Franz Schubert and His World

by Gibbs, Christopher H. , Solvik, Morten

  As mentioned, Schubert’s A-Minor Quartet and Octet were prominently featured at concerts that ended Schuppanzigh’s 1824 and 1827 seasons, respectively, and were otherwise devoted entirely to Beethoven’s music. It is therefore hardly surprising that Schubert should use Beethoven as a model in two senses: compositionally and professionally. Commentators in Schubert’s own time observed how he modeled many of his compositions on Beethoven’s, but that fundamental influence, as the letter to Kupelwieser and other evidence indicates, went well beyond the purely musical. Beethoven provided a model for building a career as a composer writing “for posterity,” or for “strivings after the highest in art,” as Schubert expressed it in a letter to a publisher.47 Schubert was keenly aware of the illustrious musical tradition he was confronting and of the obstacles he faced, notably the increasing popularity of Rossini’s music and the preference of publishers for “wretched fashionable stuff,” as he once called it (SDB, 375). Schubert decided to engage ever more directly with Beethoven’s genres, aesthetics, and ambitions. John M. Gingerich, who has studied Schubert’s career trajectory, aptly calls this his “Beethoven Project.”48

  In any case, comparisons with Beethoven proved unavoidable, as Schubert repeatedly found in the criticism of his music. Although he was never mentioned in any contemporaneous review of Beethoven, the master’s specter haunted his critical reception from the beginning.49 The most prestigious music journal in German-speaking Europe, Leipzig’s Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung, frequently mentioned Beethoven in its reviews of Schubert, beginning in 1820 when a critic remarked: “In this first dramatic essay [the Singspiel Die Zwillingsbrüder] he seems to attempt to fly as high as Beethoven and not to heed the warning example of Icarus” (SDB, 139). Comparisons could also work to Schubert’s advantage, however, as in a review from 1826 that praised the “freedom and originality” of the Piano Sonata in A Minor, Op. 42 (D845), which can “probably be compared only with the greatest and freest of Beethoven’s sonatas.” The review called the scherzo “Beethovenian, without, be it understood, any intention to dispute the composer’s originality” (SDB, 512, 514). In a later review of the Sonata in G Major, Op. 78 (D894), the journal stated that Schubert had a large following because of his “excellent songs” and that he “is capable of doing the same by means of pianoforte pieces,” though this praise was followed by a word of caution against imitating the works of a unique genius: “Beethoven appears to us to be in a class by himself alone, as it were, especially as he showed himself in his middle and later period, so that in truth he should not by any means be chosen as an absolute model, since anyone who desired to be successful in that master’s own line could only be he himself” (SDB, 694).

  Thus in the mid-1820s Schubert confronted the Beethovenian legacy in both compositional as well as practical ways. Schubert’s large-scale pieces, not just his successful songs, part-songs, dances, and small keyboard works, increasingly had to contend with the most elevated musical standards. His health temporarily improved and his productivity accelerated, finding expression not only in keyboard and chamber music, songs and dances, but also in orchestral, religious, and virtuoso pieces, as well as in another attempt at an opera. The twenty months that separate the deaths of Beethoven and Schubert saw the production of an astounding quantity and quality of work composed with a new intensity.

  “A frenzy of admiration and rapture”: Schubert’s Concert of 26 March 1828

  On the first anniversary of Beethoven’s funeral, 29 March 1828, a ceremony was held in Währing Cemetery in which a chorus sang one of his Equale for trombones (WoO 30), fitted with a poem by Grillparzer.50 Marie von Pratobevera described the scene in a letter to her fiancé:

  The day was heavenly fair, the music most touching, and sung among the graves it could not fail to make a deep impression. I was surprised only that not more people were there, and also at the simple monument, made of common stone. It represents a pyramid, at the top of which hangs a very clumsy lyre, and at the base is just his name in gilt letters. I admit that I so much like the idea of making no verses on him, but merely to set down his name, and yet making him immortal thereby; but I do think the stone and the workmanship unworthy. But enough of graves and death: I must tell you of fresh and blossoming life, which prevailed at the concert of Schubert on the 26th March. Only compositions by himself were given and gloriously. Everyone was lost in a frenzy of admiration and rapture. (SDB, 760)

