III.

Later Years

Schubert produced fewer pieces from 1820 to 1822, and some of the works from this time never saw completion. In 1820 Schubert wrote music for Die Zauberharfe (The Magic Harp), a melodrama, and Die Zwillingsbrüder (The Twin Brothers, 1820), an unsuccessful operetta. He also composed sacred music, such as the Twenty-third Psalm and the unfinished oratorio Lazarus. In 1822 he wrote the Symphony in B Minor, known as the Unfinished Symphony, and the Mass in A-flat.

The year 1823 was one of illness and depression for Schubert. However, no hint of the composer’s dejection appears in his charming song cycle Die schöne Müllerin (The Miller’s Beautiful Daughter) or in the music for an insignificant play called Rosamunde, both composed in 1823. (A song cycle is a set of songs conceived as a unit and generally based on a group of poems by a single poet.) The beginning of 1824 was devoted to the Quartet in A Minor, the Quartet in D Minor (known as Death and the Maiden), and the Octet in F. Later in the year he wrote his two piano duets, the Grand Duo Sonata in C Major and the Variations on an Original Theme in A-flat Major. In 1825 he again joined Vogl in the forests of Oberösterreich (Upper Austria), and the Sonata in D Major for piano of that year reflects Schubert’s restored spirits.

Schubert composed his last string quartet, in G Major, during the summer of 1826. By then his songs were widely known in Vienna; the Viennese held parties called “Schubertiads,” gatherings that were devoted entirely to his music. For the next two years Schubert wrote constantly, producing the song cycle Die Winterreise (Winter Journey) and the piano pieces called Moments musicaux and Impromptus in 1827. By 1828 Schubert’s health was seriously impaired by the syphilis he had contracted some years earlier, probably in 1822. He worked feverishly during his last year; masterpiece followed masterpiece. The Ninth Symphony in C Major, the Mass in E-flat Major, the String Quintet in C Major, his last three piano sonatas, and his last collection of songs, Schwanengesang (Swan Song), were written in 1828. Schubert died on November 19, 1828, at the age of 31.