Born January 31, 1797 in Vienna, died there November 19, 1828.
Franz Schubert’s father Franz Theodor was a teacher at a municipal school; his mother had been a cook in a Viennese family before her marriage. Franz was born as the thirteenth of fifteen children from whom only five survived their first year.
At the age of five Schubert received the first lessons from his father, at six he started to attend a regular school. In October 1808 he entered the imperial „Konvikt“ as a choirboy at the court chapel. In addition to composition lessons with Ruzicka and Salieri, he enjoyed an extensive musical education: He did not only sing as a soloist in the choir, but also studied the instrumental works of Haydn and Mozart, for his position as first violinist of the school orchestra.
Soon Schubert’s talent for composition showed. Regularly on Sunday evenings the family organized quartets in which his father played cello, he himself viola and his brothers the violins.
When his achievements in school deteriorated, he turned down the possibility to extend his scholarship, and returned home in October 1813. After he had attended a teacher’s education institution, he started to work as an assistant to his father. Nevertheless he still studies with Antonio Salieri until 1816.
He composed an enormous number of pieces in 1815. Despite his work as a teacher he completed two symphonies, two masses, three operas as well as two other incomplete ones, a string quartet, four sonatas and some other compositions for piano as well as nearly 150 songs.
Confronted with the increasing incompatibility of his teacher post with the compositional work, Schubert made numerous fruitless attempts to establish himself as a composer. Then his friend Spaun introduced him to Franz von Schober; on his suggestion Schubert resigned from his position and lived for eight subsequent months in Schober’s apartment.
Schubert had no real income, public appearances earned him nothing and the publishers were not yet interested in his music. His friends provided partly for his living, he had close contact with the brothers Kupelwieser, his librettist Joseph and the painter Leopold. In 1818 the family of Count Johann Esterházy employed him as music teacher in Zselíz in Hungary. After his return to Vienna in late autumn, Schubert had to live with another friend, Johann Mayrhofer, for two years. During the following years Schubert composed less, but the compositions started to show advancement in style. Encouraged by the successful performances and sales in 1821/22 Schubert tried to set up as a stage composer but was again disappointed. In January 1823 he fell ill with syphilis, a hospitalization in autumn brought improvement, but in the next spring the illness worsened, again leaving him deeply depressed.
Apart from a short visit to Graz, Schubert stayed in Vienna from 1826 to 1828. He was denied the post as vice bandmaster in the imperial court orchestra, for which he had applied in 1826. On March 26, 1828 he gave the only public concert of his career, finally the great financial success he had waited for for so long. Numerous songs and piano works were printed in the meantime.
Schubert died on November 19, 1828 at the house of his brother Ferdinand. The cause of death is controversial, either syphilis or typhus are deemed possible. He was buried at the Währinger cemetery close to Beethoven’s grave; in 1888 his remains were transferred to the Viennese Zentralfriedhof.