schubert's composing path was marked by an extraordinary scope of creative ideas that prompted experiments in all areas of musical art, he found himself first of all in the song. It was in it, ahead of everything else, that the facets of his lyrical talent shone with a wonderful play.

Asafiev in his work "On Symphonic and Stone Music" wrote the following about the works of Schubert:

“Smooth and sincere, pure as a mountain stream rushing from distant peaks, it carries people along in a musically manifested movement, dissolving everything dark and evil in it and evoking in us a bright feeling of life.” The song contains all his creative essence. It is the Schubert song that is a kind of boundary that separates the music of romanticism from the music of classicism. The place of the song in Schubert's work is equivalent to the position of the fugue in Bach or the sonata in Beethoven. According to B. V. Asafiev, Schubert did in the field of song what Beethoven did in the field of symphony. Beethoven summarized the heroic ideas of his era; Schubert, on the other hand, was a singer of "simple natural thoughts and deep humanity." Through the world of lyrical feelings reflected in the song, he expresses his attitude to life, people, the surrounding reality.

Range lyrical themes in his work is exceptionally wide. The theme of love, with all the richness of its poetic nuances, sometimes joyful, sometimes sad, is intertwined with the theme of wandering, wandering, loneliness, permeating all romantic art, with the theme of nature. Nature in Schubert's work is not just a background against which a certain narrative unfolds or some events take place: it is “humanized”, and the radiation of human emotions, depending on their nature, colors the images of nature, gives them one or another mood and corresponding coloring.

Thus, contrasts of darkness and light arose, frequent transitions from despair to hope, from melancholy to simple-hearted fun, from intensely dramatic images to bright, contemplative ones. Almost simultaneously, Schubert worked on the lyrical-tragic "Unfinished" symphony and the joyfully youthful songs of "The Beautiful Miller's Woman". Even more striking is the proximity of the "terrible songs" of "The Winter Road" with the graceful ease of the last piano impromptu.

Romanticism was a kind of reaction to the Enlightenment with its cult of reason. Its occurrence was due to various reasons. The most important of them is disappointment in the results of the Great french revolution that did not justify the hopes placed on it.

The romantic worldview is characterized by a sharp conflict between reality and dreams. Reality is low and unspiritual, it is permeated with the spirit of philistinism, philistinism and is worthy only of denial. A dream is something beautiful, perfect, but unattainable and incomprehensible to the mind.

Romanticism contrasted the prose of life with the beautiful realm of the spirit, "the life of the heart." Romantics believed that feelings constitute a deeper layer of the soul than the mind. According to Wagner, "the artist appeals to feeling, not to reason." And Schumann said: "the mind is mistaken, the senses - never." It is no coincidence that music was declared the ideal form of art, which, due to its specificity, most fully expresses the movements of the soul. It was music in the era of romanticism that took a leading place in the system of arts.

If in literature and painting romantic direction basically completes its development to mid-nineteenth centuries, then life musical romanticism much longer in Europe. Musical romanticism as a trend developed in early XIX century and developed in close connection with various trends in literature, painting and theater. The initial stage of musical romanticism is represented by the works of F. Schubert, E. T. A. Hoffmann, N. Paganini; the subsequent stage (1830-50s) - the work of F. Chopin, R. Schumann, F. Mendelssohn, F. Liszt, R. Wagner, J. Verdi. The late stage of romanticism extends to late XIX century.

The problem of personality is put forward as the main problem of romantic music, and in a new light - in its conflict with the outside world. The romantic hero is always alone. Loneliness Theme- perhaps the most popular in all romantic art. Often associated with it is the thought of creative personality: a person is lonely when he is precisely an outstanding, gifted person. An artist, a poet, a musician are the favorite characters in the works of the Romantics (Schumann's The Poet's Love).

Attention to feelings leads to a change in genres - the dominant position is occupied by lyrics, which are dominated by images of love.

