The San Jose Symphony Orchestra was a symphony orchestra performing in San Jose, California . It performed in the Civic Auditorium through 1971, and the Center for the Performing Arts afterwards until its suspension in 2001 and dissolution in 2002.
124-551: A group calling itself the San Jose Symphony first performed in 1879, but its existence was scattered and irregular until a formal symphony association was formed in 1937. A more regularly organized group, at first calling itself the San Jose Civic Orchestra, began playing that year and, except for a suspension during World War II, continued until 2001. At first it was a volunteer group playing only one or two concerts
248-526: A vast oeuvre , including more than 600 secular vocal works (mainly Lieder ), seven complete symphonies , sacred music , operas , incidental music , and a large body of piano and chamber music . His major works include the art songs " Erlkönig ", " Gretchen am Spinnrade ", and " Ave Maria "; the Trout Quintet ; the Symphony No. 8 in B minor ( Unfinished ); the Symphony No. 9 in C major ( Great );
372-474: A Countess of youthful grace, —A pupil of Galt's; in desperate case Young Schubert surrenders himself to another, And fain would avoid such affectionate pother The setbacks of previous years were compensated by the prosperity and happiness of 1825. Publication had been moving more rapidly, the stress of poverty was for a time lightened, and in the summer he had a pleasant holiday in Upper Austria where he
496-509: A Voyage , and over the next twenty years (between 1973 and 1992) he produced no fewer than 37 new symphonies. He created a major work, The Rubaiyat , A Musical Setting in 1975, which was for narrator and orchestra and has been twice recorded. Rubaiyat refers to the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam , Persian mathematician, astronomer, and poet. The text consisted of a dozen of the English quatrains from
620-513: A book on the subject, but never completed it. He then studied Japanese gagaku music (learning the wind instruments hichiriki , shō , and ryūteki ) in the spring of 1962 with Masatoshi Shamoto in Hawaii, and a Rockefeller Foundation grant allowed him further gagaku studies with Masataro Togi in Japan (1962–63). Also while in Japan, he studied and played the nagauta ( kabuki ) shamisen and
744-553: A brief visit to Graz , Austria, in 1827. In 1826, he dedicated a symphony (D. 944, that later came to be known as the Great C major ) to the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde and received an honorarium in return. The String Quartet No. 14 in D minor (D. 810), with the variations on Death and the Maiden , was written during the winter of 1825–1826, and first played on 25 January 1826. Later in
868-506: A choir scholarship. At the Stadtkonvikt, he was introduced to the overtures and symphonies of Mozart, the symphonies of Joseph Haydn and his younger brother Michael Haydn , and the overtures and symphonies of Beethoven , a composer for whom he developed admiration. His exposure to these and other works, combined with occasional visits to the opera, laid the foundation for a broader musical education. One important musical influence came from
992-555: A considerable number of secular works for two or more voices, namely part songs , choruses and cantatas. He completed eight orchestral overtures and seven complete symphonies, in addition to fragments of six others. While he composed no concertos, he did write three concertante works for violin and orchestra. Schubert wrote a large body of music for solo piano, including eleven incontrovertibly completed sonatas and at least eleven more in varying states of completion, numerous miscellaneous works and many short dances, in addition to producing
1116-483: A different concert on the same day as the premiere of the Overture, his song Der Wanderer (D. 489) was performed. In 1822, Schubert made the acquaintance of both Weber and Beethoven but little came of it in either case; however, Beethoven is said to have acknowledged the younger man's gifts on a few occasions. On his deathbed, Beethoven is said to have looked into some of the younger man's works and exclaimed: "Truly,
1240-420: A few months after we began, that he had no need of any further instruction from me, and that for the future he would make his own way. And in truth his progress in a short period was so great that I was forced to acknowledge in him a master who had completely distanced and outstripped me, and whom I despaired of overtaking. His father gave him his first violin lessons when he was eight years old, training him to
1364-421: A fine singer of Armenian and Kurdish troubadour songs, whose singing inspired Hovhaness. In one of several applications for a Guggenheim fellowship (1940), Hovhaness presented his credo at the time of application: Lou Harrison reviewed a 1945 concert of Hovhaness' music, which included his 1944 concerto for piano and strings, entitled Lousadzak : However, as before, there were also critics: Lousadzak
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#17328552156191488-643: A full-time composer. Also that year (starting on August 1), he worked for the Voice of America , first as a script writer for the Armenian section, then as director of music, composer and musical consultant for the Near East and Transcaucasian sections. He eventually lost this job (along with much of the other staff) when Dwight D. Eisenhower succeeded Harry S. Truman as U.S. president in 1953. From this time on, he branched out from Armenian music, adopting styles and material from
1612-451: A great many songs, became one of Schubert's main proponents in Viennese musical circles. Schubert also met Joseph Hüttenbrenner (brother of Anselm), who also played a role in promoting his music. These, and an increasing circle of friends and musicians, became responsible for promoting, collecting, and, after his death, preserving his work. Heinrich Anschütz wrote in his memoirs that Schubert
1736-535: A hopeless passion for his pupil, the Countess Caroline Esterházy , but the only work that bears a dedication to her is his Fantasia in F minor for piano duet (D. 940). This dedication, however, can only be found in the first edition and not in Schubert's autograph . His friend Eduard von Bauernfeld penned the following verse, which appears to reference Schubert's unrequited sentiments: In love with
1860-492: A large set of works for piano four hands . He also wrote over fifty chamber works, including some fragmentary works. Schubert's sacred output includes seven masses, one oratorio and one requiem, among other mass movements and numerous smaller compositions. He completed only eleven of his twenty stage works. In July 1947 the Austrian composer Ernst Krenek discussed Schubert's style, abashedly admitting that he had at first "shared
1984-640: A marked advance in development and maturity of style. He began the ultimately unfinished oratorio Lazarus (D. 689) in February 1820. This was later followed by the hymn "Der 23. Psalm" (D. 706), the octet " Gesang der Geister über den Wassern " (D. 714), the Quartettsatz in C minor (D. 703), the Wanderer Fantasy in C major for piano (D. 760), and additional smaller works. In 1820, two of Schubert's operas were staged: Die Zwillingsbrüder (D. 647) appeared at
