Taking up a selection from Schubert’s famous symphony, he spoke feelingly of the author, and then gave some pictures of the lives of Beethoven and Bach.
THE AUTHOR OF THE ERL KING.
Poor Schubert! The composer of what operas, symphonies, overtures, choruses, masses, cantatas, sonatas, fantasias, arias! What tenderness was in his soul!—Listen to the “Last Greeting;” what fancy and emotion! listen to the “Fisher Maiden” and “Post Horn;” what refinement! listen to the “Serenade;” what devotion! hear the “Ave Maria”!
Dead at the age of thirty-one; dead after a life of neglect, leaving all these musical riches behind him!
Franz Schubert was born at Himmelpfortgrand, in 1797. His father was a musician, but a poor man. Franz was placed at the age of eleven among the choir-boys of the Court Chapel, where he remained five years, absorbed in musical studies, and making himself the master of the leading instruments of the orchestra.
To compose music was his life. His restless genius was ever at work; always seeking to produce something new, something better. The old masters, and especially Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, were his sources of study and inspiration. Music became his world, and all outside of it was strange and unexplored. All of his moods found expression in music: his love, his hopes, his wit, his sadness, and his dreams.
He seems to have composed his best works for the pure love of his art, with little thought of money or fame. Many of his best works he never heard performed. He left his manuscript scores scattered about his rooms, and so they were found in confusion after his decease.
A monument was erected to his memory. On it is the following simple but touching inscription:—
“The art of music buried here a rich possession, but yet far fairer hopes. Franz Schubert lies here. Born on the 30th of January, 1797, died on the 19th of November, 1828, thirty-one years old.”
Fame almost failed to overtake him in life; his course was so rapid, and his works were so swiftly produced. It crowned his memory.