大象传媒

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Franz Schubert. Today, it鈥檚 a case of wine, men (Schubert鈥檚 circle was predominantly male) and song, as we spend some quality time with the composer鈥檚 friends.

It鈥檚 hard to think of a composer more gregarious than Schubert, and further removed from the image of the reclusive genius, closeted away in his artistic ivory tower, creating peerless masterpieces in splendid isolation. From his days at Vienna鈥檚 Stadtkonvikt, the Imperial Catholic boarding school that offered the best general and musical education in the Austrian capital, Schubert developed a wide and supportive network of highly cultured friends, with whom he explored art, politics, religion, literature, and, of course, music; frequented the odd tavern or three; and attended convivial social gatherings in the homes of well-heeled admirers, from which developed the tradition of the 鈥楽chubertiad鈥� 鈥� informal get-togethers devoted to the performance of Schubert鈥檚 music, and above all, his songs. Among Schubert鈥檚 bosom buddies were the brilliant, handsome, monied, silver-tongued yet ultimately feckless Franz von Schober, whom the more serious-minded of Schubert鈥檚 friends saw as a distinctly malign influence on the impressionable young composer; Anselm H眉ttenbrenner, who was gifted the manuscript of the 鈥楿nfinished鈥� Symphony and, inexplicably, kept it in a drawer for more than four decades before allowing a public performance, in return for the performance of one of his own overtures; and the artist Moritz von Schwind, whose sepia drawing of a Schubertiad, made from memory more than 40 years after the event, captures an idealised and intensely nostalgic recollection of an intimate evening of Schubert鈥檚 music with the composer himself at the piano, 鈥渞ather in the nature of an old gentleman chattering about events at which he was present in his youth and to which he still remains attached in his heart鈥�.

鈥楢n die Musik鈥�, D547
Christa Ludwig, mezzo soprano
Geoffrey Parsons, piano

鈥楽uleika I鈥� D720
Carolyn Sampson, soprano
Joseph Middleton, piano

鈥楪eheimes鈥�, D719
Ian Partridge, tenor
Jennifer Partridge, piano

Symphony No 8 in B minor (鈥楿nfinished鈥�), D759 (1st mvt, Allegro moderato)
Vienna Philharmonic
Carlos Kleiber, conductor

鈥樏渂er Wildemann鈥�, D884
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone
Gerald Moore, piano

鈥楽ehnsucht鈥�, D879
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone
Gerald Moore, piano

鈥楧as Z眉gengl枚cklein鈥�, D871
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone
Gerald Moore, piano

Gesang (鈥楢n Sylvia鈥�), D891
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone
Gerald Moore, piano

String Quartet in D minor, D 810 (鈥楧eath and the Maiden鈥�) (4th mvt, Presto鈥擯restissimo)
Hungarian Quartet

Produced by Chris Barstow