Friends, acquaintances and contemporary comments
Introduction
In this section I've included contemporary comments, as well as comments from memoirs made after Schubert's death by his friends and acquaintances.
Eduard von Bauernfeld
Yesterday afternoon Schubert died ... The most honest soul and the most faithful friend! I wish I lay there in his place. For he leaves the world with fame! [from his diary 20 Nov 1828, quoted in the Docs]
Schubert had, so to speak, a double nature, the Viennese gaiety being interwoven and ennobled by a trait of deep melancholy. Inwardly a poet and outwardly a kind of hedonist... [letter to Luib, 24th November 1857, quoted in the Memoirs]
A man who so understands the poets is himself a poet! [from 'some notes on Franz Schubert' (1869) quoted in the Memoirs]
Ludwig van Beethoven
Truly, in Schubert there is a divine spark.
Wilhelm von Chézy
...small, thick-set musician; though to outward appearances a lump of dough, his eyes had such a sparkle that the inner fire was revealed at the first glance. [from his autobiography, quoted in the Memoirs]
Unfortunately Schubert, with his liking for the pleasures of life, had strayed into those wrong paths which generally admit of no return, at least of no healthy one. [from his autobiography, quoted in the Memoirs]
He took a certain ... shall I say pride in the misfortunes which befell him on his wild caperings. [from his autobiography, quoted in the Memoirs]
Georg Franz Eckel
The figure small but stocky, with strongly developed, firm bones and firm muscles, rounded rather than angular. Neck short and powerful; shoulders, chest and pelvis broad and finely arched; arms and thighs rounded; hands and feet small, his walk brisk and vigorous. His head, which was rather large, round and strongly built, was surrounded by a shock of brown curly hair ... His eyes, which were soft and, if I am not mistaken, light brown in colour and which burned brightly when he was excited, were heavily overshadowed by rather prominent orbital ridges and bushy eyebrows... Nose medium size, blunt, rather turned up... On his chin the so called beauty dimple. [letter to Luib, 24th November 1857, quoted in the Memoirs]
Ludwig August Frankl
Schubert then let himself go to pieces; he frequented the city outskirts and roamed around in taverns, at the same time admittedly composing his most beautiful songs in them, just as he did in the hospital too (the " Müllerlieder ", according to Hölzel), where he found himself as the result of excessively indulgent sensual living and its consequences. [Written notes of a conversation with Schober, June 1868, quoted in the Memoirs].
Franz Grillparzer
- The art of music here entombed a rich possession, but even far fairer hopes. [Inscription on Schubert's tomb]. Other sketches which were rejected:
- Wayfarer! Hast thou heard Schubert's Song? Under this stone he lies.
- He was placed near the best ones when he died, and yet he was scarcely half-way in his career.
- He gave to poesy tones and language to music, Neither spouse nor maiden, it is as sisters that the two embrace above Schubert's head.
- He bade poetry resound and music speak.
Ferdinand Hiller
...Schubert had but little technique, Vogl had not much of a voice, but they both had such life and feeling, and were so completely absorbed in their performances, that the wonderful compositions could not have been interpreted with greater clarity and, at the same time, with greater vision. [from an article on Vienna 52 years ago, 1879, quoted in the Memoirs]
Michael Holzer
If I wished to instruct him in anything fresh, he already knew it. Consequently I gave him no actual tuition but merely conversed with him and watched him with silent astonishment. [Quoted by Ferdinand Schubert in his From Franz Schubert's Life, published in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, 23 April - 3 May 1839, which is given in full in the Memoirs]
He has harmony at his finger's ends! {quoted in Kreißle von Hellborn, English translation by Arthur Duke Coleridge] / The boy has harmony in his little finger [quoted in Wilberforce and many others].
Johann Evangelist Horzalka
Although Schubert never represented himself as a (piano) virtuoso, any connoisseur who had the chance of hearing him in the private circles will nevertheless attest that he knew how to treat this instrument with mastery and in a quite peculiar manner , so that a great specialist in music, to whom he once played his last sonatas, exclaimed: 'Schubert, I almost admire your playing even more than your compositions!" [Kreißle von Hellborn attributes the quote to Horzalka. It is Ferdinand Schubert who quotes Horzalka in an article from the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik in 1839. This article is quoted in full in the Docs.]