Very often intertwined with the theme of "lyrical confession" nature theme. Resonating with the state of mind of a person, it is usually colored by a sense of disharmony. The development of genre and lyrical-epic symphonism is closely connected with the images of nature (one of the first compositions is Schubert's "great" symphony in C-dur).

The real discovery of romantic composers was fantasy theme. For the first time, music has learned to embody fabulous-fantastic images in a purely musical means. Romantic composers have learned to convey the fantasy world as something completely specific (with the help of unusual orchestral and harmonic colors). IN the highest degree characteristic of musical romanticism interest in folk art . Like the romantic poets, who enriched and updated the literary language at the expense of folklore, the musicians widely turned to national folklore - folk songs, ballads, epic (F. Schubert, R. Schumann, F. Chopin, I. Brahms, B. Smetana, E. Grieg, etc.). Embodying images national literature, stories, native nature, they relied on the intonations and rhythms of national folklore, revived the old diatonic modes. Under the influence of folklore, the content of European music has changed dramatically.

"Death buried a rich treasure here, but even more beautiful hopes" - this epitaph of the poet Grillparzer is carved on a modest monument Franz Schubert at the Vienna cemetery.

Indeed, an insultingly short life span was allotted by fate to a musician unique in his genius talent - only thirty-one years. But the intensity of his creativity was truly amazing. “I compose every morning; when I finish one piece, I start another,” the composer admitted. He seems to be in a hurry, anticipating how little time he has at his disposal, he does not part with his glasses even at night, so that, waking up from another musical idea that has illuminated him, he immediately writes it down. Schubert wrote his first symphony at the age of 16, and then two - at 18, two - at 19 ... The ingenious B-minor symphony, called "Unfinished", was written by him at the age of 25! For someone else, youth is the beginning of a journey, but for him it is the pinnacle of creative maturity. Songs - a genre in which the composer was most able to say his own, new word, the word of a romantic composer - were sometimes born up to a dozen a day, and Schubert has over 600 of them in total!

It was the song, with its purely Schubertian purity, heartfelt sincerity, sublime simplicity, that determined the originality of his work as a whole, penetrated and nourished the world of his piano pieces, chamber ensembles, symphonies and works of other genres.

F. Schubert was born in 1797 on the outskirts of Vienna - Lichtental. His father, a school teacher, came from a peasant family, in which they were very fond of music and constantly arranged musical evenings. Little Franz also took part in them, performing the viola part in string quartets. Nature gave Franz beautiful voice, therefore, when the boy was eleven years old, he was placed in a convict - a school for the training of church choristers.

Studying in convict, playing in a student orchestra, and sometimes performing the duties of a conductor, Schubert composed a lot and with great enthusiasm himself. His outstanding abilities attracted the attention of the famous court composer Salieri, with whom Schubert studied for a year.

Schubert's father's desire to make his son his successor failed. After serving for three years as a teacher's assistant primary school, a young musician left this field, a modest but reliable income and devoted himself entirely to creativity. Complete material disorder, need and deprivation - nothing could stop him.

Around Schubert, a circle of gifted young people, artists, poets, musicians, who are passionately interested in art and politics, is being formed. Sometimes these meetings were entirely devoted to the music of Schubert and therefore received the name "Schubertiad".

However, Schubert's music did not receive wide public resonance during his lifetime, while the brilliant and entertaining music of I. Strauss, Lanner was a huge success, not a single opera by Schubert was accepted for production, not a single one of his symphonies was performed by an orchestra.

And yet in Vienna they recognized and fell in love with Schubert's music. An outstanding singer Johann Michael Vogl played a major role in this, who perfectly performed Schubert's songs to the accompaniment of the composer himself. Three times they made concert trips to the cities of Austria, and their performances were invariably accompanied by great interest from the audience.

In 1828, shortly before Schubert's death, the only concert during his lifetime took place, the program of which included works of various genres. The concert was organized by the efforts of Schubert's friends and was a huge success, which inspired the composer and filled him with bright hopes. But these wonderful hopes were not destined to come true.

