"Freelance artist"
best singer
In Vienna, a famous music city in the early 19th century, after great musicians such as Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, there appeared a talented new music star-composer franz schubert (1797- 1828).
When Schubert's name is mentioned, people will naturally think of many popular songs he wrote. The touching melodies of songs such as Wild Rose, Whale and Bodhi Tree will naturally reverberate in people's ears. However, for those who don't know Schubert's life experience, it is hard to imagine how the composer created these works in a difficult environment.
Life and Creative Thinking
Schubert lived in the feudal restoration period in Europe. 1789 The vigorous bourgeois democratic movement aroused by the French Revolution in European countries gradually came to a low ebb due to the cruel suppression of feudal forces in various countries. 18 15 years later, the feudal forces in European countries established a reactionary "holy alliance", and they colluded with each other to suppress the revolutionary forces more cruelly. Metternich of Austria was the prime minister of Austria's reactionary regime at the beginning of19th century. He is an advocate of the reactionary "Holy Alliance". The government is the stubborn fortress of this reactionary alliance. As Engels pointed out: "The Austrian royal family was the representative of barbarism, conservatism and reaction in Europe from the beginning." /kloc-At the beginning of the 9th century, Austria became a "prison for all nationalities". Schubert lived and created in such a dark and suffocating environment.
(-) Poor childhood
1797 1 Month 3 1 Day, Schubert was born in a civilian family in Hetty antar, a Viennese suburb. His father is a school teacher. The teacher's salary is difficult to support a large family, so Schubert's childhood life is very poor. At that time, because the school teacher had to give music lessons to the students, Shu Xiangte's father also knew some music knowledge and could play some musical instruments. He often called some music lovers to play music at home, which made Schubert influenced by music from an early age. My father also likes to organize his family to practice various instrumental ensemble entertainment. Actually, my father plays the cello, Schubert Jr. plays the viola and his brother plays the violin. Whenever his father made a mistake, Schubert would immediately remind him, "Dad, you are wrong!" " At the age of 9, Shu Xiangte studied music theory and organ performance from church singer Holtz. Little Schubert's rich knowledge of music often shocked Holjo. He said, "When I wanted to introduce something new to him, I found that he already knew it."
When Schubert was eleven years old, he became a singer in the church choir and played the violin with excellent children's voice. Later, he was admitted to the church choir boarding school and stayed and studied for free. Schubert has shown many musical talents in his youth. He is the chief violinist of the school band, and he is invited to be the acting conductor whenever the band conductor is absent. This gives Schubert a chance to be familiar with many excellent works of music masters such as Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, and to know a lot about music creation. However, the material living conditions in boarding schools are very bad. In the cold winter, there is no stove indoors. Poor Schubert is cold and hungry. He once wrote to his brother, "We often want to eat apples, because there is a full eight-hour interval from poor lunch to dinner!" " Shu Xiangte began to compose music long ago, when he was studying at school. He composed the first symphony, many songs and instrumental music. But he often suffers from lack of money to buy five-element paper. He once sighed: "If I have money to buy paper, I can compose music every day!" " "
18 13 years, 16 years old Schubert left school. In order to reduce his father's financial burden, he began to work as a teaching assistant in his father's school and teach private pianos. Schubert, who is an artist, is very tired of the rigid and boring teaching life. How he wishes to quit his job as a teacher and devote himself to music! However, if there is no formal career, how can Schubert support himself? Therefore, he had to suppress his inner troubles. Explain the same pinyin, grammar and so on to primary school students.
Even under such difficult conditions, Schubert insisted on composing music in his spare time. Less than twenty years old, he has composed hundreds of songs, five symphonies, fifteen piano sonatas and other works.
Back to the top
(2) "Free artist"
18 18, Schubert resolutely resigned as a teacher despite his father's resolute opposition and decided to become a "free artist" with naive illusions about art and life. However, he expected that a composer of humble origin like him would be so unfree in Vienna at the beginning of the19th century!
Post, a progressive writer at that time, described the social situation in Vienna at the beginning of the 19 th century like this: "There are secret police everywhere ... every hotel waiter is a subsidized agent ... they eavesdrop on other people's conversations everywhere in restaurants and hotels. Even in the palace library, be careful of them. There are often spies in bookstores. Their purpose is to spy out what books customers have bought. Of course, all suspicious letters are subject to inspection. " Vienna officials closely monitor books, newspapers, plays, performances and all cultural life in society. There is no room for democracy. On the other hand, in order to corrode and paralyze the people, the government vigorously advocated hedonistic culture and art. At that time, magnificent Italian operas were constantly staged in the opera house. In parks, living rooms of high society, bars, and dances, many people indulge in the endless Viennese waltz. In this seemingly peaceful, decadent and reactionary political atmosphere, many people in Vienna's civic class have lost their pursuit of democratic ideas and revolutionary ideals, and a habit of petty citizens who are confined to their own small world, short-sighted and drag out an ignoble existence has been developed day by day. As a woman writer described at that time: "Pleasure and laziness have replaced noble sentiments. ...... The fashion of bowing and bending inhibits any more noble trend. "
However, some progressive intellectuals in Vienna's civic class are deeply dissatisfied with this political situation. For example, the writer Post wrote the book The Truth about Austria, and took pains to expose the corruption in Austria. Therefore, he was forced to wander to America. Schubert, who was born in a civilian family, was extremely dissatisfied with the current situation in Austria. He once wrote an article entitled "Pathetic! People's poems express their inner anger:
"The youth of our time is gone forever!
