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Yearly Archives: 2012

VRSchubert – Day 10: The late Schubert

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Robert Schumann

 

Despite years of well-documented health problems, which eventually cut his life short at 31 years, Schubert retained an astonishing facility to write music. Quite possibly knowing his life would soon end, Schubert’s final works display astonishing maturity and genius. From this period come the “Death and the Maiden” string quartet, symphony no. 9, and Winterreise. Also from this period are the three late piano sonatas which will be performed on October 23 by Paul Lewis, one of today’s greatest Schubert interpreters.

These sonatas were published posthumously in 1839 by Austrian music publisher Anton Diabelli who dedicated the sonatas to composer Robert Schumann, himself a great admirer of Schubert.

“Where other people keep diaries in which they record their momentary feelings, etc, Schubert simply kept sheets of music by him and confided his changing moods to them; and his soul being steeped in music, he put down notes when another man would resort to words.”
— Robert Schumann

SPECIAL TICKET OFFER! As part of the #VRSchubert campaign we’re offering a 25% discount* on Paul Lewis tickets. CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE or call the VRS box office at 604-602-0363. Use code TWEET when ordering.

VRScubert: In anticipation and celebration of Paul Lewis’ performance of the Late Schubert Sonatas on October Tuesday, October 23, the VRS is embarking on 23 days of tweets, Facebook and blog posts about the life and work of Franz Schubert and the celebrated interpreter of his music.

Follow us daily on Twitter with the hashtag #VRSchubert, visit facebook.com/vancouverrecitalsociety, or check back in with us each day at vanrecital.com/blog.

* Discount on A, B, C, D price section and cannot be combined with other offers.

 

VRSchubert – Day 9: Paul Lewis in Conversation

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In this podcast from London’s Wigmore Hall podcast, Paul talks about this career, his love of Schubert and Beethoven, and his relationship with his mentor Alfred Brendel. CLICK HERE to listen now!

 

Spread the word and save: if you re-tweet or re-post any of our VRSchubert posts, you have the opportunity to save 25% on regularly priced tickets*. Call our box office to reserve your tickets: 604-602-0363.

VRScubert: In anticipation and celebration of Paul Lewis’ performance of the Late Schubert Sonatas on October Tuesday, October 23, the VRS is embarking on 23 days of tweets, Facebook and blog posts about the life and work of Franz Schubert and the celebrated interpreter of his music.

Follow us daily on Twitter with the hashtag #VRSchubert, visit facebook.com/vancouverrecitalsociety, or check back in with us each day at vanrecital.com/blog.

* Discount on A, B, C, D price section and cannot be combined with other offers.

VRSchubert – Day 8: the student, the master, and the message

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Alfred Brendel

Paul Lewis is internationally recognized as one of the leading pianists of his generation. While there is perhaps no question that Lewis’ impressive talent comes from an innate musical ability, his musicianship has also been shaped by the tutelage of some of the worlds most deft and magnanimous  piano masters.

Lewis studied with Ryszard Bakst at Chethams School of Music and Joan Havill at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, before going on to study privately with Alfred Brendel. Renowned for his masterly interpretations of the works of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms and Liszt, Brendel is one of the indisputable authorities in musical life today and one of the very few living pianists whose name alone guarantees a sell-out anywhere in the world he chooses to play. The passage below summarizes Lewis’ reflections on studying Schubert under the guidance of Alfred Brendel:

“With someone like Schubert, there are many layers, many things being said at the same time, shedding different light. The tricky thing, the point, is to get the delicate balance that conveys the message – and Alfred was the master of the message.”

SPECIAL TICKET OFFER! As part of the #VRSchubert campaign we’re offering a 25% discount* on Paul Lewis tickets. CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE or call the VRS box office at 604-602-0363. Use code TWEET when ordering.

VRScubert: In anticipation and celebration of Paul Lewis’ performance of the Late Schubert Sonatas on October Tuesday, October 23, the VRS is embarking on 23 days of tweets, Facebook and blog posts about the life and work of Franz Schubert and the celebrated interpreter of his music.

Follow us daily on Twitter with the hashtag #VRSchubert, visit facebook.com/vancouverrecitalsociety, or check back in with us each day at vanrecital.com/blog.

* Discount on A, B, C, D price sections only and cannot be combined with other offers.

 

VRSchubert Day 7- The Singular Schubert: Quotes v.2

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“I am in the world only for the purpose of composing.” -Franz Schubert

More Schubert quotes can be found here.

SPECIAL TICKET OFFER! As part of the #VRSchubert campaign we’re offering a 25% discount* on Paul Lewis tickets. CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE or call the VRS box office at 604-602-0363. Use code TWEET when ordering.

VRScubert: In anticipation and celebration of Paul Lewis’ performance of the Late Schubert Sonatas on October Tuesday, October 23, the VRS is embarking on 23 days of tweets, Facebook and blog posts about the life and work of Franz Schubert and the celebrated interpreter of his music.

Follow us daily on Twitter with the hashtag #VRSchubert, visit facebook.com/vancouverrecitalsociety, or check back in with us each day at vanrecital.com/blog.

* Discount on A, B, C, D price sections only and cannot be combined with other offers.