2108-570: A new start in composition. Hovhaness became interested in Armenian culture and music in 1940 as organist for the St. James Armenian Apostolic Church in Watertown, Massachusetts , remaining in this position for about ten years. In 1942, he won a scholarship at Tanglewood to study in Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů 's master class . During a seminar in composition, while a recording of Hovhaness's first symphony
2232-614: A role in a falling-out with Mayrhofer, with whom he was living at the time. Schubert, who was only a little more than five feet tall, was nicknamed "Schwammerl" by his friends, which Gibbs describes as translating to "Tubby" or "Little Mushroom". "Schwamm" is "mushroom" in the Austrian and Bavarian dialects of German; the ending "-erl" makes it a diminutive. Gibbs also claims he may have occasionally drunk to excess, noting that references to Schubert's heavy drinking "... come not only in later accounts, but also in documents dating from his lifetime." Schubert's compositions of 1819 and 1820 show
2356-759: A self-consciously Armenian composer (rather as Ernest Bloch is seen as a Jewish composer), his output assimilates the music of many cultures. What may be most American about all of it is the way it turns its materials into a kind of exoticism. The atmosphere is hushed, reverential, mystical, nostalgic." He was born as Alan Vaness Chakmakjian ( Armenian : Ալան Յարութիւն Չաքմաքճեան ) in Somerville, Massachusetts , to Haroutioun Hovanes Chakmakjian (an Armenian chemistry professor at Tufts College who had been born in Adana , Turkey ) and Madeleine Scott (an American of Scottish descent who had graduated from Wellesley College ). When he
2480-924: A short time to pursue astronomy, another of his early loves. The fascination of astronomy remained with him through his entire life and composing career, with many works titled after various planets and stars. Hovhaness's parents soon supported their son's precocious composing, and set up his first piano lessons with a neighborhood teacher. Hovhaness continued his piano studies with Adelaide Proctor and then Heinrich Gebhard . By age 14 he decided to devote himself to composition. Among his early musical experiences were Baptist hymns and recordings of Gomidas Vartabed , an eminent Armenian composer. He composed two operas during his teenage years which were performed at Arlington High School , and composer Roger Sessions took an interest in his music during this time. Following his graduation from high school in 1929, he studied with Leo Rich Lewis at Tufts and then under Frederick Converse at
2604-624: A significant amount of music during these years. He completed the Mass in A-flat major , (D. 678) in 1822, and later that year embarked suddenly on a work which, more decisively than almost any other in those years, showed his maturing personal vision, the Symphony in B minor , known as the Unfinished Symphony (D. 759). The reason he left it unfinished – after writing two movements and sketches some way into
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#17328552156192728-460: A third – continues to be discussed and written about, and it is also remarkable that he did not mention it to any of his friends, even though, as Brian Newbould notes, he must have felt thrilled by what he was achieving. In 1823, Schubert wrote his first large-scale song cycle , Die schöne Müllerin (D. 795), setting poems by Wilhelm Müller . This series, together with the later cycle Winterreise (D. 911, also setting texts of Müller in 1827)
2852-492: A wide variety of forms and genres, including opera, liturgical music , chamber and solo piano music, and symphonic works. Perhaps most familiarly, his adventurousness is reflected in his notably original sense of modulation; for example, the second movement of the String Quintet (D. 956), which is in E major, features a central section in the distant key of F minor. It also appears in unusual choices of instrumentation, as in
2976-582: A wide variety of sources. As documented in 1953 and 1954 , he received Guggenheim Fellowships in composition. He wrote the score for the Broadway play The Flowering Peach by Clifford Odets in 1954, a ballet for Martha Graham ( Ardent Song , also in 1954), and two scores for NBC documentaries on India and Southeast Asia (1955 and 1957). Also during the 1950s, he composed for productions at The Living Theatre . His biggest breakthrough till then came in 1955, when his Symphony No. 2, Mysterious Mountain ,
3100-500: A year. Following the war, the musicians were paid, but 3 concerts a year was normal until the mid-1960s, after which the number began to rise. The 1975-76 season, a bicentennial special featuring appearances by Alan Hovhaness , Carlos Chavez , Aaron Copland , Virgil Thomson , and Lou Harrison conducting their own works, was a landmark on the orchestra's path to full-time professional status. In 1995, cellist Nick Dargahi and Operations Manager Michael Pastreich partnered to create for
3224-457: A young soprano named Therese Grob , daughter of a local silk manufacturer, and wrote several of his liturgical works (including a "Salve Regina" and a "Tantum Ergo") for her; she was also a soloist in the premiere of his Mass No. 1 (D. 105) in September 1814. Schubert wanted to marry her, but was hindered by the harsh marriage-consent law of 1815 requiring an aspiring bridegroom to show he had
3348-409: Is a terrible threat to our civilization. It's the greed of huge companies and huge organizations which control life in a kind of a brutal way ... It's gotten worse and worse, somehow, because physical science has given us more and more terrible deadly weapons, and the human spirit has been destroyed in so many cases, so what's the use of having the most powerful country in the world if we have killed
3472-401: Is done, I begin another." During this year, he focused on orchestral and choral works, although he also continued to write Lieder. Much of this work was unpublished, but manuscripts and copies circulated among friends and admirers. In early 1817, Schober introduced Schubert to Johann Michael Vogl , a prominent baritone twenty years Schubert's senior. Vogl, for whom Schubert went on to write
3596-522: Is known for compiling the first comprehensive catalogue of Schubert's works. This was first published in English in 1951 ( Schubert Thematic Catalogue ) and subsequently revised for a new edition in German in 1978 ( Franz Schubert: Thematisches Verzeichnis seiner Werke in chronologischer Folge – Franz Schubert: Thematic Catalogue of his Works in Chronological Order). Confusion arose quite early over
3720-427: Is not a true song cycle like Die schöne Müllerin or Winterreise . ) The Great C major symphony is dated 1828, but Schubert scholars believe that this symphony was largely written in 1825–1826 (being referred to while he was on holiday at Gastein in 1825—that work, once considered lost, is now generally seen as an early stage of his C major symphony) and was revised for prospective performance in 1828. The orchestra of
