Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 3.djvu/362

350 der Lieder'), were, on Mr. Nottebohm's authority, written in August. The last is by Seidl; it is dated 'Oct. 1828,' and is probably Schubert's last song.

But it is time to return to the chronicle of his life during its last ten months. Of his doings in January we know little more than can be gathered from the following letter to Anselm Hüttenbrenner, the original of which is in the British Museum.

The expression 'till death,' which appears here for the first time in his letters, and the words 'of Vienna,' added to his name, are both singular.

On the 24th, at an evening concert at the Musik-Verein, the serenade for contralto solo and female chorus just mentioned was performed, and is spoken of by the correspondent of the Leipzig A.M.Z. as 'one of the most charming works of this favourite writer.' In February we find three letters from North Germany, one from Probst of Leipzig, and two from Schott. They show how deep an impression Schubert was making outside Austria. Both firms express warm appreciation of his music, both leave the terms to be named by him, and Schott orders a list of 9 important pieces.

On March 26 Schubert gave, what we wonder he never gave before, an evening concert on his own account in the Hall of the Musik-Verein. The following is the programme exactly reprinted from the original.

This programme attracted 'more people than the hall had ever before been known to hold,' and the applause was very great. The net result to Schubert was 800 gulden, Vienna currency, equal to about £32. This put him in funds for the moment, and the money flowed freely. Thus, when, three days later, Paganini gave his first concert in Vienna, Schubert was there, undeterred, in his wealth, by a charge of 5 gulden. Nay, he went a second time, not that he cared to go again, but that he wished to treat Bauernfeld, who had not 5 farthings, while with him 'money was as plenty as blackberries.'

This month he wrote, or began to write, his last and greatest Symphony, in C. He is said to have offered it to the Society for performance, and in so doing to have expressed himself to the effect that henceforth he wished to have nothing more to do with songs, as he was now planted firmly in Opera and Symphony. This rests on the authority of Kreissle; the silence of Herr Pohl in his history of the Society shows that its minutebooks contain no express mention of the reception of the work, as they do that of the Symphony in Oct. 1826. There is no doubt, however, that it was adopted by the Society, and is entered in the Catalogue, under the year 1828, as xiii. 8024. But this prodigious work was far beyond the then powers of the chief musical institution of