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Franz Schubert: A Biography
Franz Schubert (1797-1828) was born in Vienna of immigrant parents. During his short life he produced an astonishing amount of music. Symphonies, chamber music, opera, church music, and songs (more than 600 of them) poured forth in profusion. His 'Trout' Quintet, his 'Unfinished' Symphony, the three last piano sonatas, and above all his song cycles Die Schöne Müllerin and Winterreise have come to be universally regarded as belonging to the very greatest works of music. Who was the man who composed this amazing succession of masterpieces, so many of which were either entirely ignored or regarded as failures during his lifetime? In her new biography, Elizabeth Norman McKay paints a vivid portrait of Schubert and his world. She explores his family background, his education and musical upbringing, his friendships, and his brushes and flirtations with the repressive authorities of Church and State. She discusses his experience of the arts, literature and theatre, and his relations with the professional and amateur musical world of his day. Schubert's manic-depressive temperament became of increasing significance in his life, and McKay shows how it was partly responsible for his social inadequacies, professional ineptitude, and idiosyncracies in his music. She examines Schubert's uneven physical decline after he contracted syphilis, traces its effects on his music, his hedonism, and sensuality, and investigates the cause and circumstances of his death at the age of 31.
- GenresBiographyMusicNonfiction
378 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
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March 26, 2020
The more I read about Franz Schubert, and the more I listen to his music, the more I realize what a miracle he really was. While I didn't exactly grow up with his music, it does nevertheless feel like so much of it, especially his songs, have just always been there. It is hard to imagine the opposite, and many of the developments in classical music since then would surely have been inconceivable without Schubert. McKay has written a thorough, though dry, biography - in which it seems to me that just about every known detail about where he lived, went and who he was with at any given occasion has been duly recorded, along with - of course - the available information about when he wrote and published different pieces of music, about what was performed, and the large quantity of his music that was neither published nor performed in his lifetime.
I am not sure I entirely buy into McKay's suggestion that he suffered from cyclothymia. It is a possibility however - and clearly, and understandably, he was periodically depressive after he contracted syphilis. That he liked his wine and beer, perhaps a bit too much, and maybe smoked too much, that he could be unreliable in the way that he sometimes didn't show up when he was invited, doesn't quite fit the need for any diagnosis. His documented unreliability could also simply mean that he was completely uninterested in schmoozing with the aristocracy. McKay shows that he often simply was bored in what could be termed "polite" company - which can explain a lot in itself... - Here's an excerpt from a letter he wrote to his friend Josef von Spaun from Linz in July 1825 - Schubert had gone there to visit Spaun, who had been called away due to a new appointment:
"Lieber Spaun!
Du kannst Dir denken, wie sehr mich das ärgern muß, daß ich in Linz einen Brief an Dich schreiben muß – nach Lemberg. Hol' der Teufel die infame Pflicht, die Freunde auseinander reißt, wenn sie kaum aus dem Kelch der Freundschaft genippt haben. Da sitz' ich in Linz und schwitz' mich halb tod in dieser schändlichen Hitz. Habe ein Heft neuer Lieder und Du bist nicht da. Schämst du Dich nicht? Linz ist ohne Dich wie ein Leib ohne Seele, wie ein Reiter ohne Kopf, wie eine Suppe ohne Salz. Wenn nicht der Jägermaier gutes Bier hätte und auf dem Schloßberg ein passabler Wein zu haben wäre, so müßte ich mich auf der Promenade aufhängen aus Schmerz über die entfloh'ne Linzer Seele. Du siehst, daß ich ordentlich ungerecht werde gegen das übrige Linzthum, indem ich doch in Deiner Mutter Hause, in der Mitte Deiner Schwestern, des Ottenwalt und Max, recht vergnügt bin und aus den Leibern manches noch andern Linzers der Geist herauszublitzen scheint. Nur fürcht' ich, wird dieser Geist nach und nach verblitzen, und da möchte ich vor Unmuth zerplatzen. Überhauptist es ein wahres Elend, wie jetzt überall alles zur faden Prosa verknöchert, wie die meisten Leute dabei ruhig zusehen oder sich gar wohl dabei befinden, wie sie ganz gemächlich über den Schlamm in den Abgrund glitschen..."