The strength of countless people has become waste, and no one is unique.
Everything is natural.
Infinite pain is tormenting me, and I have only a little residual strength left.
Times don't let anyone do great things, and they also taught me to go up in smoke loud and odorless. ……
Schubert doesn't want to be attached to the door of the powerful and become their loyal servant; I don't want to use my own art to whitewash the peace for the rulers and write flashy and empty works for entertainment. He will use his brilliant music to pour out the inner pain of some progressive intellectuals at that time; Sing the good hopes of the citizens. Because of this, Schubert's works were quickly welcomed by the public, and some progressive artists at that time naturally gathered around Schubert. These artists live with Shu Xiangte, regardless of you and me, discuss artistic issues, exchange new creative achievements with each other, and even privately express some political opinions contrary to authority, forming the famous "Schubert Group". Many of Schubert's works were first sung and performed at the band's briefing. Friends affectionately call this kind of gathering a "scholarly gathering".
The Austrian emperor once said, "We don't need geniuses, we just need loyal servants". Artists like Schubert, of course, are not loyal "servants" of the emperor, and certainly will not be valued and welcomed by the authorities. In the archives of the national police, Schubert was recorded as a "reckless person"; When one of his free-thinking friends was arrested by the police, he was also detained for his participation. Although Schubert's songs and music works were well-known among the citizens of Vienna at that time, they were widely circulated. However, it is difficult to publish and perform because it is not appreciated by the government. Schubert didn't even listen to his symphony before his death. 18 15 years, he wrote the immortal famous song "The Devil", but after five years, the publisher reluctantly agreed to publish this song for him on condition that he was not paid the manuscript fee. After his song "Wanderer" was published, he only got two guilders (Guelden guilders: Austrian coin name). It is worth 48.2 cents. ), the publisher earned a total of 27,000 guilders from this work. When he was ill in bed and had no money to buy medicine, his friends sent his Winter Journey to the publisher, but the publisher only gave Song of the Bodhi Tree a Dutch guilder.
Under the cruel exploitation of publishers, Schubert, who lives by selling works, is often hungry and cold, and the money he earns is often not enough to rent musical instruments. He often lives in a room without fire. When he lives with his poor friend Meyerhoff, they can only wear a coat together. Meyerhof went out to work, so Schubert had to stay at home and write. Because Schubert was too poor, the girl he loved left him and married a rich businessman. Later, Schubert wanted to get a fixed position to ensure his life, but his democratic thought and freedom-loving personality prevented him from finding something to do in government agencies. He tried to find a job as a music teacher in a normal school, but failed. 1827, the post of captain of the second court band in Vienna was vacant. According to Schubert's musical talent, he was fully qualified for this position, but the emperor and officials gave this position to another person who was more in their hearts than Schubert. A similar situation happened in the second year.
Schubert is not a melancholy person by nature. He once fantasized about the artistic environment of free creation, warm life and happy love. In many of his works, he also enthusiastically sang beautiful ideals. However, the suffocating social air, long-term material poverty and mental torture, and the gradual disintegration of friendship groups that had given him infinite warmth for various social reasons all gave Schubert great pain, and he gradually fell into sadness and disappointment. In his letters to friends and friends, he wrote: "Think of me, brilliant hopes are gone, and love and friendship only bring me pain;" My quiet time has passed ... my heart hurts and I will never, ever recover. " He also lamented: "What will happen to my poor musician? In July, I will probably be like Goethe's piano master, begging for money from house to house to buy real bread! "This kind of sadness and disappointment is also clearly reflected in some of his later works.
1828 1 1 month 19, Schubert, who was only 3 1 year old, died because of illness and could not be adequately treated. Relatives and friends buried Schubert next to Beethoven's tomb according to his dying entrustment. On his tombstone are engraved the words: "Death has buried rich wealth and more beautiful hopes here."
Ten years later, German musician Schumann found many precious Schubert manuscripts in his brother's home. These manuscripts have been neglected, let alone published.
This is the tragic fate of a talented artist under reactionary feudal rule!
Back to the top
(3) King of Songs
Schubert is 18, the first musician who is famous for his excellent song creation since the 9th century. In his short life, * * * wrote more than 600 songs. He was only seventeen when he wrote the touching song "Margarita by the Spinning Wheel". Excellent songs such as Devil and Wild Rose, which are still widely circulated in the world, were all written by him when he was eighteen. It is said that Beethoven read several Schubert songs in his hospital bed before his death, and once said in surprise; "Really, this Schubert has a magical spark!"
