Page:Pratt - The history of music (1907).djvu/444



child, especially when out of the rough student-circle whose ways he loved. He drew back from high society, though his simplicity, gentleness and sincerity attracted cultivated friends. His temperament was sunny and contented, even amid want and obscurity, though occasionally, especially toward the end, he had periods of depression.

For almost 15 years his daily habit was to compose steadily in the mornings, and to spend the afternoons with friends or in the suburbs, and the evenings in careless camaraderie. He usually lived in miserable quarters, shunning all stated duties. He had an omnivorous craving for poetry, chiefly because it roused instant musical inspiration. His song-texts were drawn from over 100 different poets, including over 70 from Goethe, nearly 50 from Schiller, over 40 from Muller, etc. He was fascinated over the opera, but was uncritical about his librettos, most of them being trashy and extravagant. The interest in orchestral writing steadily grew upon him, and his freedom in it kept pace. Composition was his one object in life. His method of work was almost incredibly rapid and sure, being often guided by a sort of raptus. Even extended works presented themselves to him in final form at once, so that writing out was only incidental. He made no preliminary sketches and hated revisions. In all these regards he was the opposite of Beethoven.

His continued poverty was due partly to the lack of stated employment, partly to the small prices derived from his works, and partly to his imprudence or sheer generosity. He was wanting in business tact, finesse and wisdom, and was utterly unconscious of the real worth of his works. He made them for the pleasure of making them. His public success was hindered by unsympathetic managers and publishers, and by hostile press criticism.

His moral instincts were direct and strong, but he seems not to have had any special religious sentiments, though nominally a Catholic. Within his home circle his affections had always a childlike intensity.

174. His Works and Style.—Schubert's entire artistic manner was dominated by the song idea. Pellucid melodies in perfect form welled up within him in endless abundance. Primarily these were conceived for vocal delivery, but works for solo instruments, the piano or ensemble groups were similarly treated. Yet his extraordinary fertility of expression was not only melodic, but harmonic and coloristic as well. His grasp of the resources of tonality was intuitive, his readiness in elaborating characteristic accompaniments astonishing, and his sensitiveness to the varying timbre of both voices and instruments acute and original. His special weaknesses, due to his imperfect early discipline, were in contrapuntal structure, in the organic development of his tone-materials, and in compression and restraint when he sought to arrange them in an extended plan. Many of his works are amazingly long and diffuse, though not dry or empty. He never fails of ideas, but is sometimes feeble in un