Which shows that he was a witty guy, and also the degree to which his friends were important to him. Early on, his membership in the Bildung Circle (in which Spaun was a founding member) clearly meant a lot for his development as an artist in general. (Regrettably I couldn't find McKay's translation of this letter anywhere online, but it sounds better in German anyway.) Most of his songs were composed to be performed at gatherings of his friends and admirers, which eventually developed into the renowned Schubertiads. Clearly, this also explains some of the very intimate feel to them. Schubert, being one of the first free composers, was in many ways also free to choose his own path through the musical landscape of the early nineteenth century. It also meant that he had to live from his music, which he barely managed - and with a lot of help from his friends. This very degree of freedom may also, I think, be another reason why so much of his music feels so intimate and immediate. McKay points to the fact that he never really had a sufficient regular income to be able to marry. At the one obvious point in his life when it was a real possibility, his low salary as a teacher was an insurmountable hindrance to this. With the little that he earned, he simply wasn't legally free to marry. Later on, there were of course a hindrance of a different nature..
Realistically speaking, it is really no wonder if Schubert turned to prostitutes for physical intimacy. The possibility that he was bisexual is more of a curiosity. It remains conjecture, and I agree with McKay, who leaves the question open. Schubert clearly had several periods when he seemed infatuated with one particular woman - that he also seemed somewhat infatuated with his (libertine) friend Schober doesn't really say much, because so was, as McKay clearly shows, his friend Moritz von Schwind, and even more so. - Franz von Schober had a charismatic personality which tended to affect most people one way or the other. If Schober had a "bad influence" on Schubert, as some of his friends later claimed, Schubert was nevertheless headstrong enough (add to that the possible cyclothymia) to be able to get himself into trouble all on his own. Of course there is also the moralistic tone in the comment of his friend Josef Kenner, who stated in 1858 that "Anyone who knew Schubert knows how he was made of two natures, foreign to each other, how powerfully the craving for pleasure dragged his soul down to the slough of moral degradation [Schlammpfuhl]." ("Wer Schubert kannte, weiß, wie er aus zwei einander fremden Naturen zusammengesetzt war, wie gewaltig ohnehin die Genußsucht seine Psyche zu ihrem Schlammpfuhl niederzog, und wie hoch er die Aussprüche geachteter Freunde anschlug, und wird sohin seine Hingebung an den falschen Propheten, der der Sinnlichkeit das beschönigende Wort so schmeichelnd führte, um so begreiflicher finden. Wurden doch gestähltere Charaktere von der dämonischen Lockung des Umganges jenes scheinwarmen, innen aber bloß eitlen Wesens zum Götzendienste verführt, auf kürzere oder längere Frist.") Kenner here also puts the blame on Schober, whose "dämonischen Lockung" presumably was irresistible to Schubert - along with a good many others..
Who knows... I do note however, for what it's worth, that judging from Schubert's letter to Spaun quoted above, the composer's idea of "Schlamm" could perhaps be somewhat different than his friend Kenner's - which as well underscores the fact that as a metaphor the term is quite pliable. The superficial chit-chat of "polite society" was not something Schubert enjoyed, and even had little patience with; on the other hand he opened up in the company of his friends, of his fellow artists and musicians, where social standing was more or less irrelevant, and when the conversation was all, or for the most part at least, about art anyway. - The social stigma of syphilis in Biedermeyer Vienna was very real, and Kenner's statement should of course be seen in light of this as well, and under every circumstance it should be taken with a grain of salt. - On another tangent, McKay writes that "Although opium is never mentioned by name in literature appertaining to Schubert and his friends, there are reasons for supposing that, for a period around 1822, they may have been smoking it." (125-6)- I don't know if Kenner were among those who tried it, but anyway, his statement can refer to a lot of different things. Even to liberal thoughts. Metternich's police was active enough in Vienna, Schubert at one point experienced a slight brush with them, and his old friend Johann Senn was incarcerated for more than a year and later deported to Tyrol. The Bildung Circle barely escaped the eye of suspicion, despite the proclaimed goal of "betterment of youth by the inculcation of lofty idealism and delight in virtue and activity" - it didn't take more than membership in a student group to be viewed as a possible subversive.