Schubert's songs are sincere, rich in content and diverse in forms, and the words, music and piano accompaniment are closely coordinated and harmonious. His song creation not only inherited the artistic achievements of predecessors, but also raised the art of songs to a new level, with distinctive national style. Therefore, people call Schubert "the king of songs".
In addition to a large number of songs, Shu Xiangte also created many instrumental works. His creation can basically be divided into two periods. The first period is1813-1817 years. During this period, Schubert formed his own unique style in the field of songs for the first time, and half of his songs were written in these years. During this period, he also composed some symphonies, but these works were not mature enough. 18 18- 1827 is the central period of Schubert's creation. In recent ten years, he has not only continued to compose songs, but also created large-scale works such as vocal divertimento, symphony, chamber music, piano sonata, and piano sketches such as Moment of Music and Impromptu. During this period, his large-scale creation gradually matured and formed his own unique style.
/kloc-At the beginning of the 9th century, with the rapid change of social conditions, a new trend of romanticism was generally formed in European literature and art ... This new trend of literary thought also had a far-reaching impact on Schubert, which made his music creation form a new style-romantic music style, which is completely different from the styles of classical composers such as Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. If Beethoven is the pinnacle of classical music in western Europe, then Schubert is the pioneer of romantic music in western Europe. And one of the founders (Romantic music was formed in11920s, and the founders were Schubert and German musician Weber. Romantic music has its own characteristics. For example, pay attention to the expression of personal feelings, attach importance to the combination of music and music art, and absorb the characteristics of folk music. In addition, there are many innovations and creations in creative techniques, genres and forms. Romantic music is a musical reflection of the feelings of bourgeois thinkers in the19th century, and it is a complex social phenomenon. The evaluation of the music of Luofu should be based on the works, artistic views and world views of different writers. Different from Beethoven's music, which is full of heroism, fighting spirit and extremely rigorous structure, Schubert's music works are free and lyrical, pay attention to the delicate portrayal of people's psychology, and often pour out feelings from the perspective of "I". His music sounds like a page in the composer's diary, and it sounds like a dialogue between the composer and the audience. His works mainly show personal life experiences and experiences in content. In his early works, he often showed his love for life and nature and his yearning for a beautiful ideal, but this beautiful ideal was often confined to the circle of personal happiness; Warm family, sweet love, quiet life and so on. He often describes an invisible force in his works, which prevents people from getting happiness and leads people to darkness and death, while people hate it but are unable to resist it (such as girls and death, demons, etc.). ). In Schubert's later works, the feeling of loneliness, depression and disheartening became stronger and stronger, and even became the keynote of some works (such as Winter Journey); This reflects that Schubert has gradually lost his naive fantasy of reality and gained a deeper understanding of the harsh society.
Schubert's personal life experience and experiences in his works were representative in Austrian society at that time. /kloc-the feudal restoration at the beginning of the 0/9th century plunged some young intellectuals in Germany and Austria who demanded progress into deep depression. When 1789 was at the height of the French Revolution, they were not yet born. They did not see the heroic spirit of the pioneers of bourgeois revolution fighting for their ideals and the greatness of the people's revolutionary forces. What they saw in front of them was the collapse of the ideal kingdom of "freedom, equality and fraternity" advocated by the bourgeoisie, and it was dark all around. They are dissatisfied with the vulgar habits of ordinary citizens in Germany and Austria who are subservient to the rulers and drag out an ignoble existence, but they can't find the real reason and political outlet. Their ideals can only stay in the hazy fantasy and personal world, and these hazy fantasies often fail in the face of harsh reality. In the end, they will only fall into pessimism, disappointment and hesitation. Therefore, the protagonists in Schubert's works (whether as young grinders or lonely vagrants) are the epitome of this part of Hungarian intellectuals in Austria at that time.
Schubert's music is also closely related to folk literature, folk music and customs. In many of his works, we can hear the tones of folk music and folk dance music from Austria, Germany and Hungary. His friends often call him "artist", which shows that he has a deep understanding of folk music. Some of his friends have also commented on him, saying that his music is "too rustic" and "too Austrian", but Schubert disagrees with these opinions; He replied: "It should be like this." This is one of the reasons why Schubert's music is deeply loved by the Austrian people.
Schubert didn't beautify the medieval society with his own creation and guide people to escape from reality with the ancient undead in disguise, like some negative romantic artists. There are also some musicians who, with the support of the rulers, anesthetize people's spirits with music that whitewashes peace and leads a drunken life; Instead, I face the harsh reality, express my depressed sadness and anger with my own music works, sing my desire for light and accuse my fate of injustice. Although, as a petty-bourgeois intellectual, it is impossible for him to find the social root of this uneven fate, let alone see where the bright way out is. But through his music works, people can more clearly understand the darkness of his society and the pain and contradiction of intellectuals at that time. This is the practical significance of Schubert's music works today.