Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 3.djvu/349

SCHUBERT. still all but unknown. One is sorry to hear of a little rebuff which he sustained at this time from the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde of Vienna, to whom he applied to be admitted as a practising member (on the viola), but who refused him on the ground of his being a professional, and therefore outside their rules. A somewhat similar repulse was experienced by Haydn from the Tonkünstler Societät. [See vol. i. 707a.] On the other hand, the musical societies both of Linz and Gratz elected him an honorary member. To the latter of these distinctions we owe the two beautiful movements of the Symphony No. 8, in B minor, which was begun at Vienna on Oct. 30, 1823, and intended as a return for the compliment. The Allegro and Andante alone are finished, but these are of singular beauty and the greatest originality. In them, for the first time in orchestral composition, Schubert exhibits a style absolutely his own, untinged by any predecessor, and full of that strangely direct appeal to the hearer of which we have already spoken. It is certain that he never heard the music played, and that the new and delicate effects and orchestral combinations with which it is crowded, were the result of his imagination alone. The first movement is sadly full of agitation and distress. It lay hidden at Gratz for many years, until obtained from Anselm Hüttenbrenner by Herbeck, who first produced it in Vienna at one of the Gesellschaft concerts in 1865. It was published by the excellent Spina early in 1867; was played at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham, April 6, 1867, and elsewhere in England, and always with increasing success. In fact no one can hear it without being captivated by it.

The Songs composed in 1822—14 printed and 2 in MS.—comprise 'Epistel von Collin' (Lf. 46; Jan.); 'Heliopolis' (Lf. 37, no. 1; April); 'Todesmusik,' with a magnificent opening (op. 108, no. 2; Sept.); 'Schatzgräbers Begehr' (op. 23, no. 4; Nov.) with its stately bass; 'Willkommen und Abschied' (op. 56, no. 1; Dec.); 'Die Rose' (op. 73) and 'Der Musensohn' (op. 92). The concerted pieces, 'Constitutionslied' (op. 157; Jan.), 'Geist der Liebe' (op. 11, No. 3), 'Gott in der Natur' (op. 133), and 'Des Tages Weihe' (op. 146), all belong to this year.

Publication went on in 1822, though not so briskly as before. The Variations dedicated to Beethoven (op. 10) were first to appear, on April 19. They were followed by op. 8 (4 songs) on May 9, and op. 11 (3 part-songs) on June 12. Then came a long gap till Dec. 13, on which day ops. 12, 13, and 14, all songs, appeared at once. We have not space to name them. But with such accumulated treasures to draw upon, it is unnecessary to say that they are all of the first class. The pecuniary result of the publications of 1821 had been good; 2000 gulden were realised, and of the 'Erl King' alone more than 800 copies had been sold; and if Schubert had been provident enough to keep his works in his own possession he would soon have been out of the reach of want. This however he did not do. Pressed by the want of money, in an incautious moment he sold the first 12 of his works to Diabelli for 800 silver gulden (£80), and entered into some injudicious arrangement with the same firm for future publications. His old and kind friend Count Dietrichstein about this time offered him a post as organist to the Court Chapel, but he refused it, and he was probably right, though in so doing he greatly distressed his methodical old father. His habits, like Beethoven's, made it absurd for him to undertake any duties requiring strict attendance.

The Vienna Theatre being closed to Alfonso and Estrella, Schubert turned his thoughts in the direction of Dresden, where his admirer Anna Milder was living, and where Weber was Director of the Opera; and we find him in a letter of Feb. 28, 1823 (recently published for the first time) asking his old patron Herr von Mosel for a letter of recommendation to Weber. He is confined to the house by illness, and apologises for not being able to call. There are no traces of reply to this application, but it probably led to nothing, for, as we shall see, the score of the opera was still in his hands in October. He was evidently now set upon opera. In the letter just mentioned he implores von Mosel to entrust him with a libretto 'suitable for his littleness'; and though he seems never to have obtained this, he went on with the best he could get, and 1823 saw the birth of no less than three dramatic pieces. The first was a one-act play with dialogue, adapted from the French by Castelli, and called 'die Verschworenen,' or 'the Conspirators.' The play was published in the 'Dramatic Garland'—an annual collection of dramas—for 1823. Schubert must have seen it soon after publication, and by April had finished the composition of it. The autograph, in the British Museum, has at the end the words 'Aprill 1823. F. Schubert, Ende der Oper.' It contains an overture and 11 numbers, and appears from Bauernfeld's testimony to have been composed with a view to representation at the Court-theatre. The libretto is a very poor one, with but few dramatic points, and confines the composer mainly to the Chorus. The licensers changed its title to the less suspicious one of 'Der häusliche Krieg' or 'The domestic Struggle,' and it was duly sent in to the management, but it returned in twelve months without examination. It did not come to performance at all during Schubert's lifetime, nor till 1861. In that year it was given, under Herbeck's direction, by the Musikverein, Vienna, on March 1 and 22; and on the stage at Frankfort on Aug. 29; since then at the Court-theatre, Vienna, at Munich, Salzburg, and other German towns; in Paris, Feb. 3, 1868, as 'La Croisade des Dames,' and at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham, March 2, 1872 as 'The Conspirators.' In less than two months after throwing off