The Life of Schubert (Musical Lives) by Christopher H. Gibbs (20-Apr-2000) Paperback

Musical Lives

by Christopher Howard Gibbs

Franz Schubert is a singularly undocumented composer. Direct accounts of his life are scarce, incomplete, and contradictory; even the memoirs of his closest friends, mostly written long after his death, reflect the writers more than the subject. His own surviving letters and diaries are often poignant, but sparse; it is in his music that he truly revealed himself. No wonder he has been the victim of endless speculation and rumor, leaving his image encrusted in fantasy, sentimentality, and condescension. Numerous serious, conscientious biographies have attempted to rectify this. Christopher Gibbs's excellent, informative, generously illustrated new study is a welcome addition. Gibbs has written and lectured widely on Schubert; his style is lucid, scholarly but not pedantic, and except for a stiff, ponderous beginning, flows with natural ease. Gibbs focuses on some relatively unexplored areas, notably Beethoven's profound influence on Schubert, both personal and musical, though they never met. He also demolishes several popularly held misconceptions, showing, for example, that Schubert took an active part in promoting his own career, enjoyed frequent successes, and lived to see his fame begin to grow. Gibbs demonstrates that Schubert was by no means a "natural," untutored composer who simply shook melodies out of his sleeve, and that it was not his untimely death that caused so many works to remain "unfinished." Some of these refutations have already been offered by previous writers, but are well worth repeating. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, in his splendid book On the Trail of the Schubert Songs, points out that Schubert's self-criticism often drove him to compose the same text several times, though unlike Beethoven he left no "sketchbooks that resemble battlefields." Hans Gál, in his Franz Schubert and the Essence of Melody (a beautiful book despite the clumsy title), suggests with a composer's empathetic insight that Schubert may have abandoned a work, like the C-major Piano Sonata, because he had modulated himself into a corner or hit a snag in the development, going on to something else while hoping for future inspiration.Gibbs deserves special gratitude for attacking the credibility of the most recent Schubert scholarship, which claims to have uncovered evidence of heavy drinking, debauchery, and unbridled sensuality, both hetero- and homosexual, born and bred from Vienna's depraved climate, Schubert's hedonistic circle of friends, and his own allegedly immoral nature. These assertions reveal more about our own times and attitudes than about Schubert and his world. --Edith Eisler

Genres: Music, Biography, History, Nonfiction

Unknown Binding

First published April 1, 2000

Reviews

[Paul Frandano · Rating 5 out of 5]

Given the paucity of materials on the life of Schubert, Christopher Gibbs works the available documents into a marvelous story, one that places Schubert on the same shelf as Beethoven. Gibbs' erudite love of Schubert and mastery of the range of Schubert's compositions makes for an unusually comprehensive story as well as a brief guide to the works.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have in the last few years started listening more to Schubert's music. My favorites are his piano works, especially his late piano sonatas. I have started reading, but couldn't finish, a couple other Schubert biographies. I was interested, but not that interested. I didn't need something with too much depth. So for me, this was just the right level. The author makes a repeated point that the common story of Schubert's life is that he was relatively unknown during his lifetime. In fact, while he wasn't a Beethoven of the times, he was known and appreciated by famous musicians of the day. He is well know for the "Schubertiades", evenings with friends and Schubert's music. This author looks at who influenced and who was influenced by his music. No less than Schumann, Liszt, Mendelsohnn and Brahms all did much to promote Schubert's work.
I like a quote from "The Musical World" in 1839, a Paris periodical - "All Paris has been in a state of amazement at the posthumous diligence of the song-writer Franz Schumbert who, while one would think his ashes repose in peace in Vienna, is still making eternal new songs, and putting drawing rooms in commotion". This is because Schubert left many unpublished works which were being discovered and performed for years after his passing.
Having an interest in classical music and the people who were part of it, I enjoyed the book.

[James F · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short biography of Franz Schubert in the Musical lives series, by a well-known expert on the composer. Gibbs here gives the "modern" Schubert, debunking the myths of the old biographies about "poor Schubert", the naive, childlike natural composer of songs, unknown to any but his close circle of friends until after his death. Actually, Schubert was quite well known as a composer of songs and popular piano works, and beginning to better known as a serious composer at the time of his death. Gibbs also goes over the modern theories about Schubert's personality, such as that he suffered from bipolar disorder or something similar, or that he was an alcoholic. He considers Maynard Solomon's claim that Schubert was gay a possibility but unproven. (I'm skeptical because all the "proofs" would apply as much to me as to Schubert and I'm not gay: unmarried, few (known) relationships with women, lived with male roommates, had friends who are thought to have been gay -- by the same criteria? -- etc.) For its length this is a very good biography.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short biography of Franz Schubert manages to be remarkably thorough, given that he only lived to be 31. Gibbs does a good job of addressing the various misconceptions and controversies surrounding Schubert's life and personality, and of delving into the kinds of myth-making that occur after an artist's death. Gibbs also provides a good, if basic, view of early 19th century musical life in Vienna.
I've never been much of a fan of Schubert's instrumental music, either for listening or playing, and, unfortunately, this was not the sort of biography to change that even a little. The only thing Gibbs really piqued my interest about was musical life in 19th century Vienna.

