Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

i
"We
—
—'
292 1819 SCHUBERT 1819
He found the theatre more than ever in possession
of Kossini. To the former operas, ' Elisabetta'
was added in the autumn, and ' Otello '.early in
Jan. 1819. But one of the good traits in Schubert's
character was his freedom from jealousy,
and his determination to enjoy what was good,
from whatever quarter it came, or however much
it was against his own interest. A letter of his
to Hiittenbrenner, written just after the production
of ' Otello,' puts this in very good light.
' " Otello " is far better and more characteristic
than "Tancredi." Extraordinary genius it is
impossible to deny him. His orchestration is
often most original, and so is his melody ; and
except the usual Italian gallopades, and a few
reminiscences of "Tancredi," there is nothing
to object to.' But he was not content to be
excluded from the theatre by every one, and the
letter goes on to abuse the canaille of Weigls
'
and Treitsohkes,' and 'other rubbish, enough
to make your hair stand on end,' all which
were keeping his operettas off the boards. Still,
it is very good-natured abuse, and so little is
he really disheartened, that he ends by begging
Hiittenbrenner for a libretto ; nay, he had
actually just completed a little piece called Die
'
Zwillingsbriider ' ('The Twins'), translated by
Hofmann from the French—a Singspiel in one
act, containing an overture and ten numbers.
He finished it on Jan. 19, 1819, and it came
to performance before many months were
over.
Of his daily life at this time we knownothing.
must suppose that he had regular duties
with his pupils at the Esterhazys' town house,
but there is nothing to say so. We gather
that he joined Mayrhofer in his lodgings, 420
in the Wipplingerstrasse, early in the year.i
It was not a prepossessing apartment. 'The
lane was gloomy ; both room and furniture were
the worse for wear ; the ceiling drooped ; the
light was shut out by a big building opposite
a worn-out piano, and a shabby bookcase.' The
only relief is the name of the landlady—Sanssouci,
a Frenchwoman. No wonder that Mayrhofer's
poems— he was ten years Schubert's
senior—were of a gloomy cast.
The two ii-iends were on the most intimate
terms, and addressed each other by nicknames.
What Mayrhofer's appellation may have been
we do not know, but Schubert, now and later,
was called 'the Tyrant,' for his treatment of
Hiittenbrenner; also 'Bertl,' '.Schwammerl,'
and, best of all, '
Kanevas '—because when a
stranger came into their circle his first question
always was, Kann ' er was V (' Can he do
anything?') Their humour took all sorts of
shapes, and odd stories are told of their sham
fights, their howls, their rough jokes and repartees.
Mayrhofer was ''
a Government employ^
1 In a letter to Mayrhofer from Linz, dated August 19, 1819, he
aaya, '
Let the bearer have my bed while be stays with you.' K.R.
•
p. 159 (i. 160). The bed must have been his before be left town.
a JT.ir. p. 61 (1.
SI).
and went to his office early, leaving his fellowlodger
behind. Schubert began work directly
he awoke, and even slept in his spectacles to
save troulale ; he got at once to his writing,
sometimes in bed, but usually at his desk. It
was so still, when Hiller called on him eight
'
years later.^ Do you write much 1 ' said the
boy, looking at the manuscript on the standing
desk—they evidently .knew little in North
Germany of Schubert's fertility. 'I compose
'
every morning, ' was the reply ; and when one
piece is done, I begin another.' And yet this
was the musieien le pirns' poUe que jamais—it
might have been the answer of a mere Czerny !
Add to this a trait, communicated to the writer
by Schubert's friend, Franz Laohner, of Munich,
that when he had completed a piece, and heard
it sung or played, he locked it up in a drawer,
and often never thought about it again.
This close work went on till dinner-time
two o'clock—after which, as a rule, he was free
for the day, and spent the remainder either in
a country walk with friends, or in visits—as
to Sofie Muller, and Mme. Lacsny Buchwieser,
whom we shall encounter farther on ; or at
Schober's rooms, or some coffee-house—in his
later days it was Bogner's Cafd in the Singerstrasse,
whei;e the droll cry of a waiter was a
never-ending pleasure to him. But no hour or
place was proof against the sudden attack of
inspiration when anything happened to excite
it. An instance occurs at this very time, Nov.
1819, in an overture for four hands in F
(op. 34), which he has inscribed as ' written in
Joseph Huttenbrenner's room at the City Hospital
in the inside of three hours ; and dinner
missed in consequence.'* If the weather was
fine he would stay in the country till late,
regardless of any engagement that he might
have made in town.
The only compositions that can be fixed to
the spring of 1819 are five songs dated February,
and one dated March ; a very fine quintet
for equal voices, to the 'Sehnsucht' song in
'
Wilhehn Meister ' — a song which he had
already set for a single voice in 1816, and was
to set twice more in the course of his life (thus
rivalling Beethoven, who also set the same
words four times) ; an equally fine quartet for
men's voices, ' Ruhe, schbnstes Gliick der Erde,
dated April ; four sacred songs by Novalis,
dated May ; and a striking overture in E
minor, in Ser. II. of the complete edition.
The earnings of the previous summer allowed
him to make an expedition this year on his
own account. Mayrhofer remained in Vienna,
and Vogl and Schubert appear to have gone
together to Upper Austria. Steyr was the first
point in the journey, a town beautifully situated
on the Enns, not far south of Linz. They
reached it early in July ; it was Vogl's native
place, and he had the pleasure of introducing
» In HiUer'B K&nttZeirleben, p. 49. « S.tT. p. 160 {i. 162).