F. Schubert's works:

Songs, symphonies;

"Ave Maria";

"Serenade";

« Stormy stream»;

Songs on poems by Heine from the "Book of Songs";

"Double";

Symphony in B minor (“Unfinished”).

Vocal cycles: "The Beautiful Miller", "Winter Way"

Perhaps there is no other composer who deservedly received the title of great, brilliant and at the same time created works almost exclusively for one instrument - for the piano. Connected in the face Frederic Chopin the gift of a composer and pianist-performer, fate seemed to destined him to reveal the soul of this instrument, its inexhaustible expressive possibilities, to bring to life new, previously unknown, truly romantic genres of piano music: ballads, nocturnes, scherzos, impromptu.

Feeding their creativity from the origins of folk Polish music, Chopin exalts simple unpretentious folk dances(mazurkas, polonaises) to the scale of romantic poems, saturates them with drama, high tragedy.

Chopin's work is a brilliant, perfect embodiment in music dramatic fate his homeland - Poland, her tragic struggle for her independence, and the tragedy of her own, personal life, lived in separation from her homeland, from relatives and friends.

Fryderyk Chopin was born in 1810 near Warsaw, in the town of Zhelyazova Wola, where his father served as a home teacher on the estate of Count Skarbek. The boy grew up surrounded by music: his father played the violin and flute, his mother sang well and played the piano.

Fryderyk's musical abilities showed up very early. The first performance of the little pianist took place in Warsaw when he was seven years old. At the same time, one of his first compositions, a polonaise for piano in G minor, was published. The boy's performing talent developed so rapidly that by the age of twelve, Chopin was not inferior to the best Polish pianists.

After graduating from the Lyceum, Chopin entered the Higher School of Music. His classes were led by the famous teacher and composer Joseph Elsner. His brief description given to the young musician has been preserved: “Amazing abilities. musical genius.

In 1830, the twenty-year-old musician went on a concert tour abroad. However, a temporary separation from the homeland turned into a separation for life. The defeat of the Polish uprising and the subsequent persecution and repression cut off Chopin's path to return. He poured out his grief, anger, indignation in music. Thus was born one of his greatest creations - an etude in C minor, called "Revolutionary".

From 1831 until the end of his life, Chopin lived in Paris. But France did not become the composer's second home. Both in his affections and in his work, Chopin remained a Pole.

Dying, Chopin bequeathed his heart to his homeland. This will was carried out by his relatives. But immured in the church with. Cross in Warsaw Chopin's heart, eternally alive, quivering and proud, beats in his music, in his Preludes, Etudes, Waltzes, Concerts.

Works by F. Chopin:

Mazurkas, polonaises;

Works No. 24, No. 2, No. 53;

Nocturnes, fantasies, impromptu;

Etude No. 12 "Revolutionary";

The first romantic composer, Schubert is one of the most tragic figures in the history of the world. musical culture. His life, short and uneventful, was cut short when he was in the prime of life and talent. He did not hear most of his compositions. In many ways, the fate of his music was also tragic. Priceless manuscripts, partly kept by friends, partly donated to someone, and sometimes simply lost in endless journeys, for a long time could not be put together. It is known that the “Unfinished” symphony had been waiting for its performance for more than 40 years, and the C major symphony for 11 years. The paths opened in them by Schubert remained unknown for a long time.

