7 The 100 Most Influential Musicians of All Time 7

Franz Schubert

(b. Jan. 31, 1797, Himmelpfortgrund, near Vienna [Austria]—d. Nov.

19, 1828, Vienna)

F

ranz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer who

bridged the worlds of Classical and Romantic music.

Although especially noted for his songs (lieder) and chamber

music, he also wrote symphonies, masses, and piano works.

Early Life and Career

Schubert’s father was a schoolmaster, and his mother was

in domestic service at the time of her marriage. Franz

was their fourth surviving son, and he had a younger sister.

The family was musical and cultivated string quartet playing

in the home; Franz played the viola. He received the foun-

dations of his musical education from his father and his

brother Ignaz. In 1808 he won a scholarship that earned

him a place in the imperial court chapel choir and an edu-

cation at the Stadtkonvikt, the principal boarding school

for commoners in Vienna, where his tutors included the

composer Antonio Salieri, then at the height of his fame.

Schubert played the violin in the students’ orchestra and

was quickly promoted to leader and sometime conductor.

Schubert’s earliest works included a long Fantasia for

Piano Duet, a song, several orchestral overtures, various

pieces of chamber music, and three string quartets. An

unfinished operetta on a text by August von Kotzebue,

Der Spiegelritter (The Looking-glass Knight), also belongs to

those years. Eventually Schubert’s work came to the notice

of Salieri; when his voice broke in 1812 and he left the

college, he continued his studies privately with Salieri for

at least another three years. During this time he entered a

teachers’ training college in Vienna and in 1814 became

assistant in his father’s school. Rejected for military