3844-478: Is pointless to guess at what more [Schubert] might have achieved. He did enough; and let them be honoured who have striven and accomplished as he did", and the pianist András Schiff said that: "Schubert lived a very short life, but it was a very concentrated life. In 31 years, he lived more than other people would live in 100 years, and it is needless to speculate what could he have written had he lived another 50 years. It's irrelevant, just like with Mozart: these are
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3968-550: Is widely considered one of the pinnacles of Lieder. He also composed the song Du bist die Ruh' ( You are rest and peace , D. 776) during this year. Also in that year, symptoms of syphilis first appeared. In 1824, he wrote the Variations in E minor for flute and piano; Trockne Blumen , a song from the cycle Die schöne Müllerin ; and several string quartets. He also wrote the Sonata in A minor for arpeggione and piano (D. 821) at
4092-413: The jōruri ( bunraku ) shamisen . In recognition of the musical styles he studied in Japan, he wrote Fantasy on Japanese Woodprints , Op. 211 (1965), a concerto for xylophone and orchestra. In 1963 he composed his second ballet score for Martha Graham, entitled Circe . He and his then wife then set up a record label devoted to the release of his own works, Poseidon Society. Its first release
4216-721: The New England Conservatory of Music . In 1932, he won the Conservatory's Samuel Endicott prize for composition with his Sunset Symphony (elsewhere entitled Sunset Saga ). In July 1934, Hovhaness traveled with his first wife, Martha Mott Davis, to Finland to meet Jean Sibelius , whose music he had greatly admired since childhood. The two continued to correspond for the next twenty years. In 1935, Hovhaness named his daughter and only child from his first marriage Jean Christina Hovhaness after Jean Christian Sibelius, her godfather and Hovhaness's friend for three decades. During
4340-520: The Sonata in A minor for arpeggione and piano (D. 821), or the unconventional scoring of the Trout Quintet (D. 667) for piano, violin, viola, cello, and double bass, whereas conventional piano quintets are scored for piano and string quartet . Although Schubert was clearly influenced by the Classical sonata forms of Beethoven, Haydn and Mozart, his formal structures and his developments tend to give
4464-852: The String Quartet No. 14 in D minor ( Death and the Maiden ); the String Quintet in C major ; the Impromptus for solo piano; the last three piano sonatas ; the Fantasia in F minor for piano four hands ; the opera Fierrabras ; the incidental music to the play Rosamunde ; and the song cycles Die schöne Müllerin , Winterreise and Schwanengesang . Born in the Himmelpfortgrund suburb of Vienna , Schubert showed uncommon gifts for music from an early age. His father gave him his first violin lessons and his elder brother gave him piano lessons, but Schubert soon exceeded their abilities. In 1808, at
4588-527: The Tantum Ergo (D. 962) in the same key, the String Quintet in C major (D. 956), the second "Benedictus" to the Mass in C major (D. 961), the three final piano sonatas (D. 958, D. 959, and D. 960), and the collection 13 Lieder nach Gedichten von Rellstab und Heine for voice and piano, also known as Schwanengesang ( Swan-song , D. 957). (This collection – which includes settings of words by Heinrich Heine , Ludwig Rellstab , and Johann Gabriel Seidl –
4712-704: The Theater am Kärntnertor on 14 June, and Die Zauberharfe (D. 644) appeared at the Theater an der Wien on 21 August. Hitherto, his larger compositions (apart from his masses) had been restricted to the amateur orchestra at the Gundelhof (Brandstätte 5, Vienna), a society which grew out of the quartet-parties at his home. Now he began to assume a more prominent position, addressing a wider public. Publishers, however, remained distant, with Anton Diabelli hesitantly agreeing to print some of his works on commission. The first seven opus numbers, all songs, appeared on these terms; then
4836-653: The Yeghishe Charents State Museum of Arts and Literature in Yerevan . In the mid-1960s he spent several summers touring Europe, living and working much of the time in Switzerland. Hovhaness stated in a 1971 interview in Ararat magazine: We are in a very dangerous period. We are in danger of destroying ourselves, and I have a great fear about this ... The older generation is ruling ruthlessly. I feel that this
4960-564: The Zentralfriedhof where they are next to the later graves of Johann Strauss II and Johannes Brahms. Anton Bruckner was present at both exhumations, and he reached into both coffins and held the revered skulls in his hands. The cemetery in Währing was converted into a park in 1925, called the Schubert Park, and his former grave site was marked by a bust. His epitaph, written by his friend,
5084-458: The numbering of Schubert's late symphonies . Schubert's last completed symphony, the Great C major D 944 , was assigned the numbers 7, 8, 9 and 10, depending on publication. Similarly the Unfinished D ;759 has been indicated with the numbers 7, 8, and 9. The order usually followed for these late symphonies by English-language sources is: An even broader confusion arose over
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5208-608: The numbering of the piano sonatas , with numbering systems ranging from 15 to 23 sonatas. Among pianos Schubert had access to were a Benignus Seidner piano (now displayed at the Schubert Geburtshaus in Vienna) and an Anton Walter & Sohn piano (today in the collection of the Vienna Kunsthistorisches Museum ). Schubert was also familiar with instruments by Viennese piano builder Conrad Graf . He appreciated
5332-472: The "prince of song", although there was recognition of some of his larger-scale efforts. In 1838 Robert Schumann , on a visit to Vienna, found the dusty manuscript of the C major Symphony (D. 944) and took it back to Leipzig where it was performed by Felix Mendelssohn and celebrated in the Neue Zeitschrift . An important step towards the recovery of the neglected works was the journey to Vienna which
5456-414: The 1860s, 50 instalments with songs published by Diabelli and dozens of first publications Peters ), but the manuscripts of many of the longer works, whose existence was not widely known, remained hidden in cabinets and file boxes of Schubert's family, friends, and publishers. Even some of Schubert's friends were unaware of the full scope of what he wrote, and for many years he was primarily recognized as
5580-446: The 1930s and 1940s, Hovhaness famously destroyed many of his early works. He later claimed that he had burned at least 1,000 different pieces, a process that took at least two weeks; elsewhere he claimed to have destroyed around 500 scores totaling as many as a thousand pages. In an interview with Richard Howard, he stated that the decision was based primarily on Sessions ' criticism of his works of that period, and that he wanted to make
5704-614: The 1950s on MGM and Mercury records, placing him firmly on the American musical landscape. In May and June 1946, while staying with an Armenian family, Hovhaness composed Etchmiadzin , an opera on an Armenian theme, which was commissioned by a local Armenian church. In 1948 he joined the faculty of the Boston Conservatory , teaching there until 1951. His students there included the jazz musicians Sam Rivers and Gigi Gryce . In 1951 Hovhaness moved to New York City , where he became