Schubert was a younger contemporary of Beethoven. Both of them lived in Vienna, their work coincides in time: "Margarita at the Spinning Wheel" and "Forest Tsar" are the same age as Beethoven's 7th and 8th symphonies, and his 9th symphony appeared simultaneously with Schubert's "Unfinished". Schubert is a representative of a completely new generation of artists, was born in an atmosphere of disappointment and fatigue, in an atmosphere of the most severe political reaction. The fact that Schubert spent the entire period of his creative maturity in Vienna determined to a large extent the nature of his art. In his work there are no works related to the struggle for a happy future for mankind. His music is not characterized by heroic moods. At the time of Schubert, there was no longer any talk of universal human problems, of the reorganization of the world. The struggle for all this seemed pointless. The most important thing seemed to be to preserve honesty, spiritual purity, the values ​​of one’s peace of mind. Thus was born an artistic movement, called " romanticism". This is art, in which for the first time the central place was occupied by an individual with its uniqueness, with its searches, doubts, sufferings. Schubert's work is the dawn of musical romanticism. His hero is the hero of the new time: not public figure, not a speaker, not an active transformer of reality. This is an unfortunate, lonely person whose hopes for happiness cannot come true. The ideological core of most of Schubert's works is the collision of the ideal and the real. Every time the collision of dreams and reality receives an individual interpretation, but, as a rule, the conflict does not find a final resolution. It is not the struggle for the sake of asserting a positive ideal that is at the center of the composer's attention, but the more or less distinct exposure of contradictions. This is the main evidence of Schubert's belonging to romanticism. Its main theme was the theme of deprivation, tragic hopelessness. This topic is not invented, it is taken from life, reflecting the fate of a whole generation, incl. and the fate of the composer himself. As already mentioned, Schubert passed his short career in tragic obscurity. He was not accompanied by success, natural for a musician of this magnitude.

Meanwhile creative legacy Schubert is huge. In terms of creativity and artistic value music, this composer can be compared with Mozart. Among his compositions are operas (10) and symphonies, chamber-instrumental music and cantata-oratorio works. But no matter how outstanding Schubert's contribution to the development of various musical genres, in the history of music his name is associated primarily with the genre romance songs. The song was the element of Schubert, in it he achieved the unprecedented. As Asafiev noted, “what Beethoven did in the field of symphony, Schubert did in the field of song-romance ...” full assembly of Schubert's compositions, the song series is represented by a huge figure - more than 600 works. But the matter is not only in quantity: in the work of Schubert, a qualitative leap was made, which allowed the song to take a completely new place in a number of musical genres. The genre, which played an obviously secondary role in the art of the Viennese classics, became equal in importance to the opera, symphony, and sonata.

Instrumental creativity Schubert has 9 symphonies, over 25 chamber-instrumental works, 15 piano sonatas, many pieces for piano in 2 and 4 hands. Growing up in an atmosphere of live influence of the music of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, which was not the past for him, but the present, Schubert surprisingly quickly - already by the age of 17-18 - perfectly mastered the traditions of the Viennese classical school. In his first symphonic, quartet and sonata experiments, the echoes of Mozart are especially noticeable, in particular, the 40th symphony (the young Schubert's favorite work). Schubert is closely related to Mozart by a clearly expressed lyrical mindset. At the same time, in many ways, he acted as the heir to the Haydnian traditions, as evidenced by the proximity to the Austro-German folk music. He adopted from the classics the composition of the cycle, its parts, the basic principles of organizing the material. However, Schubert subordinated the experience of the Viennese classics to new tasks.

Romantic and classical traditions form a single fusion in his art. Schubert's dramaturgy is the result of a special plan, in which lyrical orientation and song prevail as the main principle of development. Schubert's sonata-symphonic themes are related to songs - both in their intonational structure and in the methods of presentation and development, purely instrumental character. Schubert strongly emphasizes the nature of the song

Franz Schubert. Romantic from Vienna

“Like Mozart, Schubert belonged more to everyone -
environment, people, nature than yourself,
and his music was his singing about everything, but not personally about himself ... "
B. Asafiev

Franz Peter Schubert was born on January 31, 1797 in Lichtental, a suburb of Vienna. His first music lessons were taught by his father, Franz Theodor Schubert, a teacher at the Lichtental parish school. Then the boy came under the tutelage of Michael Holzer, the regent of the local church and the kindest old man - he taught Schubert harmony and playing the organ for free.

At the age of eleven, Schubert entered the imperial chapel as a chorister and, having said goodbye to his native home, left for Vienna (fortunately, from the suburbs to the city it was a stone's throw). Now he lived in the imperial royal convict - a privileged boarding school. And he went to high school. This is what his father dreamed about.

