ongs, symphonies,
quartets, and operas, many of which knew no existence but in the score
till after his death, hardly knowing of himself whether the productions
had value or not. He created because it was the essential law of his
being, and never paused to contemplate or admire the beauties of his own
work. Schubert's body had been mouldering for several years, when his
wonderful symphony in C major, one of the _chefs-d'oeuvre_ of orchestral
composition, was brought to the attention of the world by the critical
admiration of Robert Schumann, who won the admiration of lovers of
music, not less by his prompt vindication of neglected genius than by
his own creative powers.

In the contest between Weber and Rossini which agitated Vienna,
Schubert, though deeply imbued with the seriousness of art, and
by nature closely allied in sympathies with the composer of "Der
Freischuetz," took no part. He was too easy-going to become a volunteer
partisan, too shy and obscure to make his alliance a thing to be sought
after. Besides, Weber had treated him with great brusqueness, and damned
an opera for him, a slight which even good-natured Franz Schubert could
not easily forgive.

The fifteen operas of Schubert, unknown now except to musicians, contain
a wealth of beautiful melody which could easily be spread over a score
of ordinary works. The purely lyric impulse so dominated him that
dramatic arrangement was lost sight of, and the noblest melodies were
likely to be lavished on the most unworthy situations. Even under
the operatic form he remained essentially the song-writer. So in
the symphony his affluence of melodic inspiration seems actually
to embarrass him, to the detriment of that breadth and symmetry of
treatment so vital to this form of art. It is in the musical lyric that
our composer stands matchless.

During his life as an independent musician at Vienna, Schubert lived
fighting a stern battle with want and despondency, while the publishers
were commencing to make fortunes by the sale of his exquisite _Lieder_.
At that time a large source of income for the Viennese composers was the
public performance of their works in concerts under their own direction.
From recourse to this, Schubert's bashfulness and lack of skill as a
_virtuoso_ on any instrument helped to bar him, though he accompanied
his own songs with exquisite effect. Once only his friends organized
a concert for him, and the success was very brilliant. But he w