Music History Monday: With a Little Help from His Friends

We mark the birth on January 31, 1797 – 225 years ago today – of Franz Peter Schubert, in Vienna. He died in that city 31 years, 9 months, and 19 days later, on November 19, 1828. Franz Schubert is no stranger to Music History Monday. However, we could not let his birthday pass without a post; no way, no how. Our angle today will be to focus on those friends without whom Schubert the man and the composer could not have survived. Schubert: Image and Reality The short, pudgy Schubert was called by his friends “Schwammerl,” which means “little mushroom.” The fully-grown Schubert was 1.57 meters tall (about 5’1”) and as his portraits attest, he never lost his cherubic appearance. The following description of the adult Schubert was written by his friend Anselm Hüttenbrenner: “Schubert’s outward appearance was anything but striking. He was short of stature, with a full, round face, and was rather stout. His forehead was very beautifully domed. Because of his short sight, he always wore spectacles which he did not take off, even during sleep. Dress was a thing in which he took no interest whatsoever; consequently, he disliked going out into smart society. He disliked bowing and scraping, and listening to flattering talk about himself he found downright nauseating.” Writing in the book Schubert’s Vienna (Yale University Press, 1997), the musicologist Ernst Hilmar, the former Director of the International Franz Schubert Institute in Vienna, objects to what he perceives of as the “traditional” image of Franz Schubert: “The image of the composer [Schubert] portrayed in most monographs is oversimplified and simply false. Schubert is presented as a chubby, shy, withdrawn genius, unappreciated and unsupported by society, who dashed off masterworks without any effort. There is some truth to this image, but precisely what is false?” We would thank Ernst Hilmar for asking the question regarding precisely what is false about his description of Schubert. It would have been nice if he had bothered answering his own question, WHICH HE DOES NOT.… See the full transcript (and join me - for just $2) on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/posts/61871830/ See the latest of my courses on sale now from The Great Courses: https://robertgreenbergmusic.com/sale/