  Decades later Eduard von Bauernfeld claimed credit for urging his friend finally to undertake this long hoped-for concert.51 On 5 March Schubert petitioned the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde for permission to give it on 21 March in its hall at the Roter Igel (Red Hedgehog) in the Tuchlauben.52 The time around the first anniversary of Beethoven’s death was very busy musically in Vienna. On 20 March the third of the Concerts Spirituels presented Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 in B-flat, Op. 60, and oratorio Christus am Ölberge, Op. 85. There followed two historic events that framed Schubert’s concert.53 On Sunday, 23 March, Josef Linke gave an all-Beethoven program featuring the premiere of the String Quartet in F, Op. 135, the composer’s final work. Figure 2 reproduces the program, which is particularly noteworthy as it shows that the final movement title “Der schwer gefasste Entschluss” (The Difficult Decision) was listed along with the musical mottos “Muss es sein” (Must it be) and “Es muss sein! Es muss sein!” (It must be! It must be!).54 On Saturday, 29 March, Niccolò Paganini made his first appearance in Vienna, initiating an unprecedented series of fourteen concerts over the next four months.

  The date of Schubert’s concert changed at least once, and probably twice, for reasons that remain unclear but may relate to the quantity of musical activity at the time. As we know from Schubert’s petition, and as is confirmed in the first of three lithographed versions of the program announcement, the event was initially scheduled for Friday, 21 March. A rare copy of the program, with the date hand-corrected to “26,” is given as Figure 3. This first version included a number of editing and spelling errors that were eventually corrected in the third and final version: österreichen Musickvereins (later österreich. Musikvereins), an unnecessary period after Linke’s name in No. 4, the misspelling of the poet Klopstock (not Klopfstock), and Musickstücke (later Musikstücke) after No. 7. Most important, there was a change in the repertory of the concert: No. 2c was originally to be the Lied Fischerweise (D881), but was ultimately replaced by Der Wanderer an den Mond (D870).55 A second printed version of the program contains the same typographical errors and still lists Fischerweise, but gives the date exactly a week later, on 28 March. A surviving copy of this program also has the date hand-corrected to “26.”56 The third and final version of the lithographed program corrects the earlier errors, and now lists Der Wanderer an den Mond, but still prints the date as “28,” once more hand-corrected to “26” in the surviving copy at the Wienbibliothek.57

  Figure 2. Program for Josef Linke’s all-Beethoven concert, 23 March 1828.

  Figure 3. Program for Schubert’s Concert, 26 March 1828 (first version).

  In any case, Schubert did hold the event on the 26th, a Wednesday, which was somewhat unusual. Perhaps the changes of date were related to scheduling conflicts for the participating performers, vying for rehearsal and performance space, and concerns about competing for audiences. A large benefit concert on 28 March of Handel’s oratorio Jephtha, presented by the Tonkünstler-Gesellschaft at the Hofburgtheater, might have played a role in avoiding that day. There is also the possibility that Schubert wanted his concert to fall on the first anniversary of Beethoven’s death. Another mystery, perhaps related, is why Schuppanzigh did not perform at Schubert’s concert—he had, it seems, already played the E-flat Trio with Linke and Bocklet at a private Schubertiade on 28 January 1828 at the home of Josef von Spaun.58 Otto Erich Deutsch conjectured he was indisposed and contends that he did not participate in Linke’s concert either, unsupported claims I find doubtful.59

  On 25 March Schubert’s concert was a
nnounced in articles that appeared in three Viennese journals.60 In addition to listing the program and performers, the one in the Wiener allgemeine Theaterzeitung stated:

  Among the manifold musical art exhibitions that have been offered us in the course of this saison and still await us [i.e., Paganini], one should attract general attention the more because it offers enjoyment both new and surprising by the novelty and sterling value of the compositions and the attractive variety among the musical items, as well as the sympathetic collaboration of the most celebrated local artists. Franz Schubert, whose powerfully intellectual, enchantingly lovely and original tone-poems have made him the favorite of the whole musical public, and which may well secure their creator a more than ephemeral, nay an imperishable, name by their genuine artistic value, will perform on 26 March, at a private concert (in the Austrian Music Society’s room), a series of the latest products of his mind…. May the glorious German tone-poet, then, be granted an attendance such as his modesty and unobtrusiveness would alone deserve, quite apart from his artistic eminence and the rare and great musical enjoyment that is to be expected.61

