Six years after the death of Mozart, but while Haydn and Beethoven were still living, the former a man of sixty-five and the latter twenty-seven (the year when first the shadow that was to eclipse his life fell over him), there was born in Vienna a little lad called Franz Peter Schubert, son of a master at Leopoldstadt. His beautiful voice and perfect ear soon procured him a place among the choristers in the Imperial chapel. No one seems to have taught him composition, but his genius was of the kind that will out, and as other lads with the fervour of the writer in their blood spoil ink and paper from an absurdly early age, so young Franz spent all his spare time composing. When he was eighteen he composed in one year two symphonies, five operas, and one hundred and thirty-seven songs, besides many other things of less importance! He was at this time helping to teach in the same school as his father and all this was done in his unoccupied moments. Wishing to devote himself still more to the art which absorbed him, he applied for a position as teacher in a Government music school, but was told he was “imperfectly qualified!”
The Esterhazy family, who had done so much for music already, accepted him as teacher for one of the daughters of the house. The post was poorly paid and, like Mozart, Schubert suffered from poverty all his life. His industry was amazing; he literally poured out compositions, one of his best-known songs, “Hark! Hark! the Lark,” being written on the back of a bill of fare in a beer-garden! His symphonies never received recognition in his lifetime, and he never enjoyed that applause which fell to the lot of Beethoven. His lack of early training in the technique of music told heavily on him, for the prodigality of his genius had no adequate base to rest on. He died very young, being barely thirty-two, and he is buried close to Beethoven.
That Austria should have produced three such marvellous geniuses, all practically at the same time, and been a foster-mother to a fourth, greater than any, is a surprising record, which will probably never be eclipsed in the annals of history. Many other musical children she has had, but all stand below these great masters. Among them, Johann Strauss, born in 1804, and so a member of the same galaxy, has already been noted. It is impossible to describe exhaustively all of Austria’s musicians who have enriched the world of men with their melodies and their marvellous execution. She stands in the forefront of musical countries, and none will grudge her the position.
CHAPTER IX
VIENNA TO BUDAPEST
Following the course of the river onward, there is not much to remark on after leaving Vienna until we reach the boundary of Hungary. The first Hungarian town is Dévény, otherwise known as Theben, and at the mouth of the river March the spurs of the North-West Carpathians can be seen.
THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT AND MARGIT BRIDGE, BUDAPEST
It is tiring to repeat the same things about castle after castle, but the situations chosen for these ancient relics are, in almost all cases, so remarkably fine that it is impossible to pass them by without comment. Even among such a profusion of rocky heights crowned with keeps that at Dévény stands out as something exceptional. The marvel is how the workmen, with no steam to help them, contrived to get the mighty stones planted so enduringly on the great boss of rock, which falls precipitously to the water below. Even in its extreme ruin Dévény is strong, and strong it had need to be as a border fortress always in the thick of a continuous struggle between two nations. It withstood the Turks, but was ruined by the French in 1809. The most conspicuous object about it now is the Millenary column, planted there to commemorate the 1000th anniversary of the Hungarian Kingdom. These columns have been scattered broadcast over Hungary and are met with at every turn.
Next is reached Pressburg, the Pozsony of the Hungarians and at one time their capital.
The first impression of Pressburg is dominated by the square fortress on the top of the hill and the spire of the cathedral. The fortress is in ruins, but the cathedral has been restored. Part of its tower, however, is said to date from the time of the Romans, and some of the building of the thirteenth century survives. There are one or two splendid private dwellings, such as those of the Archduke Frederick and Count Esterhazy, while the fine tower of the town-hall stands so high that it dwarfs the houses near. In the cathedral the kings of the House of Hapsburg from Ferdinand I. to V. were crowned. It is a fine town with exceptionally fine environs, and those who have time would do well to visit it. One of the new universities founded in Hungary in 1912 is at Pressburg and the other at Debreczen.