Anselm Hüttenbrenner
Towards the fair sex he was boorish and, consequently, anything but gallant. He neglected his appearance, especially his teeth, and smelt strongly of tobacco and so was quite unqualified to be a gay Lothario. [Notes to Luib, 1st April 1858, quoted at length in the Memoirs]
...he disliked bowing and scraping, and listening to flattering talk about himself he found downright nauseating. [Notes for Liszt, not dated, probably around 1850, quoted in the Memoirs]
When I visited him for the first time, and it was in winter and extremely cold, I found him in a dimly lit, damp, unheated little room; he was sitting wrapped up in an old, threadbare dressing-gown, freezing with cold and - composing. [Notes for Liszt, not dated, probably around 1850, quoted in the Memoirs]
Josef Hüttenbrenner
In the realm of song, of romances, hymns and ballads, as well as of men's choruses and vocal quartets, Anselm stands as high as Beethoven and Schubert. In the ballad Anselm surpasses Schubert ... like Schubert, he [Anselm] may with absolute justice be called the spiritual heir and successor of Beethoven and the Mozart of this century... [Letter to Thayer, 8 October 1860, quoted in the Memoirs]
Tietze was absolutely opposed to a Requiem, he said Schubert was a good song-writer but a Requiem which was only merited by great composers, he did not deserve [Letter to unknown recipient, 7 and 12 March 1868, quoted in the Memoirs]
Josef Kenner
...but his body, strong as it was, succumbed to the cleavage in his - souls - as I would put it, of which one pressed heavenwards and the other bathed in slime; [letter to Anton Kenner, for Luib, 21 April 1858, quoted in the Memoirs]
Anyone who knew Schubert knows how he was made of two natures, foreign to each other, how powerfully the craving for pleasure dragged his soul down to the slough of moral degredation, and how highly he valued the utterances of friends he respected, and so will find his surrender to the false prophet, who embellished sensuality in such a flattering manner, all the more understandable. [Notes for Luib, 10 May 1858, quoted in the Memoirs]
Leopold Kupelwieser
Once when Schubert was playing the Fantasia, Op. 15, to a circle of friends and broke down in the last movement, he sprang up from his seat with the words: "Let the devil play the stuff!" [Notes for Kreißle von Hellborn, about 1860, quoted in the Memoirs]
Franz Lachner
A round, fat, somewhat puffy face, an arched forehead, pursed-up lips, a snub nose and curly, though rather scanty hair gave his head an original appearance. His height was below the average, his back and shoulders rounded. His facial expression was not uninteresting. [From his Memoirs of Schubert, 1881, quoted in the Memoirs]
Johann Mayrhofer
Falsity and envy were utter strangers to him; his character was a mixture of tenderness and coarseness, sensuality and candour, sociability and melancholy. [obituary in Neues Archiv, 23rd Feb 1829, quoted at length in the Docs]
Wilhelm Müller
In truth, my songs lead only half a life, a paper life, black on white ... until music imparts to them the breath of life, or calls it forth and awakens it, if it is already dormant in them. [Letter to Bernhard Klein, 15 December 1822]
Wenzel Ruzicka
This one's learnt it from God. [Quoted in the Docs]
Antonio Salieri
Franz, you are my pupil, and you are going to bring me much further honour. [quoted in Kreißle von Hellborn]
He can do everything, he composes songs, masses, operas, quartetts whatever you can think of. [Quoted by Ferdinand Schubert in his From Franz Schubert's Life, published in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, 23 April - 3 May 1839, which is given in full in the Memoirs].
Karl von Schönstein
...this heaven-inspired clairvoyant who, as it were, simply shook his most glorious things out of his sleeve. [Notes for Luib, January 1857, quoted in the Memoirs]
Ignaz Schubert
I was much astonished when, after only a few months he informed me that he had now no further use for my teaching and would be quite able to get on by himself. And indeed he went so far in a short time that I had myself to acknowledge him as a master far surpassing me and no longer to be caught up (by me).
Ignaz Schuppanzigh
My dear fellow, this is no good, leave it alone; you stick to your songs. [After the first run through of the quartet in D Minor, "Death and the Maiden", quoted by Lachner in his Memoirs of Schubert, quoted in the Memoirs]
Moritz von Schwind
I have wept for him as a brother, but now I am glad for him that he has died in his greatness and has done with his sorrows. The more I realize now what he was like, the more I see what he has suffered. [letter to Schober, 25th November 1828]
(who) asked by a Viennese lady what Schubert looked like, answered in his devastating way: "Like a drunken cabby!" [From the article 'Das Schubert-Monument', by Ludwig Speidl, 25 May 1866]
Leopold von Sonnleithner
Thus lived Schubert, and so he was. His earthly pilgramage was brief; but the spirit that comes from his music lives. [Monthly report of Austrian Philharmonic Society, February 1829.]
