Franz Peter Schubert (1797 – 1828) was an Austrian
composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras.
Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a vast
oeuvre, including more than 600 secular vocal works
(mainly lieder), seven complete symphonies, sacred
music, operas, incidental music, and a large body of
piano and chamber music. His major works include the
art song "Erlkönig", the Piano Trout Quintet in A
major, the unfinished Symphony No. 8 in B minor, the
"Great" Symphony No. 9 in ...(+)
Franz Peter Schubert (1797 – 1828) was an Austrian
composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras.
Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a vast
oeuvre, including more than 600 secular vocal works
(mainly lieder), seven complete symphonies, sacred
music, operas, incidental music, and a large body of
piano and chamber music. His major works include the
art song "Erlkönig", the Piano Trout Quintet in A
major, the unfinished Symphony No. 8 in B minor, the
"Great" Symphony No. 9 in C major, a 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. He was
remarkably prolific, writing over 1,500 works in his
short career. His compositional style progressed
rapidly throughout his short life. The largest number
of his compositions are songs for solo voice and piano
(roughly 630). Schubert also composed a considerable
number of secular works for two or more voices, namely
part songs, choruses and cantatas. He completed eight
orchestral overtures and seven complete symphonies, in
addition to fragments of six others. While he composed
no concertos, he did write three concertante works for
violin and orchestra. Schubert wrote a large body of
music for solo piano, including eleven incontrovertibly
completed sonatas and at least eleven more in varying
states of completion, numerous miscellaneous works and
many short dances, in addition to producing a large set
of works for piano four hands. He also wrote over fifty
chamber works, including some fragmentary works.
Schubert's sacred output includes seven masses, one
oratorio and one requiem, among other mass movements
and numerous smaller compositions. He completed only
eleven of his twenty stage works.
"An Sylvia" (Who is Sylvia) D.891 Op. 106 No. 4, is a
Lied for voice and piano composed by Franz Schubert in
1826 and published in 1828. Its text is a German
translation by Eduard von Bauernfeld of "Who is
Silvia?" from act 4, scene 2, of The Two Gentlemen of
Verona by William Shakespeare. "An Sylvia" was composed
during a peak in Schubert's career around the time he
was writing the Ninth Symphony "Great" (D 944), two
years before his death.
Although considered to be myth, it is said that
Schubert first came up with the idea to write "An
Sylvia" as he was walking in Vienna and entered a beer
garden with friends. There, he found a volume of
Shakespeare on a table and as he was reading, he
apparently exclaimed, "Oh! I have such a pretty melody
running in my head. If only I had some paper!" His
friend drew staves on the back of a menu, and, as it
came to his head, Schubert spontaneously wrote melodies
to the words he was reading in the play.
The handwritten score was originally entitled "Gesang"
and appeared within a small booklet labeled Währing,
July 1826 (Währing was a town outside of Vienna where
Schubert stayed with his friend Franz von Schober). The
score had no tempo markings and served as Schubert's
only draft of "An Sylvia" which allowed him to write
additional notes in the score over time as ideas came
to him. In addition, the title "Gesang" was crossed out
and instead "An Sylvia" was written in its place. "An
Sylvia" became one of three Shakespeare texts set to
music by Schubert; the other two are "Ständchen"
("Hark, hark! the lark") and "Trinklied" ("Bacchus,
feister Fürst des Weins", D 888).
Schubert's friend, Franz von Schober, kept the original
manuscript and managed Schubert's music after the
composer's death. After the Lithographic Institute of
Vienna published "An Sylvia" in 1828, Schober published
it himself shortly after. In 1829, "An Sylvia" was
assigned opus number 106 after Anton Diabelli published
the work. The poem introduces Sylvia who is
characterized as a beautiful, fair, and innocent woman
admired by her suitors. The question becomes whether or
not Sylvia is as kind as she is attractive, because
only kindness can make her beautiful. When Sylvia is in
love with one of the suitors, her eyes appear softer,
helping the suitor to see that she is a kind and caring
person.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Sylvia)
Although originally composed for Voice & Piano, I
created this Interpretation of "An Sylvia" (Who is
Sylvia D.891 Op. 106 No. 4) for Flute & Strings (2
Violins, Viola & Cello).