  Although the event was not promoted as a Beethoven memorial, I believe the master was honored in two pieces premiered that evening. The concert began with the first movement of a “new string quartet,” either the D Minor (D810) or the more recent G Major (D887), played by Holz, Weiss, and Linke, with Josef Böhm taking Schuppanzigh’s usual place. Vogl next sang four Lieder—Der Kreuzzug (D932), Die Sterne (D939), Der Wanderer an den Mond, and Fragment aus dem Aeschylus (D450)—with Schubert at the piano. Schubert also accompanied Josefine Fröhlich and female students of her sister Anna at the conservatory in Ständchen (D920), a recent setting of a poem by Grillparzer.

  The centerpiece came with Böhm, Linke, and Bocklet performing the E-flat Piano Trio, an unusually long composition to which Schubert subsequently made three cuts in the finale. The remainder of the program consisted of the premiere of Auf dem Strom,62 the setting of Rellstab mentioned above, sung by Ludwig Tietze with the horn obligato played by Josef Rudolf Lewy.63 As we will see, this work, composed especially for the concert, is important because, as Rufus Hallmark has persuasively argued, Beethoven was its “unnamed dedicatee.”64 Vogl and Schubert next performed Die Allmacht (D852), and the program ended with the rousing Schlachtlied (D912),65 an unaccompanied double–male chorus setting of a poem by Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock. Schubert was the pianist for all the Lieder, but not for the trio. In addition to Vogl, who made a rare public appearance at this late stage in his career, the distinguished performers of the chamber music were those who had premiered Beethoven’s own late chamber music. Tietze as well had sung earlier in the week at Linke’s concert and had previously premiered many Schubert Lieder.

  Schubert’s concert proved a great success, immediately prompting talk of repeating it and of doing comparable, or even more ambitious events in the future. Other admirers echoed Marie von Pratobevera’s enthusiasm: Bauernfeld noted in his journal, “Enormous applause, good receipts” (SDB, 754; see also 893). Leopold von Sonnleithner later recalled, “The event was a success in every way and provided Schubert with a considerable sum of money” (SMF, 115). Ferdinand Schubert stated: “Never had this hall been crowded with more people” (SDB, 919). Franz von Hartmann wrote in his diary that he would “never forget how glorious” the concert was and that everyone afterward went to the Schnecke (Snail), a favorite pub, “where we jubilated until midnight” (SDB, 754). Flush with cash, Schubert invited Bauernfeld to Paganini’s debut three days later (SMF, 67; also 186, 228). A review in the Leipzig Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung likened Schubert’s concert to Linke’s and made a comparison with Beethoven, this time to the young composer’s benefit: “If all these works [by Beethoven], performed to perfection, afforded an indescribable aural treat, the same must be said with hardly less emphasis in praise of that soirée musicale that the excellent Schubert held in the very same place on the 26th.” The Berliner allgemeine musikalische Zeitung noted that “the numerous gathering of friends and patrons did not stint on resounding applause after each number and saw to it that several of them were repeated.” The Dresden Abendzeitung was somewhat less enthusiastic because of comparisons, not with Beethoven in this instance, but rather with Paganini: “The minor stars paled before the radiance of this comet in the musical heavens” (SDB, 756–57).

  Two weeks later Schubert informed a prospective publisher in Germany that the E-flat Trio had been “received at my concert by a tightly packed audience with such extraordinary applause that I have been urged to repeat the concert” (SDB, 764). Indeed, supporters had immediately written an article urging just that, which they submitted to the Wiener Zeitschrift für Kunst, Literatur, Theater und Mode, whose editor Johann Schickh passed it on to Schubert with an admiring letter (SDB, 762). In his 1829 memorial essay on Schubert, Josef von Spaun related that the “exceptional participation of the packed audience matched the rare enjoyment of this evening, which will certainly remain in the memories of all who had the good fortune to participate in this never to be repeated festival of music. It was Schubert’s intention to give a similar concert each year, not suspecting that this first would also be his last and that the next public performance of his compositions would take place only in celebration of his memory.”66