Schubert's melancholia is well known I suppose, and it was relieving to realize that he could also be both witty and charming given the right circumstances. His social life was generally quite busy, not the least through his several memberships in Burschenschaften etc, through his many friends and admirers, and later with his eventual membership in the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien in 1821. The Gesellschaft also provided an important venue for the performance of his music. There certainly is much joy and exuberance in Schubert's music as well as melancholy - though the latter may have gotten even more accentuated due to his illness during the last part of his life. And in a way even condensed in a work like the song cycle Winterreise. Schubert's Lieder are perhaps the most well known - the fact remains that most of his piano sonatas and Impromptus, his symphonies and chamber works are as much works of genius, experimentation and technical finesse as any other of the greats of the classical tradition. The Lieder simply comes in addition to that. - McKay writes: "He was essentially a composer of the Viennese classical school, indeed, the last great composer of that tradition. Despite his enormous respect for, and awe of, Beethoven, in particular of the music of the middle period, and despite the influence this music had on him, Schubert's real roots and affections lay with the Austrians Haydn and Mozart." (51)
At the time of his death in 1828, at the age of 31, most of his works remained unpublished, but they continued to come to light throughout the 19th century. 'The Musical World' of London commented in 1839: "All Paris has been in a state of amazement at the posthumous diligence of the songwriter, F. Schubert, who, while one would think that his ashes repose in peace in Vienna, is still making eternal new songs, and putting drawing-rooms in commotion." - I think he's still able to create - if not commotion - at least quite a bit of excitement - indeed he has accomplished that here in my very own living room - lately during the reading of this book, along with listening to András Schiff and his Bösendorfer taking on his piano sonatas and Klavierstücke, and making them sing eternally new and eternally alive. I first made a typo and wrote ethereally alive, and I'll leave that in. Certainly, that as well.
Did I like the book? Yes and no. It is meticulously researched, and McKay succeeds in the balancing act of sticking to the facts while making careful assessment of the different possibilities in the areas where we simply know to little to reach a definitive judgement. So, as for contents, I can say that I liked it. The writing is rather cumbersome and stiff though. While I would hardly describe it as a pleasant read, it provides both a broad and, at the same time, detailed knowledge of Franz Schubert, his music and his circle of friends. It also provided much food for thought, and even though it required some trudging through it most definitely proved worthwhile.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
I am not sure I entirely buy into McKay's suggestion that he suffered from cyclothymia. It is a possibility however - and clearly, and understandably, he was periodically depressive after he contracted syphilis. That he liked his wine and beer, perhaps a bit too much, and maybe smoked too much, that he could be unreliable in the way that he sometimes didn't show up when he was invited, doesn't quite fit the need for any diagnosis. His documented unreliability could also simply mean that he was completely uninterested in schmoozing with the aristocracy. McKay shows that he often simply was bored in what could be termed "polite" company - which can explain a lot in itself... - Here's an excerpt from a letter he wrote to his friend Josef von Spaun from Linz in July 1825 - Schubert had gone there to visit Spaun, who had been called away due to a new appointment:
"Lieber Spaun!
Du kannst Dir denken, wie sehr mich das ärgern muß, daß ich in Linz einen Brief an Dich schreiben muß – nach Lemberg. Hol' der Teufel die infame Pflicht, die Freunde auseinander reißt, wenn sie kaum aus dem Kelch der Freundschaft genippt haben. Da sitz' ich in Linz und schwitz' mich halb tod in dieser schändlichen Hitz. Habe ein Heft neuer Lieder und Du bist nicht da. Schämst du Dich nicht? Linz ist ohne Dich wie ein Leib ohne Seele, wie ein Reiter ohne Kopf, wie eine Suppe ohne Salz. Wenn nicht der Jägermaier gutes Bier hätte und auf dem Schloßberg ein passabler Wein zu haben wäre, so müßte ich mich auf der Promenade aufhängen aus Schmerz über die entfloh'ne Linzer Seele. Du siehst, daß ich ordentlich ungerecht werde gegen das übrige Linzthum, indem ich doch in Deiner Mutter Hause, in der Mitte Deiner Schwestern, des Ottenwalt und Max, recht vergnügt bin und aus den Leibern manches noch andern Linzers der Geist herauszublitzen scheint. Nur fürcht' ich, wird dieser Geist nach und nach verblitzen, und da möchte ich vor Unmuth zerplatzen. Überhauptist es ein wahres Elend, wie jetzt überall alles zur faden Prosa verknöchert, wie die meisten Leute dabei ruhig zusehen oder sich gar wohl dabei befinden, wie sie ganz gemächlich über den Schlamm in den Abgrund glitschen..."
