7 Franz Schubert 7until his death two years later he seems to have let matters
drift. Neither by application for professional posts nor
submission of operatic work did he seek to establish
himself.
The songs of 1826 include the settings of Shakespeare’s
“Hark! Hark! the Lark!” and “Who is Silvia?” Three fine
instrumental works of this summer and autumn are the
last: String Quartet in G Major, the Piano Sonata in G Major,
and the beginning of the Piano Trio in B Flat Major. In 1827
he composed the first 12 songs of the cycle Winterreise
(Winter Journey). Beethoven’s death in 1827 undoubtedly
had a profound effect on Schubert, for there is no denying
that a more profound, more intellectual quality akin to that
in Beethoven’s music appears in his last instrumental works,
especially the Piano Trio in E-flat Major (1827) and the Piano
Sonata in C Minor (1828). In September 1827 Schubert spent
a short holiday in Graz. On his return he composed the
Piano Trio in E-flat Major and resumed work on Part II of
the Winterreise. This is the period of his piano solos, the
Impromptus and Moments musicaux.
A succession of masterpieces marks the last year of
his life. Early in the year he composed the greatest of his
piano duets, the Fantasy in F Minor. The Great Symphony
was concluded in March, as was also the cantata Miriams
Siegesgesang (Miriam’s Victory Song). In June he worked at
his sixth mass—in E-flat Major. A return to songwriting in
August produced the series published together as the
Schwanengesang (Swan Song). In September and early
October the succession was concluded by the last three
piano sonatas, in C Minor, A Major, and B-flat Major, and
the great String Quintet in C Major—the swan song of the
Classical era in music.
The only public concert Schubert gave took place on
March 26, 1828. It was both artistically and financially a