7 Franz Schubert 7service because of his short stature, he continued as a
schoolmaster until 1818.
The numerous compositions he wrote between 1813
and 1815 are remarkable for their style, originality, and
imagination. Besides five string quartets, there were three
full-scale masses and three symphonies. His first full-length
opera, Des Teufels Lustschloss (The Devil’s Palace of Desire),
was finished while he was at the training college. But at this
period song composition was his chief interest. On Oct. 19,
1814, he first set to music a poem by Goethe, “Gretchen am
Spinnrade” (“Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel”), from
Faust; it was his 30th song, and in this masterpiece he
created the German lied (art song). The following year
brought the composition of more than 140 songs.
The many unfinished fragments and sketches of songs
left by Schubert provide some insight into the working of
his creative mind. The primary stimulus was melodic; the
words of a poem engendered a tune. Harmony (chordal
structure of a composition) and modulation (change of
key) were then suggested by the contours of the melody.
But the external details of the poet’s scene—natural,
domestic, or mythical—prompted such wonderfully
graphic images in the accompaniments as the spinning
wheel, the ripple of water, or the “shimmering robe” of
spring. These features were fully present in the songs of 1815.
During that year Schubert also was preoccupied with a
number of ill-fated operas.
In 1816 Schubert took a leave of absence from his
duties as school headmaster, and during his teaching
hiatus he met the baritone Johann Michael Vogl. As a
result of this meeting, Vogl’s singing of Schubert’s songs
became the rage of the Viennese drawing rooms. But this
period of freedom did not last, and in the autumn of
1817 Schubert returned to his teaching duties. The leave,
however, had been particularly fruitful. Songs of this