5828-572: The Armenian Cultural Foundation in Arlington, Massachusetts , and Yerevan ’s State Museum of Arts and Literature in Armenia. Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert ( German: [fʁants ˈpeːtɐ ˈʃuːbɐt] ; 31 January 1797 – 19 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind
5952-704: The Austrian police who, in the aftermath of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars , were on their guard against revolutionary activities and suspicious of any gathering of youth or students. One of Schubert's friends, Johann Senn , was put on trial, imprisoned for over a year, and then permanently forbidden to enter Vienna. The other four, including Schubert, were "severely reprimanded", in part for "inveighing against [officials] with insulting and opprobrious language". While Schubert never saw Senn again, he did set some of his poems, Selige Welt (D. 743) and Schwanengesang (D 744), to music. The incident may have played
6076-443: The Gesellschaft reportedly read through the symphony at a rehearsal, but never scheduled a public performance of it. The reasons continue to be unknown, although the difficulty of the symphony is a possible explanation. In the last weeks of his life, he began to sketch three movements for a new Symphony in D major (D 936A); In this work, he anticipates Mahler 's use of folksong-like harmonics and bare soundscapes. Schubert expressed
6200-637: The Hovhaness-Fujihara music publishing company, [1] as well as a daughter (from his first wife), harpsichordist Jean Nandi (b. 1935). He died in 2000. Significant archives of Hovhaness materials, comprising scores, sound recordings, photographs and correspondence are located at several academic centers, including Harvard University , the University of Washington , the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.,
6324-486: The San Jose Symphony as the professional symphony orchestra of San Jose. Charlotte Doughton Claude, A History of the San José Symphony Orchestra, 1879-1972. California State University, San Jose, M.A. thesis, 1973. San Jose Symphony archives, History San Jose, Kelley Park, San Jose, California. Alan Hovhaness Alan Hovhaness ( / h oʊ ˈ v ɑː n ɪ s / ; March 8, 1911 – June 21, 2000)
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#17328552156196448-442: The San Jose Symphony the first website of any US orchestra. In October 2001, the San Jose Symphony closed its doors in a bid to restructure. But when, more than a year later, the organization was unable to recover San Jose Symphony declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy and was dissolved. Symphony Silicon Valley , an orchestra under new management but including many of the same musicians, was created in 2002 by Ballet San Jose and succeeded
6572-517: The Schubert melody is not an original setting. The original only opens with the greeting "Ave Maria", which also recurs only in the refrain. In 1825, Schubert also wrote the Piano Sonata in A minor (D 845, first published as op. 42), and began the Symphony in C major ( Great C major , D. 944), which was completed the following year. From 1826 to 1828, Schubert resided continuously in Vienna, except for
6696-538: The aforementioned indirect references by his friends, and uncritically repeated ever since. Schubert was buried, at his own request, near the grave of Beethoven, whom he had admired all his life, in the village cemetery of Währing on the edge of the Vienna Woods . A year earlier he had served as a torchbearer at Beethoven's funeral . In 1872, a memorial to Franz Schubert was erected in Vienna's Stadtpark . In 1888, both Schubert's and Beethoven's graves were moved to
6820-421: The aftermath of that major disappointment. The next year he devoted himself to Armenian subject matter, in particular using modes distinctive to Armenian music, and continued in this vein for several years, achieving some renown and the support of other musicians, including radical experimentalist composer John Cage and choreographer Martha Graham , all the while continuing as church organist. Beginning in
6944-457: The age of eleven, he became a pupil at the Stadtkonvikt school, where he became acquainted with the orchestral music of Joseph Haydn , Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , and Ludwig van Beethoven . He left the Stadtkonvikt at the end of 1813 and returned home to live with his father, where he began studying to become a schoolteacher. Despite this, he continued his studies in composition with Antonio Salieri and still composed prolifically. In 1821, Schubert
7068-405: The age of five, Schubert began to receive regular lessons from his father, and a year later he was enrolled at his father's school. Although it is not known exactly when he received his first musical instruction, he was given piano lessons by his brother Ignaz, but they lasted for a very short time as Schubert excelled him within a few months. Ignaz later recalled: I was amazed when Franz told me,
7192-479: The chief credit of originating the short models of piano forte pieces which the romantic school has preferably cultivated.... Schubert created a new epoch with the Lied.... All other songwriters have followed in his footsteps." When Schubert died he had around 100 opus numbers published, mainly songs, chamber music and smaller piano compositions. Publication of smaller pieces continued (including opus numbers up to 173 in
7316-533: The commission ceased, and he began to receive parsimonious royalties. The situation improved somewhat in March 1821 when Vogl performed the song " Erlkönig " (D. 328) at a concert that was extremely well received. That month, Schubert composed a Variation on a Waltz by Diabelli (D 718), being one of the fifty composers who contributed to the Vaterländischer Künstlerverein publication. The production of
7440-493: The depiction of the spinning wheel and treadle in the piano in "Gretchen" and the furious and ceaseless gallop in " Erlkönig ". He composed music using the poems of myriad poets, with Goethe, Mayrhofer , and Schiller the most frequent, and others, including Heinrich Heine , Friedrich Rückert , and Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff . Of particular note are his two song cycles on the poems of Wilhelm Müller , Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise , which helped to establish
7564-515: The desire to simplify his name because "nobody ever pronounced it right". However, Hovhaness' daughter Jean Nandi has written in her book Unconventional Wisdom , "My father's name at the time of my birth was 'Hovaness', pronounced with accent on the first syllable. His original name was 'Chakmakjian', but in the 1930s he wanted to get rid of the Armenian connection and so changed his name to an Americanized version of his middle name. Some years later, deciding to re-establish his Armenian ties, he changed
