page_title: Franz Schubert
section_title: Early life and education
hierarchical_section_title: Franz Schubert / Biography / Early life and education
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Das Geburtshaus des Komponisten Franz Schubert (31. Jänner 1797 geboren) am Himmelpfortgrund, heute Nußdorfer Straße 54 im 9. Wiener Gemeindebezirk Alsergrund. 1908 beschloss der Gemeinderat das Haus anzukaufen und darin ein Schubertmuseum einzurichten, das am 18. Juni 1912 eröffnet wurde und bis heute besteht.
context_page_description: Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast oeuvre, including more than 600 secular vocal works, seven complete symphonies, sacred music, operas, incidental music and a large body of piano and chamber music. His major works include the Piano Quintet in A major, D. 667, the Symphony No. 8 in B minor, D. 759, the ”Great” Symphony No. 9 in C major, D. 944, the String Quintet, the three last piano sonatas, the opera Fierrabras, the incidental music to the play Rosamunde, and the song cycles Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise.
  Born in the Himmelpfortgrund suburb of Vienna, Schubert's uncommon gifts for music were evident 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 the age of eleven, he became a pupil at the Stadtkonvikt school, where he became acquainted with the orchestral music of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven.
context_section_description: Franz Peter Schubert was born in Himmelpfortgrund (now a part of Alsergrund), Vienna, Archduchy of Austria on 31 January 1797, and baptised 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, 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 Zukmantel 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 the age of five, Schubert began to receive regular instruction from his father, and a year later was enrolled at his father's school. Although it is not exactly known when Schubert 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, 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 out stripped me, and whom I despaired of overtaking.
  His father gave him his first violin lessons when he was eight years old, training him to 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 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 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 recognised. In November 1808, he became a pupil at the Stadtkonvikt (Imperial Seminary) through 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 a significant 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 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 the meantime, Schubert's genius began to show in his compositions; Salieri decided to start training him privately in music theory and even in com
caption: The house in which Schubert was born, today Nußdorfer Straße 54
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 5D Mark IV", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Digital Photo Professional", "Image DateTime": "2018:04:28 12:02:15", "Image Artist": "Bwag", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image Copyright": "Bwag, CC-BY-SA-4.0", "Image ExifOffset": "288", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 3, 0, 0]", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "N", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[48, 17061/1250, 0]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "E", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[16, 212993/10000, 0]", "GPS GPSAltitudeRef": "0", "GPS GPSAltitude": "2009/10", "GPS GPSTimeStamp": "[11, 2, 1909/1000]", "GPS GPSSatellites": "9", "GPS GPSStatus": "A", "GPS GPSMeasureMode": "3", "GPS GPSDOP": "2", "GPS GPSMapDatum": "WGS-84", "GPS GPSDate": "2018:04:28", "Image GPSInfo": "7132", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "7508", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8592", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/500", "EXIF FNumber": "63/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "125", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF RecommendedExposureIndex": "125", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2018:04:28 12:02:15", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2018:04:28 12:02:15", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "9", "EXIF ApertureValue": "43/8", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "26", "EXIF SubSecTime": "00", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "00", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "00", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4250", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2833", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "4250", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "2833", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "6998", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF CameraOwnerName": "", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "018021001751", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[16, 35, 0, 0]", "EXIF LensModel": "EF16-35mm f/4L IS USM", "EXIF LensSerialNumber": "1700000058"}