Which shows that he was a witty guy, and also the degree to which his friends were important to him. Early on, his membership in the Bildung Circle (in which Spaun was a founding member) clearly meant a lot for his development as an artist in general. (Regrettably I couldn't find McKay's translation of this letter anywhere online, but it sounds better in German anyway.) Most of his songs were composed to be performed at gatherings of his friends and admirers, which eventually developed into the renowned Schubertiads. Clearly, this also explains some of the very intimate feel to them. Schubert, being one of the first free composers, was in many ways also free to choose his own path through the musical landscape of the early nineteenth century. It also meant that he had to live from his music, which he barely managed - and with a lot of help from his friends. This very degree of freedom may also, I think, be another reason why so much of his music feels so intimate and immediate. McKay points to the fact that he never really had a sufficient regular income to be able to marry. At the one obvious point in his life when it was a real possibility, his low salary as a teacher was an insurmountable hindrance to this. With the little that he earned, he simply wasn't legally free to marry. Later on, there were of course a hindrance of a different nature..
Realistically speaking, it is really no wonder if Schubert turned to prostitutes for physical intimacy. The possibility that he was bisexual is more of a curiosity. It remains conjecture, and I agree with McKay, who leaves the question open. Schubert clearly had several periods when he seemed infatuated with one particular woman - that he also seemed somewhat infatuated with his (libertine) friend Schober doesn't really say much, because so was, as McKay clearly shows, his friend Moritz von Schwind, and even more so. - Franz von Schober had a charismatic personality which tended to affect most people one way or the other. If Schober had a "bad influence" on Schubert, as some of his friends later claimed, Schubert was nevertheless headstrong enough (add to that the possible cyclothymia) to be able to get himself into trouble all on his own. Of course there is also the moralistic tone in the comment of his friend Josef Kenner, who stated in 1858 that "Anyone who knew Schubert knows how he was made of two natures, foreign to each other, how powerfully the craving for pleasure dragged his soul down to the slough of moral degradation [Schlammpfuhl]." ("Wer Schubert kannte, weiß, wie er aus zwei einander fremden Naturen zusammengesetzt war, wie gewaltig ohnehin die Genußsucht seine Psyche zu ihrem Schlammpfuhl niederzog, und wie hoch er die Aussprüche geachteter Freunde anschlug, und wird sohin seine Hingebung an den falschen Propheten, der der Sinnlichkeit das beschönigende Wort so schmeichelnd führte, um so begreiflicher finden. Wurden doch gestähltere Charaktere von der dämonischen Lockung des Umganges jenes scheinwarmen, innen aber bloß eitlen Wesens zum Götzendienste verführt, auf kürzere oder längere Frist.") Kenner here also puts the blame on Schober, whose "dämonischen Lockung" presumably was irresistible to Schubert - along with a good many others..
Who knows... I do note however, for what it's worth, that judging from Schubert's letter to Spaun quoted above, the composer's idea of "Schlamm" could perhaps be somewhat different than his friend Kenner's - which as well underscores the fact that as a metaphor the term is quite pliable. The superficial chit-chat of "polite society" was not something Schubert enjoyed, and even had little patience with; on the other hand he opened up in the company of his friends, of his fellow artists and musicians, where social standing was more or less irrelevant, and when the conversation was all, or for the most part at least, about art anyway. - The social stigma of syphilis in Biedermeyer Vienna was very real, and Kenner's statement should of course be seen in light of this as well, and under every circumstance it should be taken with a grain of salt. - On another tangent, McKay writes that "Although opium is never mentioned by name in literature appertaining to Schubert and his friends, there are reasons for supposing that, for a period around 1822, they may have been smoking it." (125-6)- I don't know if Kenner were among those who tried it, but anyway, his statement can refer to a lot of different things. Even to liberal thoughts. Metternich's police was active enough in Vienna, Schubert at one point experienced a slight brush with them, and his old friend Johann Senn was incarcerated for more than a year and later deported to Tyrol. The Bildung Circle barely escaped the eye of suspicion, despite the proclaimed goal of "betterment of youth by the inculcation of lofty idealism and delight in virtue and activity" - it didn't take more than membership in a student group to be viewed as a possible subversive.