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#17328552156197688-463: The early 1820s, Schubert was part of a close-knit circle of artists and students who had social gatherings together that became known as Schubertiads . Many of them took place in Ignaz von Sonnleithner 's large apartment in the Gundelhof (Brandstätte 5, Vienna). The tight circle of friends with which Schubert surrounded himself was dealt a blow in early 1820. Schubert and four of his friends were arrested by
7812-599: The end of 1813, Schubert left the Stadtkonvikt and returned home for teacher training at the St Anna Normal- hauptschule . In 1814, he entered his father's school as the teacher of the youngest pupils. For over two years, young Schubert endured severe drudgery. However, he found compensatory interests during this time. For example, Schubert continued to take private lessons in composition from Salieri, who provided him with more technical training than any of his other teachers, until they parted ways in 1817. In 1814, Schubert met
7936-428: The family string quartet, with his brothers Ferdinand and Ignaz on first and second violin and his father on the cello . Schubert wrote his earliest string quartets for this ensemble. Young Schubert first came to the attention of Antonio Salieri , then Vienna's leading musical authority, in 1804, when his vocal talent was recognized. In November 1808, he became a pupil at the Stadtkonvikt (Imperial Seminary) through
8060-526: The first series containing eight symphonies. The publication of the Neue Schubert-Ausgabe by Bärenreiter started in the second half of the 20th century. Since relatively few of Schubert's works were published in his lifetime, only a small number of them have opus numbers assigned, and even in those cases, the sequence of the numbers does not give a good indication of the order of composition. Austrian musicologist Otto Erich Deutsch (1883–1967)
8184-401: The genre and its potential for musical, poetic, and almost operatic dramatic narrative. His last collection of songs, published in 1828 after his death, Schwanengesang , is also an innovative contribution to German Lieder literature, as it features poems by different poets, namely Ludwig Rellstab , Heine, and Johann Gabriel Seidl . The Wiener Theaterzeitung , writing about Winterreise at
8308-450: The impression more of melodic development than of harmonic drama. This combination of Classical form and long-breathed Romantic melody sometimes lends them a discursive style: his Great C Major Symphony was described by Robert Schumann as running to "heavenly lengths". It was in the genre of the lied that Schubert made his most indelible mark. Leon Plantinga remarks that "in his more than six hundred Lieder he explored and expanded
8432-479: The means to support a family. In November 1816, after failing to gain a musical post in Laibach (now Ljubljana , Slovenia ), Schubert sent Ms. Grob's brother Heinrich a collection of songs, which was retained by the family into the twentieth century. One of Schubert's most prolific years was 1815. He composed over 20,000 bars of music, more than half of which were for orchestra, including nine church works (although he
8556-439: The meantime, Schubert's talent began to show in his compositions; Salieri decided to start training him privately in music theory and composition. According to Ferdinand, the boy's first composition for piano was a Fantasy for four hands ; his first song, Klagegesang der Hagar , was written a year later. Schubert was occasionally permitted to lead the Stadtkonvikt's orchestra, the first orchestra he wrote for. He devoted much of
8680-505: The members of the Gesellschaft, most notably Ignaz von Sonnleithner and his son Leopold von Sonnleithner , had a sizeable influence on the affairs of the society, and as a result of that and of Schubert's growing reputation, his works were included in three major concerts of the Gesellschaft in 1821. In April, one of his male-voice quartets was performed, and in November, his Overture in E minor (D. 648) received its first public performance; at
8804-561: The mid-1940s, Hovhaness and two artist friends, Hyman Bloom and Hermon di Giovanno , met frequently to discuss spiritual and musical matters. All three had a strong interest in Indian classical music , and brought many well known Indian musicians to Boston to perform. During this period, Hovhaness learned to play the sitar , studying with amateur Indian musicians living in the Boston area. Around 1942, Bloom introduced Hovhaness to Yenovk Der Hagopian ,
8928-592: The music historian George Grove and the composer Arthur Sullivan made in October 1867. The travellers unearthed the manuscripts of six of the symphonies, parts of the incidental music to Rosamunde , the Mass No. 1 in F major (D. 105), and the operas Des Teufels Lustschloss (D. 84), Fernardo (D. 220), Der vierjährige Posten (D. 190), and Die Freunde von Salamanka (D. 326), and several other unnamed works. With these discoveries, Grove and Sullivan were able to inform
9052-490: The past. Eva M. Cybulska goes further and says that Schubert's syphilis is a conjecture. His multi-system signs and symptoms, she says, could point at a number of different illness such as leukaemia , anaemia , or Hashimoto's thyroiditis , and that many tell-tale signs of syphilis — chancre , mucous plaques, rash on the thorax, pupil abnormality, dysgraphia — were absent. She argues that the syphilis diagnosis originated with Schubert's biographer Otto Deutsch in 1907, based on
9176-491: The pianist Radu Lupu , who said: "[Schubert] is the composer for whom I am really most sorry that he died so young. ... Just before he died, when he wrote his beautiful two-cello String Quintet in C, he said very modestly that he was trying to learn a little more about counterpoint, and he was perfectly right. We'll never know in what direction he was going or would have gone." However, others have expressed disagreement with this early view. For instance, Robert Schumann said: "It
9300-468: The poet Franz Grillparzer , reads: Die Tonkunst begrub hier einen reichen Besitz, aber noch viel schönere Hoffnungen ("The art of music has here interred a precious treasure, but yet far fairer hopes"). Schubert was remarkably prolific, writing over 1,500 works in his short career. His compositional style progressed rapidly throughout his life. The largest number of his compositions are songs for solo voice and piano (roughly 630). Schubert also composed
9424-484: The point where he could play easy duets proficiently. Soon after, Schubert was given his first lessons outside the family by Michael Holzer, organist and choirmaster of the local parish church in Lichtental. Holzer would often assure Schubert's father, with tears in his eyes, that he had never had such a pupil as Schubert, and the lessons may have largely consisted of conversations and expressions of admiration. Holzer gave
9548-416: The potential these early nineteenth-century instruments possessed for both intimate and extrovert, virtuosic playing. A feeling of regret for the loss of potential masterpieces caused by Schubert's early death at age 31 was expressed in the epitaph on his large tombstone written by Grillparzer: "Here music has buried a treasure, but even fairer hopes." Some prominent musicians share a similar view, including