But his life was gloomy: getting up at dawn, long and tiring standing on the kliros, omnipresent guards who always know how to find a fault for the boys, for which they should be whipped or forced to repeat prayers countless times. The existence of Franz, accustomed to the meek mentorship of Holzer, would have been completely hopeless if it were not for new friends - they became friends the stronger and more selflessly, the more the educators encouraged the children to gossip and denunciation, supposedly aimed at "saving the souls of lost comrades."

Five years (1808 - 1813), spent by the composer in convict, would have been unbearably difficult for him, if not for faithful friends which he found here. From left to right F. Schubert, I. Yenger, A. Hüttenbrenner.

And if it wasn't for the music. The talent of the young Schubert was noticed by the court bandmaster - Antonio Salieri. He continued to study with him even after his departure from school in 1813 (due to the fact that the voice of the grown-up singer began to break down and lost the necessary “crystalness”).

In 1814, an event of great importance took place in Vienna - the premiere of Beethoven's opera Fidelio took place. Tradition says that Schubert sold all his school textbooks to attend this premiere. Perhaps the situation was not so dramatic, but it is known for certain that Franz Schubert remained a fan of Beethoven until the end of his short life.

The same year was marked for Schubert by more prosaic events. He went to work at the same school where his father taught. Pedagogical activity seemed young musician boring, ungrateful, infinitely far from his lofty needs. But he was well aware that he could not be a burden for a family that was already barely making ends meet.

Despite all the hardships, those four years that the composer devoted to teaching turned out to be very fruitful. By the end of 1816, Franz Schubert was already the author of five symphonies, four masses and four operas. And most importantly - he found a genre that soon glorified him. I found a song where music and poetry so magically merged, two elements, without which the composer could not imagine his existence.

In Schubert, meanwhile, his decision was ripening, which he put into practice in 1818. He left school, deciding to devote all his strength to music. This step was bold, if not reckless. The musician had no other income, except for a teacher's salary.

All future life Schubert is a creative feat. Experiencing great need and deprivation, he created one work after another.

Poverty and adversity prevented him from marrying his girlfriend. Her name was Teresa Coffin. She sang in the church choir. The girl's mother had high hopes for her marriage. Naturally, Schubert could not arrange it. You can live with music, but you can't live with it. And the mother gave her daughter in marriage to a confectioner. This was a blow to Schubert.

A few years later, a new feeling arose, even more hopeless. He fell in love with a representative of one of the most noble and wealthy families of Hungary - Caroline Esterhazy. To understand what the composer felt then, one must read the lines of his letter to one of his friends: “I feel like the most miserable, most miserable person in the world ... Imagine a person whose most brilliant hopes have turned into nothing, to whom love and friendship bring nothing, except for the deepest suffering, in which the inspiration for the beautiful (at least inducing creativity) threatens to disappear ... "

In these hard times meeting with friends became an outlet for Schubert. Young people got acquainted with literature, poetry of different times. The performance of music alternated with the reading of poetry, accompanied by dances. Sometimes such meetings were dedicated to the music of Schubert. They even began to call them "Schubertiads". The composer sat at the piano and immediately composed waltzes, landlers and other dances. Many of them are not even recorded. If he sang his songs, it always aroused the admiration of the listeners.

He was never invited to perform in a public concert. He was not known at court. Publishers, taking advantage of his impracticality, paid him pennies, while they themselves made a lot of money. And large works that could not be in great demand were not published at all. It so happened that he had nothing to pay for the room and he often lived with his friends. He did not have his own piano, so he composed without an instrument. He had no money to buy a new suit. It happened that for several days in a row he ate only crackers.

The father turned out to be right: the profession of a musician did not bring fame to Schubert, resounding success, glory, good luck. She brought only suffering and want.

But she gave him the happiness of creativity, stormy, continuous, inspired. He worked systematically, every day. “I compose every morning, when I finish one piece, I start another,” the composer admitted. He composed very quickly and easily, like Mozart. Full list His works include more than a thousand numbers. But he lived only 31 years!

