Franz Schubert's Birthday
Next: January 31, 2027
A song for someone you love.
The story
Where it comes from
Franz Schubert was born near Vienna on 31 January 1797, and this Story marks his birthday. A schoolmaster's son, he played viola in the family string quartet, sang in the imperial court chapel choir and studied with Antonio Salieri. On 19 October 1814, aged 17, he set Goethe's 'Gretchen am Spinnrade' to music and, at one stroke, created the German art song, the lied. He wrote more than 140 songs the next year alone. He died in 1828, aged only 31, a bridge between the Classical and Romantic eras.
How it's celebrated
There is no public holiday, but his birthday is a lovely excuse to listen: the eerie gallop of 'Erlkönig', the calm of 'Ave Maria', or the Symphony in B minor known as the 'Unfinished'. Musicians often mark the day with recitals of his songs and chamber music, and anyone can send a friend a song.
Did you know
- He was shy about his first compositions, and it took his friends' encouragement to bring them to Salieri's notice.
- When the baritone Johann Michael Vogl began singing his songs, they became the rage of Vienna's drawing rooms.
- Before music became his living, he worked as an assistant teacher in his father's school until 1818.
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