  “I look forward to it longingly”: The Path to Publication

  The great importance Schubert attached to the E-flat Piano Trio is evident not only from its central position at his concert but also in his fervent wish to see it published as soon as possible, a desire that led to its rather complicated publication history.67 As early as 9 February, some six weeks before the concert, two German publishers—Heinrich Albert Probst in Leipzig and B. Schott’s Söhne in Mainz—independently approached Schubert expressing interest in his music. The former hoped for smaller works (Lieder, part-songs, and piano music) that “without sacrificing any of your individuality, are yet not difficult to grasp” (SDB, 735). The latter stated that they had been wanting to publish his works for some time but have “been occupied by the works Opp. 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, and 131 of the departed Beethoven, among which is many a very bulky opus”; they would now be interested in vocal and smaller keyboard pieces (SDB, 737). Once again Schubert found himself in a competition of sorts with Beethoven—and being admired for his domestic pieces rather than sought after for his “strivings after the highest in art,” as he expressed it to Schott (SDB, 740).

  Schubert had not yet officially published anything outside of Vienna.68 He responded to Schott on 21 February, offering a variety of works, including a piano trio that had been “produced here with much success” (SDB, 739); Schott requested to see most of the pieces, including the trio (SDB, 744–45). No doubt preoccupied with preparations for his concert, Schubert took six weeks to respond, informing the publisher that he had had copies made of the “desired trio” and requesting 100 florins for it and 60 for four keyboard impromptus (D935) and a five-part male chorus (D875). He ended by saying, “All I should request is publication as soon as possible” (SDB, 764). He wrote a similar letter to Probst the same day, 10 April. Probst thought Schubert was offering the E-flat Trio, which he immediately accepted and dispatched 60 florins to secure (15 April; SDB, 767–68).

  After various misunderstandings and problems juggling these negotiations, Schubert ultimately decided to accept Probst’s offer: “In order, however, to make a beginning at last, I would only ask for the speediest possible publication, and for the dispatch of 6 copies.” He concluded his 10 May letter: “In expectation of the earliest publication” (SDB, 774). Probst took more than two months to reply, at which point he inquired about the title, dedication, and opus number of the trio and promised publication in “about six weeks” (18 July; SDB, 793). Schubert responded on 1 August: “The opus number of the trio is 100. I request that the edition should be faultless and look forward to it longingly. This work is to be dedicated to nobody, save those who find p
leasure in it. That is the most profitable dedication” (SDB, 796). When the piece had still not arrived as promised two and a half months later, Schubert wrote again: “I beg to inquire when the trio is to appear at last. Can it be that you do not know the opus number yet? It is Op. 100. I await it with longing.” (2 October; SDB, 810). The trio was finally released in Leipzig near the end of October or beginning of November and was advertised for sale in Vienna on 11 December. It is unlikely that Schubert had received his copies of the piece he so longed to see before he died.69

  “Not to be obliged to have recourse to plagiarism”: The Piano Trio in E-flat, Op. 100

  Unlike his extended engagement writing string quartets, which began as a family affair playing with his father and brothers, Schubert came late to the piano trio. He composed a single movement in B-flat (D28) in 1812, which apparently he initially scored for two violins and piano, and then ignored the genre for some fifteen years until producing what proved to be two of his longest and most ambitious chamber works: the Trio in B-flat, Op. 99 (D898) and the Trio in E-flat, Op. 100 (D929). It is not known exactly when he wrote the B-flat Trio, for which the manuscript is lost, although scholars generally agree that it is the earlier of the two.70 A separate slow movement, an Adagio in E-flat (D897), first published in 1846 by Anton Diabelli with the spurious title “Nocturne,” was perhaps originally intended for it. The manuscript survives for the E-flat Trio, along with sketches for the first three movements, all dated as begun in November 1827.

  The chronology and early performance history of the trios have long been debated, but the best evidence is that Schubert composed the B-flat Trio in 1827 and that Schuppanzigh, together with Linke and Bocklet, premiered it as a “new” work during his 26 December subscription concert at the Musikverein.71 One of the trios, more likely the E-flat, was performed by the same musicians at Josef von Spaun’s house on 28 January 1828. (Spaun had recently returned to Vienna after years living in Linz and was engaged to be married; this special Schubertiade, apparently the last he hosted during the composer’s lifetime, honored the occasion.)72 The public premiere of the E-flat Trio was at Schubert’s 26 March 1828 concert, when it was billed as a “new” work.