Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

1821- SCHUBERT -1822 297
so impossible in real life. It was called Alfonso
'
und Estrella,' and two acts were completed before
their return to town. The first act is dated
at the end of the autograph Sept. 20, and the
second Oct. 20. A week later they were back
again in Vienna.
The songs composed in 1821 are very important,
and comprise some of his very finest,
and in the most various styles. It is sufficient
to name among the published ones ' Grenzen der
Mensohheit' (February); 'Geheimes' (March);
Suleika's two songs (opp. 14, 31); 'Sei mir
gegriisst ' (op. 20, No. 1) ; and Die ' Naohtigall,'
for four men's voices (op. 1 1, No. 2)— all of the
very highest excellence, of astonishing variety,
and enough of themselves to make the fame of
any ordinary composer. A fine setting of
'
Mahomet's song,' by Goethe, for bass (possibly
for Lablache), was begun in March.
The third act of ' Alfonso und Estrella ' was
finished in Feb. 27, 1822. The fact that a
thoroughly worldly, mercenary, money-making
manager like Barbaja, who was at the same time
a firm believer in Rossini, had become lessee
of the two principal theatres of Vienna, augured
badly for Schubert's chance of success in that
direction. But indeed the new piece seems to
have been calculated to baffle any manager, not
only in Vienna, but everywhere else. It caused,
aswe shall see, a violent dispute, eighteen months
later, between Schubert and Weber, which but
for Schubert's good temper would have led to a
permanent quarrel. Anna Milder, to whom
Schubert sent a copy of the work in 1825, tells
him, in a letter full of kindness and enthusiasm,
that the libretto will not suit the taste of the
Berliners, 'who are accustomed to the grand
tragic opera, or the French op&a-eomique.'
Nor was the libretto the only drawback.
Schubert, like Beethoven in ' Fidelio,' was in
advance of the modest execution of those days.
At Graz, the abode of the Hiittenbrenners,
where there was a,foyer of Schubert-enthusiasts,
the opera got as far as rehearsal, and would
probably have reached the stage, if the accompaniments
had not proved impossible for the
band, i No performance took place until twentysix
years after poor Schubert's death, namely at
"Weimar, on June 24, 1854, under the direction
of Liszt, who, with all his devotion to the
master, had to reduce it much for performance.
It was very carefully studied, and yet the
success, even in that classical town, and with
all Liszt's enthusiasm and influence, seems to
have been practically nil. At last, however,
its time came. Twenty-five years later, in
1879, it was again taken in hand by Capellmeister
Johann Fuchs of the Court opera,
Vienna, who entirely rewrote the libretto, and
greatly curtailed the work ; and in this form
it was brought to performance at Carlsruhe in
March 1881, with great success.
> K.B. p. 249 (i. 252).
But to return to Schubert and 1822. Early
in the year he made the acquaintance^ of Weber,
who spent a few weeks of February and March
in Vienna to arrange for the production of his
'
Euryanthe. ' No particulars of their intercourse
on this occasion survive. With Beethoven
Schubert had as yet hardly exchanged words.
And this is hardly to be wondered at, because,
though Vienna was not a large city, yet the
paths of the two men were quite separate.
Apart from the great difference in their ages,
and from Beethoven's peculiar position in the
town, his habits were fixed, his deafness was a
great obstacle to intercourse, and, for the last
five or six years, what with the lawsuits into
which his nephew dragged him, and the severe
labour entailed by the composition of the Mass
in D, and of the Sonatsis opp. 106, 109, 110,
and 111—works which by no means flowed
from him with the ease that masses and sonatas
did from Schubert—he was very inaccessible.
Any stranger arriving from abroad, with a
letter of introduction, was seen and treated
civilly. But Schubert was a born Viennese,
and at the time of which we speak, Beethoven
was as much a part of Vienna as St. Stephen's
tower, and to visit him required some special
reason, and more than special resolution.
A remark of Rochlitz's ^ in the July of this
year shows that Schubert was in the habit of
going to the same restaurant with Beethoven,
and worshipping at a distance ; but the first
direct evidence of their coming into contact
occurs at this date. On April 19, 1822, he
published a set of Variations on a French air
as op. 10, and dedicated them to Beethoven as
'
his admirer and worshipper ' {sein Verehrer
und Bewunderer). The Variations were written
in the winter of 1 820-21, and Schubert presented
them in person to the gi'eat master. There are
two versions of the intei-view,* Schindler's and
J. Huttenbrenner's. Schindler was constantly
about Beethoven. He was devoted to Schubert,
and is very unlikely to have given a depreciating
account of him. There is therefore no reason for
doubting his statement, especially as his own
interest or vanity were not concerned. It is
the first time we meet Schubert face to face.
He was accompanied by Diabelli, who was just
beginning to find out his commercial value, and
would naturally be anxious for his success.
Beethoven was at home, and we know the
somewhat overwhelming courtesy with which
he welcomed a stranger. Schubert was more
bashful and retiring than ever ; and when the
great man handed him the sheaf of paper and
the carpenter's pencil provided for the replies
2 For their meeting we have the authority of Weber's eon in hia
biography, ii. 420. But his statement that Schubert -v&a alienated
from Weber by Weber's criticism on 'Rosamnnde' is more than
doubtful, because 'Rosamnnde' was prolaably not composed till
some nineteen months later, and because it was not Schubert's
habit to take offence at criticism.
3 Fur Prmnde der Tonktmst, iv. 352. See the lifelike and touching
picture by Braun von Braun given in Nohl'B Beethoven, iii. 6f'2.
i Schindler's Beethoven, ii. 176.
U