9672-527: The potentialities of the genre, as no composer before him." Prior to Schubert's influence, Lieder tended toward a strophic , syllabic treatment of text, evoking the folksong qualities engendered by the stirrings of Romantic nationalism . Among Schubert's treatments of the poetry of Goethe , his settings of " Gretchen am Spinnrade " (D. 118) and " Der Erlkönig " (D. 328) are particularly striking for their dramatic content, forward-looking uses of harmony, and use of eloquent pictorial keyboard figurations, such as
9796-631: The press in Vienna and abroad. Schubert spent the summer of 1818 as a music teacher to the family of Count Johann Karl Esterházy at their château in Zselíz (now Želiezovce , Slovakia). The pay was relatively good, and his duties teaching piano and singing to the two daughters, Marie and Caroline , were relatively light, allowing him to compose happily. Schubert may have written his Marches Militaire in D major (D. 733 no. 1) for Marie and Caroline, in addition to other piano duets. On his return from Zselíz, he took up residence with his friend Mayrhofer. During
9920-492: The public of the existence of these works; in addition, they were able to copy the fourth and sixth symphonies, the Rosamunde incidental music, and the overture to Die Freunde von Salamanka . This led to more widespread public interest in Schubert's work. From 1884 to 1897, Breitkopf & Härtel published Franz Schubert's Works , a critical edition including a contribution made – among others – by Johannes Brahms , editor of
10044-451: The rest of his time at the Stadtkonvikt to composing chamber music, several songs, piano pieces and, more ambitiously, liturgical choral works in the form of a "Salve Regina" (D 27), a "Kyrie" (D 31), in addition to the unfinished "Octet for Winds" (D 72, said to commemorate the 1812 death of his mother), the cantata Wer ist groß? for male voices and orchestra (D 110, for his father's birthday in 1813), and his first symphony (D 82). At
10168-565: The same day, the former at a tavern where he broke his afternoon's walk, the latter on his return to his lodging in the evening. The works of his last two years reveal a composer entering a new professional and compositional stage. Although parts of Schubert's personality were influenced by his friends, he nurtured an intensely personal dimension in solitude; it was out of this dimension that he wrote his greatest music. The death of Beethoven affected Schubert deeply, and may have motivated Schubert to reach new artistic peaks. In 1827, Schubert wrote
10292-563: The son of a Moravian peasant, was a well-known parish schoolmaster , and his school in Lichtental (in Vienna's ninth district ) had numerous students in attendance. He came to Vienna from Zuckmantel in 1784 and was appointed schoolmaster two years later. His mother was the daughter of a Silesian master locksmith and had been a housemaid for a Viennese family before marriage. Of Franz Theodor and Elisabeth's fourteen children (one of them illegitimate, born in 1783), nine died in infancy. At
10416-560: The song cycle Winterreise (D. 911), the Fantasy in C major for violin and piano (D. 934, first published as op. post. 159), the Impromptus for piano, and the two piano trios ( the first in B-flat major (D. 898), and the second in E-flat major, (D. 929); in 1828 the cantata Mirjams Siegesgesang ( Victory Song of Miriam , D 942) on a text by Franz Grillparzer , the Mass in E-flat major (D. 950),
10540-423: The songs by Johann Rudolf Zumsteeg , an important composer of Lieder . The precocious young student "wanted to modernize" Zumsteeg's songs, as reported by Joseph von Spaun , Schubert's friend. Schubert's friendship with Spaun began at the Stadtkonvikt and lasted throughout his short life. In those early days, the financially well-off Spaun furnished the impoverished Schubert with much of his manuscript paper. In
10664-415: The songs, could be performed in the evening concerts. He was rejected on the basis that he was "no amateur", although he had been employed as a schoolteacher at the time and there were professional musicians already among the society's membership. However, he began to gain more notice in the press, and the first public performance of a secular work, an overture performed in February 1818, received praise from
10788-475: The soul. It's of no use. Hovhaness was inducted into the National Institute of Arts and Letters (1951), and received honorary D.Mus. degrees from the University of Rochester (1958), Bates College (1959) and the Boston Conservatory (1987). He moved to Seattle in the early 1970s, where he lived for the rest of his life. In 1973, he composed his third and final ballet score for Martha Graham: Myth of
10912-407: The spark of divine genius resides in this Schubert!" Beethoven also reportedly predicted that Schubert "would make a great sensation in the world," and regretted that he had not been more familiar with him earlier; he wished to see his operas and works for piano, but his severe illness prevented him from doing so. Despite his preoccupation with the stage and subsequent official duties, Schubert wrote
11036-446: The spelling to 'Hovhaness', accent on the second syllable; this was the name by which he later became quite famous." Hovhaness was interested in music from a very early age. At the age of four, he wrote his first composition, a cantata in the early Italian style inspired by a song of Franz Schubert . His family was concerned about his late-night composing and about the financial future he could possibly have as an artist. He decided for
11160-532: The symptoms of his final illness do not correspond with tertiary syphilis. Six weeks before his death, he walked 42 miles in three days, ruling out musculoskeletal syphilis. In the month of his death, he composed his last work, " Der Hirt auf dem Felsen ", making neurosyphilis unlikely. And meningovascular syphilis is unlikely because it presents a progressive stroke-like picture, and Schubert had no neurological manifestation until his final delirium, which started only two days before his death. Lastly, his final illness
11284-586: The time when there was a minor craze over that instrument. In the spring of that year, he wrote the Octet in F major (D. 803), a sketch for a "Grand Symphony," and in the summer went back to Zseliz . There he became attracted to Hungarian musical idiom and wrote the Divertissement à la hongroise in G minor for piano duet (D. 818) and the String Quartet in A minor Rosamunde (D. 804). It has been said that he held
11408-411: The time, commented that it was a work that "none can sing or hear without being deeply moved". Antonín Dvořák wrote in 1894 that Schubert, whom he considered one of the truly great composers, was clearly influential on shorter works, especially Lieder and shorter piano works: "The tendency of the romantic school has been toward short forms, and although Weber helped to show the way, to Schubert belongs
11532-437: The translation by Edward FitzGerald. Continuing his interest in composing for Asian instruments, in 1981, at the request of Lou Harrison, he composed two works for Indonesian gamelan orchestra which were premiered by the gamelan at Lewis & Clark College , under the direction of Vincent McDermott . Hovhaness was survived by his sixth wife, the coloratura soprano Hinako Fujihara Hovhaness (1932–2022), who administered