Schubert's melancholia is well known I suppose, and it was relieving to realize that he could also be both witty and charming given the right circumstances. His social life was generally quite busy, not the least through his several memberships in Burschenschaften etc, through his many friends and admirers, and later with his eventual membership in the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien in 1821. The Gesellschaft also provided an important venue for the performance of his music. There certainly is much joy and exuberance in Schubert's music as well as melancholy - though the latter may have gotten even more accentuated due to his illness during the last part of his life. And in a way even condensed in a work like the song cycle Winterreise. Schubert's Lieder are perhaps the most well known - the fact remains that most of his piano sonatas and Impromptus, his symphonies and chamber works are as much works of genius, experimentation and technical finesse as any other of the greats of the classical tradition. The Lieder simply comes in addition to that. - McKay writes: "He was essentially a composer of the Viennese classical school, indeed, the last great composer of that tradition. Despite his enormous respect for, and awe of, Beethoven, in particular of the music of the middle period, and despite the influence this music had on him, Schubert's real roots and affections lay with the Austrians Haydn and Mozart." (51)
At the time of his death in 1828, at the age of 31, most of his works remained unpublished, but they continued to come to light throughout the 19th century. 'The Musical World' of London commented in 1839: "All Paris has been in a state of amazement at the posthumous diligence of the songwriter, F. Schubert, who, while one would think that his ashes repose in peace in Vienna, is still making eternal new songs, and putting drawing-rooms in commotion." - I think he's still able to create - if not commotion - at least quite a bit of excitement - indeed he has accomplished that here in my very own living room - lately during the reading of this book, along with listening to András Schiff and his Bösendorfer taking on his piano sonatas and Klavierstücke, and making them sing eternally new and eternally alive. I first made a typo and wrote ethereally alive, and I'll leave that in. Certainly, that as well.
Did I like the book? Yes and no. It is meticulously researched, and McKay succeeds in the balancing act of sticking to the facts while making careful assessment of the different possibilities in the areas where we simply know to little to reach a definitive judgement. So, as for contents, I can say that I liked it. The writing is rather cumbersome and stiff though. While I would hardly describe it as a pleasant read, it provides both a broad and, at the same time, detailed knowledge of Franz Schubert, his music and his circle of friends. It also provided much food for thought, and even though it required some trudging through it most definitely proved worthwhile.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
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May 26, 2016I'm just going to admit that i'm giving up on this book. It was not my first Schubert biography and it's well-researched, but the lengthy speculation on 209348 theoretical psychiatric problems that Schubert purportedly maybe had bogged me down to the point that i realized i was dreading picking it back up because it was so...i dunno. Not presented in a way that felt speculative or thoughtful or analytical? Not rating the book because i didn't finish it, and i guess i might take another look at it someday if i needed to for research purposes, but probably not.
January 2, 2015
In case you were inclined to feel sorry for the great Franz Schubert, and lament the tragically bad luck he had to die so young, Ms. McKay will disabuse you of this opinion. His dissolute life and hedonistic impulses led to his death at age 31 of syphilis. We are only the recipients of so much music from him because of the speed at which he wrote – perhaps as fast as Mozart. Ms. McKay does a good job of showing us how his manic-depressive behavior resulted in boorish behavior in public, and showed him to be lacking in appreciativeness of those who helped him. I ended up being angry at him for his lifestyle, which deprived the world of much great music by leading to such an early grave. I rate this book a 7 out of 10.
December 23, 2018
The author has an interesting perspective, but the book is not engaging- it's almost unreadable.