... for he had no idea of domestic economy and was often led by his tavern friends (mostly painters or poets and only a few musicians) into useless expenditure from which the others benefited more than he did himself. [Notes for Luib, 1 November 1857, quoted in the Memoirs]
Schubert was extraordinarily fertile and industrious in composing. For anything else that goes by the name of work he had no use.. [Notes for Luib, 1 November 1857, quoted in the Memoirs]
But unfortunately I must confess that I saw him in a drunken state several times. [Notes for Luib, 1 November 1857, quoted in the Memoirs]
Schubert was below average height, with a round, fat face, short neck, a not very high forehead, and thick, brown, naturally curly hair; back and shoulders rounded, arms and hands fleshy, short fingers, main potelée; his eyes (if I am not mistaken) grey-blue, eyebrows bushy, nose stubby and broad thick lips; the face somewhat negroid. [Notes for Luib, 1 November 1857, quoted in the Memoirs]
Josef von Spaun
I am of the opinion that, in the field of instrumental and church music, we shall never make a Mozart or Haydn out of him. [Letter to Eduard von Bauernfeld (who was preparing a biographical note), early 1829.]
One day ... he looked me frankly in the eyes and said "Do you really think something will come of me?" I embraced him and said "you have done much already and time will enable you to do much more and great things too". Then he said quite humbly: "Secretly, in my heart of hearts, I still hope to be able to make something of myself, but who can do anything after Beethoven?". [Notes for Luib 1858, quoted in the Memoirs]
...he sang the whole of the "Winterreise" through to us. We were quite dumbfounded by the gloomy mood of these songs and Schober said he had only liked one song, "Der Lindenbaum". To which Schubert only said, "I like these songs more than all the others and you will get to like them too". [Notes for Luib 1858, quoted in the Memoirs]
Anyone who has seen him of a morning occupied with composition, aglow, with his eyes shining and his speech changed, like a somnambulist, will never forget the impression. [Notes for Luib 1858, quoted in the Memoirs]
Poor Schubert, so young and at the start of such a brilliant career! What a wealth of untapped treasures his death has robbed us of!. [Notes for Luib 1858, quoted in the Memoirs]
When the publishers told him that people found the accompaniment to his songs too hard and the keys often too difficult, and that, in his own interest, he ought to pay more attention to this, he always replied that he could not write differently and that anyone who could not play his compositions should leave them alone and a person to whom one key was not as easy as another was, anyhow, not in the least musical. [Notes for Luib 1858, quoted in the Memoirs]
... the singer, Stockhausen, took three times as much for a single performance of the Müllerlieder, in the Musikvereinssaal, as Schubert had received for composing them. [From his Memoirs, 1864, quoted in the Memoirs].
Schubert ... who in money matters was as innocent as a child and was content with every little sum he was offered [From 'Some observations on the Life of Schubert by Herr Ritter von Kreissle-Hellborn" (1864), quoted in the Memoirs].
Albert Stadler
Simple and good-natured in his relations with others, completely unpretentious, bordering on negligence in his outward appearance and averse to every affectation, he was happiest in the gay circle of his friends and apparently phlegmatic, but at the same time ardent, temperament was not lacking in wit and good-humour. [Notes for Luib January - June 1858, quoted in the Memoirs]
It was interesting to see him compose. He very seldom made use of the pianoforte while doing it. He often used to say it would make him lose his train of thought. ... He would ... bite his pen, drum with his fingers at the same time, trying things out, and continue to write easily and fluently, without many corrections, as if it had to be like that and not otherwise. And how right he was! [Notes for Luib January - June 1858, quoted in the Memoirs]
Johann Michael Vogl
"You do have talent, but you are too little the actor, too little the charlatan. You are too prodigal with your thoughts, without developing them."
"...there are two kinds of composition, one which, as in Schubert's case, comes into existence during a state of clairvoyance or somnambulism, without any conscious action on the part of the composer..." [letter to Albert Stadler, 15 Nov 1831]
Before Schubert's genius we must all bow and if he does not come we must crawl after him on bended knee. [Quoted by Adam Heller in a letter to Luib, 25 July 1858].
Kunigunde Vogl
One thing, perhaps, I ought to add for the sake of truth, although I do not like doing it; namely the observation that Schubert was as undistinguished as a person as he was distinguished as a composer. [note to her daughter, c 1850, quoted in the Memoirs].
Carl Maria von Weber
"I tell you the first puppies and the first operas are always drowned." [Comment on Alfonso und Estrella - Schubert had started 11 previous operatic works...]