It would be no exaggeration to state that Franz Schubert and Johannes Brahms were among the most prominent composers of the XIX century in Europe. Having made an enormous contribution to the development of various musical genres during the Romantic period, they both became widely renowned and famous composers already during their lives. Despite the fact that both Schubert and Brahms were bright representatives of the Romanticism in music, their lives, backgrounds, and musical styles had both some considerable similarities as well as differences, which dramatically distinguished them among other composers of that era
https://essays-lab.comThe beginning of their musical career had some similar features as both composers were born in the families where music accompanied them since early childhood. The fathers of both Franz and Johannes were musicians, and hence the young composers had a great opportunity to grow up surrounded by music. Moreover, it is worth mentioning that outstanding musical talents of both Johannes Brahms and Franz Schubert were recognized very early, when they were young boys and were making incredible progress in performing and composing pieces since their childhood. However, it is obvious that Franz Schubert, who lived only 31 years, could have created more musical masterpieces unless he had gone away at such a young age.
Despite his musical genius, during his entire life in Vienna Franz Schubert was to some extent overshadowed by another famous composer of that time, Ludwig van Beethoven. Yet, Franz acknowledged the exceptional talent of Beethoven and was greatly inspired by his music, especially symphonies. As well as Schubert, Johannes Brahms also felt he was “walking in Beethoven’s shadow”, even though he, unlike Shubert, lived the major part of his life in Hamburg and came to the musical capital of Europe of that time, Vienna, after he was 30. He was an adherent of the Beethoven’s tradition of writing symphonies; however, despite composing within the realm of the traditional musical genres, he also added some specific Romantic features to them, which appeared to be totally beyond the boundaries of that time. Hence, both Johannes Brahms and Franz Schubert acknowledged the musical genius of the composers of past and present, yet they tried to develop music forms synergistically according to their creative vision and following the desire to go further in composing.
In general, Schubert and Brahms both were composing music pieces of various genres and forms, and symphony was among them. Yet, Franz Schubert’s most impressive legacy is his more than 600 art songs, usually written for piano. He also wrote chamber music, operas, and church music. In contrast, Johannes Brahms was focusing significantly on creating such music compositions, as concertos, sonatas, and string quartets. In this respect, he made a considerable contribution to the development of a modern symphony orchestra.
The famous art song by Franz Schubert, “Erlking”, in many respects is an excellent demonstration of his early-developed talent. He wrote this masterpiece under the influence of the poem of the same name by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in 1815, when he was only eighteen years old. Notwithstanding its rather short duration, the piece is full of dramatic changes and has an incredibly sad and sorrowful ending. This dramatic character of the “Erlking” is expressed not only via the sound of music, but also with the help of words that reinforce the musical messages. This art song is performed solo with the accompaniment of piano that helps to make the picture of the drama developing almost in front of listener’s eyes. The “Erlking” has striking shifts of the melody line, as well as considerable changes in music dynamics depending on who is singing at the moment – the father, his son, or the supernatural creature Erlking himself. Moreover, there is change of key from minor to major when the Erlking sings, which in general strengthens a feeling of his fake good will towards the boy. The feeling of anxiety of a speaking boy is expressed with the help of the repetition of the same note. Hence, the song has dramatic character, changing dynamics, and deep expression of the feelings provoked by the poem.
In contrast, the third movement of Symphony No. 1. by Johannes Brahms has a drastically different character and dynamics than those of the “Erlking” by Franz Schubert. First of all, it is necessary to mention that Brahms’s piece is written for the Romantic symphony orchestra; hence, it involves a greater variety of musical instruments than the art song by Schubert. Symphony’s third part has a light, relaxed, and dancing-like character; however, in the beginning of second minute the tension grows and this adds of anxiety to the composition. The clarinet timbre and melodic themes, in general, dominate throughout the whole piece.
Hence, two famous and incredibly talented composers of the Romantic period in music, Franz Schubert and Johannes Brahms, had similar starts of their musical careers and were recognized as geniuses already at the early age. To some extent, they both were the followers of Ludwig van Beethoven’s tradition of composing symphonies and also both considered themselves to be in the shadow of the virtuoso. Nevertheless, their rich and outstandingly valuable musical heritage allows acknowledging their clearly distinctive style and great contribution they both had made for the development of Romanticism in music in the XIX century that the world still incredibly admires even nowadays.