11656-429: The two operas turned Schubert's attention more firmly than ever in the direction of the stage, where, for a variety of reasons, he was almost completely unsuccessful. All in all, he embarked on twenty stage projects, each of them failures that were quickly forgotten. In 1822, Alfonso und Estrella was rejected, partly owing to its libretto, written by Schubert's friend Franz von Schober . In 1823, Fierrabras (D 796)
11780-451: The wide-spread opinion that Schubert was a lucky inventor of pleasing tunes ... lacking the dramatic power and searching intelligence which distinguished such 'real' masters as J. S. Bach or Beethoven". Krenek wrote that he reached a completely different assessment after a close study of Schubert's pieces at the urging of his friend and fellow composer Eduard Erdmann . Krenek pointed to the piano sonatas as giving "ample evidence that [Schubert]
11904-411: The wish, were he to survive his final illness, to further develop his knowledge of harmony and counterpoint, and had actually made appointments for lessons with the counterpoint master Simon Sechter . On 26 March 1828, the anniversary of Beethoven's death, Schubert gave, for the only time in his career, a public concert of his own works. The concert was a success popularly and financially, although it
12028-447: The year came the String Quartet No. 15 in G major, (D 887, first published as op. 161), the Rondo in B minor for violin and piano (D. 895), Rondeau brillant , and the Piano Sonata in G major , (D 894, first published as Fantasie in G , op. 78). He also produced in 1826 three Shakespearian songs, of which " Ständchen " (D. 889) and " An Sylvia " (D. 891) were allegedly written on
12152-504: The young Schubert instruction in piano and organ as well as in figured bass . According to Holzer, however, he did not give him any real instruction as Schubert would already know anything that he tried to teach him; rather, he looked upon Schubert with "astonishment and silence". The boy seemed to gain more from an acquaintance with a friendly apprentice joiner who took him to a neighbouring pianoforte warehouse where Schubert could practise on better instruments. He also played viola in
12276-509: Was Dominick Argento , who described him as "by far the most spontaneous and prolific composer I ever knew." From 1959 through 1963 Hovhaness conducted a series of research trips to India, Hawaii, Japan and South Korea, investigating the ancient traditional musics of these nations and eventually integrating elements of these into his own compositions. His study of Carnatic music in Madras , India (1959–60), during which he collected over 300 ragas ,
12400-470: Was "chasing women". The theory of Schubert's sexuality or "Schubert as Other" has continued to influence current scholarship. Biographer Lorraine Byrne Bodley is sceptical "...of Solomon’s "outing" of Schubert, saying this misunderstands the passionate "homosocial" friendships of 19th-century Europe." Significant changes occurred in Schubert's life in 1816 when Schober, a student from an affluent family, invited him to lodge at his mother's house. The proposal
12524-623: Was Beethoven's String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 131 ; Holz commented: "The King of Harmony has sent the King of Song a friendly bidding to the crossing". Schubert died in Vienna, aged 31, on 19 November 1828, at the apartment of his brother Ferdinand. The cause of his death was officially diagnosed as typhoid fever, though other theories have been proposed, including the tertiary stage of syphilis . Although there are accounts by his friends that indirectly imply that he had contracted syphilis earlier,
12648-484: Was Hovhaness's first work to make use of an innovative technique he called "spirit murmur", an early example of aleatoric music inspired by a vision of Hermon di Giovanno . The technique, essentially similar to the 1960s ad libitum aleatory of Lutoslawski , involves instruments repeating phrases in uncoordinated fashion, producing a complex "cloud" or "carpet" of sounds. In the mid-1940s, Hovhaness' stature in New York
12772-487: Was admitted to the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde as a performing member, which helped establish his name among the Viennese citizenry. He gave a concert of his works to critical acclaim in March 1828, the only time he did so in his career. He died eight months later at the age of 31, the cause officially attributed to typhoid fever , but believed by some historians to be syphilis . Appreciation of Schubert's music while he
12896-470: Was alive was limited to a relatively small circle of admirers in Vienna, but interest in his work increased greatly in the decades following his death. Felix Mendelssohn , Robert Schumann , Franz Liszt , Johannes Brahms and other 19th-century composers discovered and championed his works. Today, Schubert is considered one of the greatest composers in the history of Western classical music and his music continues to be widely performed. Franz Peter Schubert
13020-547: Was an agnostic ), a symphony, and about 140 Lieder. In that year, he was also introduced to Anselm Hüttenbrenner and Franz von Schober , who would become his lifelong friends. Another friend, Johann Mayrhofer , was introduced to him by Spaun in 1815. Throughout 1815, Schubert lived at home with his father. He continued to teach at the school and give private musical instruction, earning enough money for his basic needs, including clothing, manuscript paper, pens, and ink, but with little to no money left over for luxuries. Spaun
13144-413: Was an American composer . He was one of the most prolific 20th-century composers, with his official catalog comprising 67 numbered symphonies (surviving manuscripts indicate over 70) and 434 opus numbers. The true tally is well over 500 surviving works, since many opus numbers comprise two or more distinct works. The Boston Globe music critic Richard Buell wrote: "Although he has been stereotyped as
13268-529: Was an active member of the 1817–1818 Unsinnsgesellschaft (Nonsenses Society), and various scholars agree with this. In late 1817, Schubert's father gained a new position at a school in Rossau , not far from Lichtental. Schubert rejoined his father and reluctantly took up teaching duties there. In early 1818, he applied for membership in the prestigious Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde , intending to gain admission as an accompanist, but also so that his music, especially
13392-449: Was being played, Aaron Copland talked loudly in Spanish to Latin-American composers in the room; and at the end of the recording Leonard Bernstein went to the piano, played a melodic minor scale and rebuked the work as "cheap ghetto music". Apparently angered and distraught by this experience, he left Tanglewood early, abandoning his scholarship and again destroying a number of his works in
13516-522: Was born in Himmelpfortgrund (now a part of Alsergrund ), Vienna, Archduchy of Austria , on 31 January 1797, and baptized in the Catholic Church the following day. He was the twelfth child of Franz Theodor Florian Schubert (1763–1830) and Maria Elisabeth Katharina Vietz (1756–1812). Schubert's immediate ancestors came originally from the province of Zuckmantel in Austrian Silesia . His father,