Schubert's fame meanwhile grew. His songs have become fashionable. In 1828, his most important works were published, and in March of the same year, one of his most significant concerts took place. With the proceeds from him, Schubert bought himself a piano. He so dreamed of owning this "royal instrument". But for a long time he did not have a chance to enjoy the acquisition. Just a few months later, Schubert contracted typhoid fever. He desperately resisted the disease, made plans for the future, tried to work in bed ...

The composer died on November 19, 1828 at the age of 31 after a two-week fever. Schubert was buried in the central cemetery next to the grave of Beethoven, not far from the monument to Mozart, the graves of Gluck, Brahms. I. Strauss - this is how the full recognition of the composer finally took place.

The poet Grillparzer, well-known at that time, wrote on a modest monument to Schubert in the Vienna cemetery: “Death buried a rich treasure here, but even more wonderful hopes.”

Sounds of music

"Beauty alone should inspire a man throughout his life -
this is true, but the radiance of this inspiration should illuminate everything else ... "
F. Schubert

Eighth Symphony in B minor "Unfinished"

The fates of many great works (as well as their authors) are full of vicissitudes. All possible of them fell to the share of the "Unfinished" symphony.

Friends loved the songs of Franz Schubert. How gently they sounded, how unmistakably they touched the deepest strings of the soul, these songs! But here is the “large form” ... No, the friends tried not to upset dear Franz, however, no, no, among themselves, they blurted out: “Still, this is not his.”

Schubert wrote the "Unfinished Symphony" in 1822-23. And two years later he gave her score to one of his best and oldest friends - Anselm Huttenbrenner. In order for a friend to give it to the Society of Music Lovers of the city of Graz. But the friend didn't tell. For the best, probably. Not wanting to "disgrace dear Franz" in the eyes of an enlightened public. Hüttenbrenner wrote music himself (giving preference, by the way, to large form). He understood her. And he did not sympathize with the symphonic efforts of his school friend.

It so happened that one of the best works Schubert "did not exist" until 1865. The first performance of "Unfinished" took place almost forty years after the death of the composer. Conducted by Johann Gerbeck, who accidentally discovered the score of the symphony.

"Unfinished Symphony" consists of two parts. A classical symphony is always a four-movement one. The version that the composer wanted to finish it, “to add to the required volume”, but did not have time, must be dismissed immediately. Sketches for the third part have been preserved - uncertain, timid. It was as if Schubert himself did not know whether these attempts at sketching were necessary. For two years, the score of the symphony was “aged” in his desk before it passed into the hands of the judicious Huttenbrenner. During these two years, Schubert had time to make sure that - no, there is no need to "finish". In two parts of the symphony, he expressed himself completely, “sang out” in them all his love for the world, all the anxiety and longing that a person is doomed to languish in this world.

A person goes through two main stages in life - youth and maturity. And in two parts of Schubert's symphony, the sharpness of collisions with life in youth and the depth of comprehension of the meaning of life in maturity. An eternal interweaving of joy and sadness, suffering and delights of life.

Like a thunderstorm - with gusts of wind, distant peals of thunder - Schubert's "Unfinished Symphony" begins.

Quintet in A major "Trout"

The Trout Quintet (sometimes also called the Forellen Quintet) is also, like the Unfinished Symphony, unusual in terms of form. It consists of five parts (and not four, as is customary), and is performed by violin, viola, cello, double bass and piano.

In the happiest time of his life, Schubert wrote this quintet. It was 1819. Together with Vogl, the composer travels through Upper Austria. Vogl, a native of these parts, generously "shares" them with Schubert. But not only the joy of learning new places and people brought Schubert this journey. For the first time, he was personally convinced that he was known not only in Vienna, but in a narrow circle of friends. That almost every even slightly "musical" house has handwritten copies of his songs. His own popularity not only surprised him, it stunned him.

