Birthday, Franz Schubert

It's Franz Schubert's birthday. I know we just celebrated Mozart's birthday but, in many wats, Schubert is dearer to me than Mozart. Some of his melodies are so breathtakingly beautiful -- and then works, like the posthumous piano sonata in A are so full of emotions across a great range -- then there's his Great C major 9th symphony and the Trout Quartet and so much more...

When my daughters were too busy being teenagers to practice their piano lessons their serious teacher, Wayne, said he did not want to teach pupils who weren't serious. They were happy when I said "okay, you can forget about piano lessons." But I said to Wayne, "will you teach me?" I had been playing the piano since I was six and had lessons all though my school years -- from incredibly bad teachers ... but that was all that was availabl

Four years later I was working hard on Schubert's Wanderer Fantasy. I practiced, I learned and when I got a book of Schubert piano music I said to Wayne, "Can I learn Schubert or is he second rate?" "He's first rate and you can learn whatever you want." So I did and loved every minute of it. I was sorry I had to leave Wayne and the lessons -- there was so much more to learn!

Everyone knows about Beethovan and his deafness and if-fy "facts" about Mozart from play/movie Amadeus, but people don't know so much about little round Schubert with his head of curls and thick little glasses and wife who used his manuscript papers to curlher hair around. Like Mozart he died in his mid-30s. Poor Franz had to play the piano at evening gathering to make a few extra bucks and did not hae a great deal of success. But the melodies poured out of his pen and we're all blessed by the beauty he created.