Franz Schubert

Question 1

Information About Him (10)

Answer 1

• (1797-1828)
• born in Vienna, Austria
• father was a teacher
• learned to play violin, viola, and piano
• sang in the Imperial Chapel school choir
• trained to be a school teacher and taught briefly
• left teaching and became a free-lance musician living in poorly
• worked briefly for the Esterházy family (side note: Haydn also did)
• he and his colleagues put together evenings known as Schubertiades
• had health problems, died at the age of 31

Question 2

His Style and Contributions (11)

Answer 2

• Schubert was Classical in his instrumental music and Romantic in his use of harmony
• he was influenced by Mozart, Beethoven, and the poet Goethe
• increased the role of the piano accompaniment
• composed more than 600 lieder
• piano music
• Lieder: An die Musik, Ständchen, Die Forelle, Heidenröslein, Ave Maria
• song cycles: Die Winterreise, Die schone Müllerin
• symphonies: “Great,” “Unfinished”
• string quartet: Death and the Maiden
• quintet: Trout
• opera: Fierrabras

Question 3

Important Work: Erlkönig (17)

Answer 3

• a lied
• written in 1815
• a poem by Goethe
• in common time
• originally in G minor
• through-composed
• marked fast
• piano has triplet octaves with LH patterns
• 4 characters: narrator, father, son, Erl king
• narrator is in middle register
• father’s notes are lower
• son’s notes are higher
• Erl king is also in middle register
• father and son are riding in the night
• boy is afraid of the Erl king
• father dismisses son, doesn’t realize what’s going on
• son is dead by the time they get home