In the Upper Austrian town of Steyr, Schubert and Vogl met a passionate admirer of Schubert songs, industrialist Sylvester Paumgartner. Again and again he asked his friends to perform the song "Trout" for him. He could listen to her endlessly. For him, Schubert (who loved to bring joy to people more than anything in the world) wrote the Forellen Quintet, in the fourth part of which the melody of the song Trout sounds.

In the quintet, young energy seethes, overflowing. Impulsive dreams give way to sadness, sadness again gives way to dreams, the sonorous happiness of being, which is only possible at twenty-two. The theme of the fourth movement, simple, almost naive, gracefully led by the violin, splashes with many variations. And the "Trout" ends with an unrestrained, sparkling dance, inspired by Schubert, probably by the dances of the Upper Austrian peasants.

"Ave Maria"

The unearthly beauty of this music made the prayer to the Virgin Mary Schubert's most popular religious composition. It belongs to the number of non-church romances-prayers created by romantic composers. In the arrangement for the voice and choir of boys, the purity and innocence of the music is emphasized.

"Serenade"

A real gem of vocal lyrics is F. Schubert's "Serenade". This work is one of the brightest, dreamiest in Schubert's work. The soft dance melody is accompanied by a characteristic rhythm that imitates the sound of a guitar, because it was to the accompaniment of a guitar or a mandolin that serenades were sung beautiful beloved. A melody that has thrilled the soul for almost two centuries...

Serenades were works performed in the evening or at night on the street (the Italian expression "al sereno" means it in the open air) in front of the house of the one to whom the serenade is dedicated. Most often - in front of the balcony of a beautiful lady.

Presentation

Included:

1. Presentation, ppsx;
2. Sounds of music:
Schubert. "Unfinished" symphony, mp3;
Schubert. Serenade, mp3;
Schubert. Ave Maria, mp3;
Schubert. Quintet in A major "Trout", IV movement, mp3;
3. Accompanying article, docx.

The first romantic composer, Schubert is one of the most tragic figures in the history of world musical culture. His life, short and uneventful, was cut short when he was in the prime of life and talent. He did not hear most of his compositions. In many ways, the fate of his music was also tragic. Priceless manuscripts, partly kept by friends, partly donated to someone, and sometimes simply lost in endless journeys, could not be put together for a long time. It is known that the “Unfinished” symphony had been waiting for its performance for more than 40 years, and the C major symphony for 11 years. The paths opened in them by Schubert remained unknown for a long time.

Schubert was a younger contemporary of Beethoven. Both of them lived in Vienna, their work coincides in time: "Margarita at the Spinning Wheel" and "Forest Tsar" are the same age as Beethoven's 7th and 8th symphonies, and his 9th symphony appeared simultaneously with Schubert's "Unfinished". Only a year and a half separate the death of Schubert from the day of Beethoven's death. Nevertheless, Schubert is a representative of a completely new generation of artists. If Beethoven's creativity was formed under the influence of the ideas of the Great French Revolution and embodied its heroism, then Schubert's art was born in an atmosphere of disappointment and fatigue, in an atmosphere of the most severe political reaction. It was initiated by the Congress of Vienna in 1814-15. Representatives of the states that won the war with Napoleon united then in the so-called. "Holy Alliance", the main goal of which was the suppression of revolutionary and national liberation movements. The leading role in the "Holy Alliance" belonged to Austria, more precisely the head of the Austrian government, Chancellor Metternich. It was he, and not the passive, weak-willed Emperor Franz, who actually ruled the country. It was Metternich who was the true creator of the Austrian autocratic system, the essence of which was to stop any manifestations of free thought in the bud.

The fact that Schubert spent the entire period of his creative maturity in Metternich's Vienna determined to a large extent the nature of his art. In his work there are no works related to the struggle for a happy future for mankind. His music is not characterized by heroic moods. At the time of Schubert, there was no longer any talk of universal human problems, of the reorganization of the world. The struggle for all this seemed pointless. The most important thing seemed to be to preserve honesty, spiritual purity, the values ​​​​of one's spiritual world. Thus was born an artistic movement, called « romanticism". This is art, in which for the first time the individual personality with its uniqueness, with its searches, doubts, sufferings, took the central place. Schubert's work is the dawn of musical romanticism. His hero is a hero of modern times: not a public figure, not a speaker, not an active changer of reality. This is an unfortunate, lonely person whose hopes for happiness cannot come true.

