Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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1825- SOHUBEET -1826 305
good sense and even practical sagaoity,i and a
facility of expression, which are rare in him.
At length the summer and the money came
to an end, Vogl went off to Italy for his gout,
and Schubert, meeting Gahy at Linz, returned
with him and the MS. Symphony to Vienna in
an EinspOwner, to find Schober and Kupelwieser
both once more settled there. The first thing
to be done was to replenish his purse, and this
he soon did by the sale of the seven songs from
'The Lady of the Lake,' which he disposed of
on Oct. 29 to Artaria, for 200 silver gulden
just £20 ! Twentypounds, however, were a mine
ofwealth to Schubert ; and even after repaying
the money which had been advanced by his
father, and by Bauernfeld for the rent of the
lodgings during his absence, he would still have
a few pounds in hand.
During Schubert's absence in the country his
old friend Salieri died, and was succeeded by
Eybler. The Court organist also fell ill, and
Schwind wrote urging him to look after the
post ; but Schubert made no sign, and evidently
did nothing in the matter, though the organist
died on Nov. 19. He obviously knew much
better than his friends that he was absolutely
unfit for any post requiring punctuality or restraint.
In the course of this year he was
made Ersatzmann, ' ' or substitute—whatever
that may mean— by the Musikverein, or
Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde. Of what happened
from this time till the close of 1825 we
have no certain information. He set two songs
by Schulze in December ; and it is probable
that the Kauo Sonata in D (op. 53), and the
noble funeral march for the Emperor of Russia
(op. 55), whose death was known in Vienna on
Dec. 14, both belong to that month. What
gave him his interest in the death of Alexander
is not known, but the march is an extraordinarily
fine specimen. A piece for the Piano in
F, serving as accompaniment to a recitation
from a poem by Pratobevera, a series
of graceful
modulations in arpeggio form, also dates
from this year.^
The compositions of 1825 may be here
summed up :— Sonata for PF. solo in A minor
(op. 42) ; ditto in D (op. 53) ; ditto in A (op.
120) ; unfinished ditto in C ('Eeliquie,' Nott.
p. 211) ;
a funeral march, four hands, for the
Emperor Alexander of Russia (op. 55). Songs
— 'Des Sangers Habe,' by Schlechta, and
'
Im
Walde,' by E. Schulze ; seven from ' The Lady
of the Lake ' (op. 52) ; another from Scott's
FuUe
' Pirate' ^ Auf ' der Bruck,' by Schulze ; '
der Liebe,' by Sehlegel ;
;
'
Allmacht ' and
'Heimweh,' by Pyrker ; two scenes from ' Laorimas,'
by W. von Sohiitz ; and 'Abendlied fiir
die Entfemte,' by A. W. Sehlegel ; Die junge
'
1 See his shrewd reatwna for not at once accepting Bauemfeld'a
proposition tliat he, Schwind and Schubert, ahould all live together.
K.B:. p. 370 fli. 57). Also the whole letter to Spaun.
* Printed by Keissmann in his book.
3 So says Sofle MUller (under date of March 1) ; but perhaps it was
her m'stake for Norman's song in 'The Lady of the Lake.'
Nonne," ' Todtengrabers Heimweh,' and 'Der
blinde
'
Knabe,' all by Craigher ; Der Einsame,'
by Lappe ; and, in December, An mein Herz
'
and Der ' liebliohe Stern, ' both by Ernst Schulze.
It is also more than probable that the string
quartet in D minor was at least begun before
the end of the year.
The publications of 1825 are :—In January,
opp. 32, 30, 34 ; Feb. 11, opp. 36 and 37 ;
May 9, op. 38 ; July 26, op. 43 ;
August 12,
op. 31 ; and, without note of date, opp. 29 and
33. Op. 29 is the lovely A minor Quartet ; and
it is worthy of note that it is published as the
first of ' Trois quatuors.' 'This was never
carried out. The two others were written, sis
we have already seen (p. 3016), but they remained
unpublished till after the death of their
author.
1826 was hardly eventful in any sense of the
word, though by no means unimportant in
Schubert's history. It seems to have been passed
entirely in Vienna. He contemplated a trip to
Linz with Spaun and Schwind, but it did not
come off. The weather of this spring was extraordinarily
bad, and during April and May he
composed nothing,* The music attributable to
1826 is, however, of first-rate quality. The
String Quartet in D minor, by common consent
placed at the head of Schubert's music of this
class, was first played on Jan. 29, and was therefore
doubtless only just completed.^ That in G
(op. 161), Schubert himself has dated as being
written in ten days (June 20 to June 30), a work
teeming with fresh vigour after the inaction of
the preceding two months as full, of melody,
spirit, romance, variety, and individuality, as
anything he ever penned, and only prevented
from taking the same high position as the preceding,
by its great length—due to the diffuseness
which Schubert would no doubt have
remedied had he given himself time to do so.
One little point may be mentioned en passant
in both these noble works—the evidence they
afford of his lingering fondness for the past.
In the D minor Quartet he goes back for the
subject and feeling of the Andante to a song of
his own of 1816, and the Finale of the 6 major
is curiously tinged with reminiscences of the
Eossini-fever of 1819.
The ' Rondeau brillant ' in B minor for PF.
and violin (op. 70), now such a favourite in the
concert-room, also belongs to this year, though
it cannot be precisely dated ; and so does a
piece of still higher quality, which is pronounced
by Schumann to be its author's 'most perfect work
both in form and conception,' the Sonata in G
major for PF. solo, op. 78, usually called the
' Fantasia,' owing to a freak of the publisher's.
The autograph is inscribed, in the hand of its
4 See his letter to BHuernfeM and Mayrhofer, in J)ie Pregse, April
21, 1869.
6 K.II. p. 391 (ii. 77). The finale was voted too long, to which
Schubert, after a few minutes' consideration, agreed, and 'at once
cut out a good part.' (Hauer'a information.) The autograph has
disappeared.