letters.

An old battered piano which he had used was also shown. This is the only
article which belonged to him that is known to exist, as he died in
extreme poverty. It seems sad that his genius was not properly appreciated
until after his death, and that he who was to give so much to the world of
music should have been denied all but the barest necessities.

We publish an account of his life, written especially for THE GREAT
ROUND WORLD.

FRANZ SCHUBERT.

Eighteen hundred and ninety-seven is the centennial year of Franz
Schubert, the great composer, who was born in Vienna on the 31st of
January, 1797. He was of humble lineage. His father, who also bore the
name of Franz, was the son of a peasant, who studied in Vienna, and became
assistant to his brother, a schoolmaster. He married Elizabeth Vitz, who
had been in service as a cook in Vienna. Franz Peter Schubert was the
thirteenth of a family of fourteen children, nine of whom died in infancy.
His love of music was apparent when he was very young. A relative often
took him to visit a pianoforte warehouse, and there, and on an old
worn-out piano at home, the child studied his first exercises without a
master. At the age of seven he had a teacher, Michael Holzer, who used to
cry out, "When I wish to teach him anything, he always knows it already."
When he was eleven years old he was employed as a solo singer and violin
player in a church. A little later his father succeeded in getting him a
position in the Emperor's Chapel, and he thus became a pupil in a music
school, which was called the "Convict."

It seems that the boys at the Convict endured many privations. The
practice-room was unbearably cold in winter, and the young students were
allowed to go without food for eight hours and a half, between a "poor
dinner and a wretched supper." When he was about fifteen, Franz wrote to
his brother, explaining his position, his hungry longing for a roll or an
apple, and concluded in these words: "I rely on the teaching of the
Apostle Matthew, who says, 'Let him that hath two coats give one to the
poor.' Meanwhile I trust you will listen to the voice which unceasingly
appeals to you to remember your loving, hoping, poverty-stricken--and once
again I repeat poverty-stricken--brother Franz."

His earliest composition for the piano is dated April, 1810. It was his
habit to date all his pieces. In March, 1811, he composed a long vocal
piece, "Hagar's Lament over Her Dying