June 29, 2025
Although this is an exceptionally well-researched, academic, and informative biography, the whole time I was reading, I kept getting this feeling that McKay didn't really like Schubert? I appreciate a biographer that doesn't shy away from the negative aspects of a person's life, but she repeatedly refers to him in degrading, negative terms that at times, steers from objective statement of fact to ill-intended mockery. There are even points where during these points of negativity, attempts to explain Schubert's good sides, as if to rectify what she has just said. I understand that Schubert was a moody, irritable, and sometimes abusive person, but I wish that McKay used this as an opportunity to humanize him through our understanding of his world and his experiences, rather than feeling like an outsider being bashed by them. (There is also a repeated notion that Schubert was a "great" composer, which I personally detest the idea of there even being such a notion.)(And I say this as a guy who currently has an anime Schubert profile picture.)
She also speculates about Schubert's mental and physical health, and I do buy her argument that Schubert potentially had cyclothymia (rather, some form of bipolar), but I wish she integrated it more with his drug use and later syphilis infection, as those could have exacerbated symptoms. I also wish that McKay incorporated her analysis of Schubert's health to see its effects on his music, in contents, rather than amount of output (which she does talk about!). What I’m saying was I wish there was more musical analysis in a very academically-orientated book like this.
While open to speculating about Schubert's mental health, McKay is dismissive about any notions that Schubert may have had homosexual relationships. I understand this is a big debate in the Schubert academic world (what a niche topic, I know), but to be so dismissive of at least the potential romantic intimacy of Schubert's male relationships (even if harmful, as in the case with his friend Schober), seems very "and historians say they were close friends" to me. (Also the way she talks about cross-dressing prostitutes is...hm. it's giving: "this book came out in 1996" very much so. A product of its time, I suppose.)
What I think McKay does very well is describe Schubert's professional life, as well as his relationship with his family, notably his father, who seems to have influenced his passion for refuting authority (his dad being said figure of authority early on). She also has done a great job synthesizing the abundance of letters/material written about Schubert by his family and colleagues. Overall, she paints a dark picture of an immature man who died of a terrible disease.
Also, this book is very dry. McKay's prose is sometimes a bit of a drag to get through. If you're doing research, or need specific information about Schubert, this is a good and historically accurate resource, but if you're a casual reader and want to get to know Schubert as a person, I would not recommend this book.
She also speculates about Schubert's mental and physical health, and I do buy her argument that Schubert potentially had cyclothymia (rather, some form of bipolar), but I wish she integrated it more with his drug use and later syphilis infection, as those could have exacerbated symptoms. I also wish that McKay incorporated her analysis of Schubert's health to see its effects on his music, in contents, rather than amount of output (which she does talk about!). What I’m saying was I wish there was more musical analysis in a very academically-orientated book like this.
While open to speculating about Schubert's mental health, McKay is dismissive about any notions that Schubert may have had homosexual relationships. I understand this is a big debate in the Schubert academic world (what a niche topic, I know), but to be so dismissive of at least the potential romantic intimacy of Schubert's male relationships (even if harmful, as in the case with his friend Schober), seems very "and historians say they were close friends" to me. (Also the way she talks about cross-dressing prostitutes is...hm. it's giving: "this book came out in 1996" very much so. A product of its time, I suppose.)
What I think McKay does very well is describe Schubert's professional life, as well as his relationship with his family, notably his father, who seems to have influenced his passion for refuting authority (his dad being said figure of authority early on). She also has done a great job synthesizing the abundance of letters/material written about Schubert by his family and colleagues. Overall, she paints a dark picture of an immature man who died of a terrible disease.
Also, this book is very dry. McKay's prose is sometimes a bit of a drag to get through. If you're doing research, or need specific information about Schubert, this is a good and historically accurate resource, but if you're a casual reader and want to get to know Schubert as a person, I would not recommend this book.
May 25, 2014
McKay knows a lot about Schubert. Her little book is packed, with facts about him and his works. I read it to find out finally what claimed his life at thirty-one years. The usual story is he dies of syphilis, which he certainly had. McKay says he died of some sort of "fever". She says that at his death he was in the tertiary stage of syphilis, which is not contagious. She says he suffered from depression, which is understandable. He also used tobacco and alcohol throughout every day. Given these circumstances, I can see how he could fall prey to some bug.
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