Franz Schubert

Franz Schubert (1797-1828) was born in Vienna of immigrant parents. During his short life he produced an astonishing amount of music. Symphonies, chamber music, operas, church music, and songs (over 600 of them) poured forth in profusion. Who was the man who composed this amazing succession of masterpieces, so many of which were either entirely ignored or regarded as failures during his lifetime?

In her new biography, Elizabeth Norman McKay paints a vivid portrait of Schubert and his world. She explores his family background; his education and musical upbringing; the nature of his friendships; effects of the repressive roles of Church and State; and the musical and artistic world of his day. McKay shows how his manic-depressive temperament was partly responsible for his social inadequacies, professional ineptitude, and idiosyncrasies in his music. She examines Schubert's uneven physical decline after he contracted syphilis, traces its effects on his music, his hedonism, and sensuality, and investigates the cause and circumstances of his death at the age of thirty-one.