THE 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL MUSICIANS OF ALL TIME

7 The 100 Most Influential Musicians of All Time 7

patient—on his most ambitious opera, Fierrabras. The year
1823 closed with Schubert’s composition of the music for
the play Rosamunde, performed at Vienna in December.
Schubert was ill, penniless, and plagued by a sense of
failure early in 1824. Yet during this time he composed
three masterly chamber works: the String Quartet in A
Minor, a second string quartet in D Minor containing
variations on his song Der Tod und das Mädchen, and the
Octet in F Major for strings and wind instruments. In
desperate need of money, he returned in the summer to
his teaching post with the Esterházy family and in May
1824 went again to Zseliz. Once more his health and spirits
revived. The period was marked by some piano duets, the
Piano Sonata in C Major (Grand Duo), the Variations on an
Original Theme in A-flat Major, and the Divertissement à la
hongroise (Hungarian Divertissement).
During these years his songs were frequently performed.
Publication proceeded rapidly, and his financial position,
though still strained, was at any rate eased. This is the
period of the Lady of the Lake songs, including the once
popular but later neglected Ave Maria. Instrumental
compositions are the piano sonatas in A Minor and in D
Major, the latter composed at Badgastein. He sketched a
symphony during the summer holiday, in all probability
the beginnings of the Symphony in C Major (Great), com-
pleted in 1828.

Last Years

The resignation of Salieri as imperial Kapellmeister (musical
director) in 1824 had led to the promotion of his deputy,
Josef Eybler. In 1826 Schubert applied for the vacant post
of deputy Kapellmeister, but in spite of strong support by
several influential people he was unsuccessful. From then