The fundamental difference between Schubert and Beethoven was content his music, both vocal and instrumental. The ideological core of most of Schubert's works is the collision of the ideal and the real. Every time the collision of dreams and reality receives an individual interpretation, but, as a rule, the conflict is not finally resolved. It is not the struggle for the sake of asserting a positive ideal that is at the center of the composer's attention, but the more or less distinct exposure of contradictions. This is the main evidence of Schubert's belonging to romanticism. Its main theme was theme of deprivation, tragic hopelessness. This topic is not invented, it is taken from life, reflecting the fate of a whole generation, incl. and the fate of the composer himself. As already mentioned, Schubert passed his short career in tragic obscurity. He was not accompanied by success, natural for a musician of this magnitude.

Meanwhile, the creative legacy of Schubert is enormous. In terms of the intensity of creativity and the artistic significance of music, this composer can be compared with Mozart. Among his compositions are operas (10) and symphonies, chamber-instrumental music and cantata-oratorio works. But no matter how outstanding Schubert's contribution to the development of various musical genres, in the history of music his name is associated primarily with the genre songs- romance(German Lied). The song was the element of Schubert, in it he achieved the unprecedented. Asafiev noted, "what Beethoven accomplished in the field of the symphony, Schubert accomplished in the field of the song-romance..." In the complete collection of Schubert's works, the song series is represented by a huge figure - more than 600 works. But the matter is not only in quantity: in the work of Schubert, a qualitative leap was made, which allowed the song to take a completely new place in a number of musical genres. The genre, which played an obviously secondary role in the art of the Viennese classics, became equal in importance to the opera, symphony, and sonata.

Instrumental creativity of Schubert

Schubert's instrumental work includes 9 symphonies, over 25 chamber-instrumental works, 15 piano sonatas, many pieces for piano in 2 and 4 hands. Growing up in an atmosphere of live influence of the music of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, which was not the past for him, but the present, Schubert surprisingly quickly - already by the age of 17-18 - perfectly mastered the traditions of the Viennese classical school. In his first symphonic, quartet and sonata experiments, the echoes of Mozart are especially noticeable, in particular, the 40th symphony (the young Schubert's favorite work). Schubert is closely related to Mozart clearly expressed lyrical mindset. At the same time, in many ways, he acted as the heir to the Haydnian traditions, as evidenced by his closeness to Austro-German folk music. He adopted from the classics the composition of the cycle, its parts, the basic principles of organizing the material. However, Schubert subordinated the experience of the Viennese classics to new tasks.

Romantic and classical traditions form a single fusion in his art. Schubert's dramaturgy is the result of a special plan dominated by lyrical orientation and song, as the main principle of development. Schubert's sonata-symphonic themes are related to songs - both in their intonation structure and in the methods of presentation and development. The Viennese classics, especially Haydn, often also created themes based on song melody. However, the impact of songwriting on instrumental drama as a whole was limited - the developmental development of the classics is purely instrumental. Schubert in every possible way emphasizes the song nature of the themes:

• often expounds them in a reprise closed form, likening to a finished song (GP I of the sonata A-dur);
• develops with the help of varied repetitions, variant transformations, in contrast to the symphonic development traditional for the Viennese classics (motivational isolation, sequencing, dissolution in general forms of movement);
• the ratio of the parts of the sonata-symphony cycle also becomes different - the first parts are often presented at a leisurely pace, as a result of which the traditional classical contrast between the fast and energetic first part and the slow lyrical second part is significantly smoothed out.

The combination of what seemed incompatible - miniature with scale, song with symphony - gave a completely new type sonata-symphonic cycle - lyric-romantic.