13640-488: Was characterized by gastrointestinal symptoms (namely vomiting). These issues all led Robert L. Rold to argue that (although he believed Schubert had syphilis), the fatal final illness was a gastrointestinal one such as salmonella or indeed typhoid fever. Rold also pointed out that when Schubert was in his final illness, his close friend Schober avoided visiting him "out of fear of contagion". Yet Schober had known of his earlier possible syphilis and had never avoided Schubert in
13764-433: Was five, his family moved from Somerville to Arlington, Massachusetts . A Hovhaness family neighbor said his mother had insisted on moving from Somerville because of discrimination against Armenians there. After her death (on October 3, 1930), he began to use the surname "Hovaness" in honor of his paternal grandfather, and changed it to "Hovhaness" around 1944. He stated the name change from the original Chakmakjian reflected
13888-623: Was helped considerably by members of the immigrant Armenian community who sponsored several high-profile concerts of his music. This organization, the Friends of Armenian Music Committee, was led by Hovhaness's friends Dr. Elizabeth A. Gregory, the Armenian American piano/violin duo Maro Ajemian and Anahid Ajemian , and later Anahid's husband, pioneering record producer and subsequent Columbia Records executive George Avakian . Their help led directly to many recordings of Hovhaness' music appearing in
14012-502: Was in 1963, with around 15 discs following over the next decade. Following their divorce, the wife was granted ownership of the label but then either sold or transferred rights to this catalog to Crystal Records . In 1965, as part of a U.S. government-sponsored delegation, he visited Russia as well as Soviet-controlled Georgia and Armenia , the only time he visited his paternal ancestral homeland. While there, he donated his handwritten manuscripts of harmonized Armenian liturgical music to
14136-486: Was much more than an easy-going tune-smith who did not know, and did not care, about the craft of composition." Each sonata then in print, according to Krenek, exhibited "a great wealth of technical finesse" and revealed Schubert as "far from satisfied with pouring his charming ideas into conventional moulds; on the contrary he was a thinking artist with a keen appetite for experimentation." That "appetite for experimentation" manifests itself repeatedly in Schubert's output in
14260-499: Was overshadowed by Niccolò Paganini 's first appearances in Vienna shortly after. In the midst of this creative activity, his health deteriorated. By the late 1820s, Schubert's health was failing and he confided to some friends that he feared that he was near death. In the late summer of 1828, he saw the physician Ernst Rinna, who may have confirmed Schubert's suspicions that he was ill beyond cure and likely to die soon. Some of his symptoms matched those of mercury poisoning ( mercury
14384-522: Was particularly opportune, for Schubert had just made the unsuccessful application for the post of Kapellmeister at Laibach, and he had also decided not to resume teaching duties at his father's school. By the end of the year, he became a guest in Schober's lodgings. For a time, he attempted to increase the household resources by giving music lessons, but they were soon abandoned, and he devoted himself to composition. "I compose every morning, and when one piece
14508-583: Was premiered by Leopold Stokowski in his debut with the Houston Symphony , although the idea that Mysterious Mountain was commissioned for that orchestra is a common misconception. That same year, MGM Records released recordings of a number of his works. Between 1956 and 1958, at the urging of Howard Hanson , an admirer of his music, he taught summer sessions at the Eastman School of Music long presided over by Hanson. One of Hovhaness's students there
14632-474: Was probably Schubert's first visit away from home or school. Schubert's unhappiness during his years as a schoolteacher possibly showed early signs of depression , and it is virtually certain that Schubert suffered from cyclothymia throughout his life. In 1989, the musicologist Maynard Solomon suggested that Schubert was erotically attracted to men, a thesis that has been heatedly debated. The musicologist and Schubert expert Rita Steblin has said that he
14756-506: Was rejected: Domenico Barbaia , impresario for the court theatres, largely lost interest in new German opera due to the popularity of Rossini and the Italian operatic style, and the failure of Carl Maria von Weber 's Euryanthe . Die Verschworenen ( The Conspirators , D 787) was prohibited by the censor, apparently because of its title, and the play Rosamunde, Fürstin von Zypern , for which Schubert had written incidental music (D 797),
14880-529: Was sponsored by a Fulbright fellowship. While in Madras, he learned to play the veena and composed a work for Carnatic orchestra entitled Nagooran , inspired by a visit to the dargah at Nagore , which was performed by the South Indian Orchestra of All India Radio Madras and broadcast on All-India Radio on February 3, 1960. He compiled a large amount of material on Carnatic ragas in preparation for
15004-439: Was then a common treatment for syphilis, again suggesting that Schubert suffered from it). At the beginning of November, he again fell ill, experiencing headaches, fever, swollen joints, and vomiting. He was generally unable to retain solid food and his condition worsened. Five days before Schubert's death, his friend the violinist Karl Holz and his string quartet visited to play for him. The last musical work he had wished to hear
15128-640: Was welcomed with enthusiasm. It was during this tour that he produced the seven-song cycle Fräulein am See , based on Walter Scott 's The Lady of the Lake , and including " Ellens Gesang III " ("Hymn to the Virgin") (D. 839, Op. 52, No. 6); the lyrics of Adam Storck's German translation of the Scott poem are now frequently replaced by the full text of the traditional Roman Catholic prayer Hail Mary ( Ave Maria in Latin), but for which
15252-511: Was well aware that Schubert was discontented with his life at the schoolhouse, and was concerned for Schubert's development intellectually and musically. In May 1816, Spaun moved from his apartment in Landskrongasse (in the inner city) to a new home in the Landstraße suburb; one of the first things he did after he settled into the new home was to invite Schubert to spend a few days with him. This
15376-442: Was withdrawn after two nights, due to the play's poor quality. Despite his operatic failures, Schubert's reputation was growing steadily on other fronts. In 1821, the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde finally accepted him as a performing member, and the number of performances of his music grew remarkably. These performances helped Schubert's reputation grow rapidly among the members of the Gesellschaft and established his name. Some of
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