Franz Schubert was the youngest son of Franz and Elizabeth Schubert; he had eighteen brothers and sisters, few of whom lived very long. His father was a poor schoolmaster, who, having little else to bestow upon his children, took care to give them a good education. "When he was five years old," his father writes, "I prepared him for elementary instruction, and at six I sent him to school; he was always one of the first amongst his fellow-students." As in the case of Mozart and Mendelssohn, the ruling passion was early manifested, and nature seemed to feel that a career so soon to be closed by untimely death must be begun with the tottering steps and early lisp of childhood. From the first, Schubert entered upon music as a prince enters upon his own dominions. What others toiled for he won almost without an effort. Melody flowed from him like perfume from a rose, harmony was the native atmosphere he breathed. Like Handel and Beethoven, he retained no master for long, and soon learned to do without the assistance of any. His father began to teach him music, but found that he had somehow mastered the rudiments for himself. Holzer, the Lichtenthal choir master, took him in hand, but observed that "whenever he wanted to teach him anything, he knew it already;" and some years afterwards Salieri, who considered himself superior to Mozart, admitted that his pupil Schubert was a born genius, and could do whatever he chose. At the age

Salieri, born 1750, died 1825, now chiefly remembered as the person to whom Beethoven dedicated three sonatas.

of eleven Schubert was a good singer, and also an accomplished violinist; the composing mania soon afterwards set in, and at thirteen his consumption of music paper was something enormous. Overtures, symphonies, quartets, and vocal pieces were always forthcoming, and enjoyed the advantage of being performed every evening at the concerts of the "Convict" school, where he was now being educatedSchubert regarding this as by far the most important part of the day's work. At times music had to be pursued under difficulties, Adagios had to be written between the pauses of grammar and mathematics, and Prestos finished off when the master's back was turned. Movements had to be practised, under some discouragements, during the hours of relaxation. "On one occasion," writes a friend, "I represented the audience: there was no fire, and the room was frightfully cold!" At the age of eleven, he had been admitted as chorister into the Imperial choir, then under the direction of Salieri, where he remained until 1813, when his voice broke. There can be no doubt that Salieri, the avowed rival of Mozart, and as narrow and jealous a man as ever lived, was very fond of Schubert, and exercised an important influence over his studies; and yet it would be impossible to conceive of two minds musically less congenial. Salieri was devoted to Italian tradition, and was never even familiar with the German language, although he had lived in Germany for fifty years.

• A sort of free grammar school, where poor students were boarded gratuitously.

Schubert was the apostle of German romanticism, and almost the founder of the German ballad, as distinct from the French and Italian Romance Schubert thought Beethoven a great composer - Salieri considered him a very much overrated man; Schubert worshipped Mozart, Salieri did not appreciate him. It was evident that persons holding such dissimilar views would not long remain in the relation of master and pupil, and one day, after a bitter dispute over a Mass of Schubert's, out of which Salieri had struck all the passages which savoured of Haydn or Mozart, the recalcitrant pupil refused to have anything more to do with such a man as a teacher. It is pleasing, however, to find that this difference of opinion was not followed by any personal estrangement; and whilst Schubert always remained grateful to Salieri, Salieri watched with affectionate interest the rapid progress of his favourite pupil.

The boyish life of Schubert was not marked by any peculiarities apart from his devotion to music. He was light-hearted, disposed to make the best of his scanty income, a dutiful and obedient son, fond of society, and of all kinds of amusement. We find nothing to account for the lugubrious titles which belong to so many of his early works, and which seem to fall across the spring-time of his life like the prophetic shadows of coming sorrow and disappointment. Between the ages of eleven and sixteen his compositions were "A Complaint," "Hagar's Lament," "The

Parricide," and "A Corpse Fantasia!" He left the "Convict Academy" in his seventeenth year (1813), and returning to his father's house, engaged himself vigorously in the tuition of little boys. The next three years were passed in this delightful occupation, but the continuous stream of his music never ceased, and 1815 is marked as the most prolific year of his life. It witnessed the production of more than a hundred songs, half-a-dozen operas and operettas, several symphonic pieces, church music, chamber music, &c., &c. It is remarkable that at this early period he wrote some of his finest songs, and that whilst many of his larger works at that time, and for some years afterwards, continued to bear a strong resemblance to Mozart, some of these ballads are like no one but himself at his very best. Such are the "Mignon Songs," 1815, and the "Songs from Ossian."

Early in 1816, Schubert produced the most popular of all his works, "The Erl King." It was composed characteristically enough, in the true Schubertian fashion. One afternoon Schubert was alone in the little room allotted to him in his father's house, and happening to take up a volume of Goethe's poems, he read the "Erl King." The rushing sound of the wind and the terrors of the enchanted forest were instantly changed for him into realities. Every line of the poem seemed to flow into strange unearthly music as he read, and seizing a pen, he dashed down the song nearly as it is, in just the time necessary for the mechanical writing

The song so hastily composed was destined to have a remarkable future. It was sung some years after by Vogl at Vienna, and produced a great sensation. The timid publishers, who had hitherto declined to publish Schubert's compositions, now began to think him a young man of some talent, and Diabelli was induced to engrave and sell the song. Schubert got little enough, but in a few months the publishers made over £80 by it, and have since realized thousands.-A few hours before his death, and when he was quite blind, Jean Paul desired to have it sung to him. Two years before Goethe's death (1830), and two years after Schubert's, Madame Schröder Devrient was passing through Weimar, and sang some songs to the aged poet; amongst them was the "Erl King." Goethe was deeply affected, and taking Schröder's head between both his hands, he kissed her forehead, and added, "A thousand thanks for this grand artistic performance I heard the composition once before, and it did not please me, but when it is given like this, the whole becomes a living picture!" The startling effect produced by Madame Viardot in this song may still be fresh in the memory of some of our readers.

In 1816, Schubert applied for a small musical appointment at Laibach, under Government. The salary was only £20 a year; but although now a rising young man, and highly recommended by Salieri, he proved unsuccessful. However, he was not destined to struggle much longer with the trials of the pedagogue's vocation, and soon afterwards he consented to