[Valentina Chiriac · Rating 4 out of 5]

O carte biografică care așa cum promite in postfața-- " muzica impune... o tăcere respectuoasa in care s-o asculți. Dar după ce-ai ascultat-o sau înainte s-o cunoști, cuvintele te pot apropia mai mult de ea." --a reușit sa ma introducă in opera lui Franz Schubert. Am apreciat nespus firul narativ nu chiar tipic unei biografii, dar mai ales obiectivitatea măsurată prin întrebările si problemele ridicate, argumentate și contraargumentate. Din nou, o carte întâmplătoare-încântătoare!

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though short at 200 pages, it gives a panoramic overview of Schubert's life and helps correct, or put in perspective, some popular notions of the man and his music. This book is meant to be a survey and is a highly successful one at that.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

I played some simple Schubert when I took piano lessons and enjoyed them. I like his pieces when I hear them. Recently I saw a performance of Symphony (the Great) #9. I find it on a par with Beethoven. I really didn't know much about him. Short life, Viennese, had friends and was poor and sad a lot of the time. This short biography is large on facts, and avoids speculation. The challenge is there is not on lot on the record. He died young, before he became famous. He was not poor, nor was he rich. He had a lot of friends. He was probably not gay. He probably contracted syphilis in his early 20's and knew he would die young for his last 10 years. As a result he did have huge mood swings, but despite that was always creating. I found most interesting the influence of Beethoven. Rather than be intimidated by it, he felt he might be his successor and in the 20 months between Beethoven's death and his own created some of his greatest pieces. Schubert's influence on those who came after was huge. I liked learning about Schubert and how he developed into one of the great Romantic composers. If you like classical music and Schubert, this is a good way to learn more about it.

[Socrate · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Schubert a avut o problemă de imagine. În timpul vieții a fost aproape necunoscut în afara Vienei natale, unde, în orice caz, publicul era familiarizat doar cu o mică parte din vasta sa operă. După moartea lui, informațiile puține, inexacte și adesea contradictorii despre el au făcut ca biografii și muzicologii să poată crea aproape orice reprezentare doreau – portretul mult prea familiar, a cărui autenticitate merită o serioasă analiză. Acest capitol introductiv examinează imaginea maleabilă a lui Schubert prin cercetarea semnificațiilor mai largi a trei reprezentări din secolul al XIX-lea. Reflexia asupra anumitor reprezentări vizuale, cred eu, ne poate ajuta să înțelegem mai bine locul derutant ocupat de Schubert în imaginea populară. Schița, desenul în sepia și pictura reproduse aici ridică probleme esențiale privind compozițiile, mediul cultural și faima lui Schubert. Chiar dacă investigația aceasta preliminară nu-l dezvăluie până la urmă pe “adevăratul” Schubert, măcar ne atrage atenția asupra unor factori care complică reprezentarea vieții sale.

[Becky King · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting biography

As a music lover, I’ve often been curious about one of my favorite composers. This short biography answered most of my questions and points the way to further study. The life of Vienna also appears, stimulating more enquiry. The only objection is that some confusion arose for me in the superimposed topical and chronological arrangement. I appreciate the approach, however, as it provides a larger context for understanding events and later views of Schubert.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an extremely well written biography of Schubert that focuses on Schubert’s career and how it took decades for much of his music to be discovered, performed and published. I also think the author does a good job separating Schubert myth from Schubert fact and Schubert - Who Knows.
This book did not spend much time discussing the technical details of his compositions, which is where most composer biographies lose me. I really enjoyed this.

[Stephanie Pieck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gibbs has written an accessible yet insightful short biography of a composer whose short life and large compositional output have led to much speculation. General readers and serious musicians will both find valuable information here, and the book is a perfect place to begin a deeper exploration of Schubert and his music.

[Brad Erickson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did not know a whole lot about Schubert, other than that he died young. I liked that this book is short while covering equally his life and his music. Learned about his great symphony in C Major that was published after his death, and I just checked: I have the symphony on a vinyl record and will listen to it tomorrow!

[Alan Murchie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comprehensive and concise. Also evenhanded. Beautifully done.

[Ella · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5.
I probably would’ve enjoyed this more if I knew more about early nineteenth century Vienna in general.

[Sebastián Heine · Rating 3 out of 5]

está no es la versión que leí. lo intente