 

VRSchubert-Day 6: Quoting the divinely inspired Schubert

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“I am composing like a god, as if it simply had to be done as it has been done.” – Franz Schubert

Read more of Schubert’s illustrious words here.

SPECIAL TICKET OFFER! As part of the #VRSchubert campaign we’re offering a 25% discount* on Paul Lewis tickets. CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE or call the VRS box office at 604-602-0363. Use code TWEET when ordering.

VRScubert: In anticipation and celebration of Paul Lewis’ performance of the Late Schubert Sonatas on October Tuesday, October 23, the VRS is embarking on 23 days of tweets, Facebook and blog posts about the life and work of Franz Schubert and the celebrated interpreter of his music.

Follow us daily on Twitter with the hashtag #VRSchubert, visit facebook.com/vancouverrecitalsociety, or check back in with us each day at vanrecital.com/blog.

* Discount on A, B, C, D price sections only and cannot be combined with other offers.

 

VRSchubert- Day 5: Jailbird Schubert

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During the early 1820s, Schubert was part of a close-knit circle of artists and students who had social gatherings that became known as “Schubertiaden”. The tight circle of friends with which Schubert surrounded himself was dealt a blow in early 1820. Schubert and four of his friends were arrested by the Austrian police, who (in the aftermath of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars) were on their guard against revolutionary activities and suspicious of any gathering of youth or students.

One of Schubert’s friends, Johann Senn, was put on trial, imprisoned for over a year, and then permanently forbidden to enter Vienna. The other four, including Schubert, were “severely reprimanded”, in part for “inveighing against [officials] with insulting and opprobrious language”. While Schubert never saw Senn again, he did set some of his poems, “Selige Welt” and “Schwanengesang”, to music.

SPECIAL TICKET OFFER! As part of the #VRSchubert campaign we’re offering a 25% discount* on Paul Lewis tickets. CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE or call the VRS box office at 604-602-0363. Use code TWEET when ordering.

VRScubert: In anticipation and celebration of Paul Lewis’ performance of the Late Schubert Sonatas on October Tuesday, October 23, the VRS is embarking on 23 days of tweets, Facebook and blog posts about the life and work of Franz Schubert and the celebrated interpreter of his music.

Follow us daily on Twitter with the hashtag #VRSchubert, visit facebook.com/vancouverrecitalsociety, or check back in with us each day at vanrecital.com/blog.

* Discount on A, B, C, D price sections only and cannot be combined with other offers.

 

VRSchubert- Day 4: Hometown boy

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The house in which Schubert was born, today Nussdorfer Strasse 54, in the 9th district of Vienna.

Unlike any of the major composers who worked in Vienna during the Classical and Romantic periods, Schubert was the only one actually born in this musical capital. Joseph Haydn was born in  Rohrau, Austria. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg. Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn.

Franz Peter Schubert was born on January 31st, 1797. His father was Franz Theodor Schubert, the son of a Moravian peasant, was a parish schoolmaster, and his mother, Elisabeth (Vietz), was the daughter of a Silesian master locksmith, and had also been a housemaid for a Viennese family prior to her marriage. While Franz Sr. was not a musician of fame nor had he had formal training, he provided Schubert with rudimentary musical teachings.

Spread the word and save: if you re-tweet or re-post any of our VRSchubert posts, you have the opportunity to save 25% on regularly priced tickets*. Call our box office to reserve your tickets: 604-602-0363.

VRScubert: In anticipation and celebration of Paul Lewis’ performance of the Late Schubert Sonatas on October Tuesday, October 23, the VRS is embarking on 23 days of tweets, Facebook and blog posts about the life and work of Franz Schubert and the celebrated interpreter of his music.

Follow us daily on Twitter with the hashtag #VRSchubert, visit facebook.com/vancouverrecitalsociety, or check back in with us each day at vanrecital.com/blog.

* Small print: discount on A, B, C, D price section not to be combined with other offers.
 

VRSchubert-Day 3: Graphic Schubert

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Bringing Schubert closer to young readers, Dutch author and artist Jeroen Janssen and Pieter van Oudheusden are preparing to publish a graphic novel about the last days of Franz Schubert’s life.

Fighting a losing battle against death, Schubert’s final days are haunted by the ghosts of his past, including Beethoven, his family, and his many secret and hopeless loves. In the feverish brain of a dying man, Schubert’s world has turned into a chain of nightmares, each bearing the title of one of his songs and containing fragments of their lyrics.

About The Last Days of Franz Schubert, the author writes, “[this is] a visual song cycle around the major themes of his life, playfully interpreted from a modern point of view – sometimes willfully anachronistic, but always inspired by the love for the man and his music.”

On a special Facebook page, the author shares numerous sketches for the upcoming book.

Spread the word and save: if you re-tweet or re-post any of our VRSchubert posts, you have the opportunity to save 25% on regularly priced tickets*. Call our box office to reserve your tickets: 604-602-0363.

VRScubert: In anticipation and celebration of Paul Lewis’ performance of the Late Schubert Sonatas on October Tuesday, October 23, the VRS is embarking on 23 days of tweets, Facebook and blog posts about the life and work of Franz Schubert and the celebrated interpreter of his music.

Follow us daily on Twitter with the hashtag #VRSchubert, visit facebook.com/vancouverrecitalsociety, or check back in with us each day at vanrecital.com/blog.

VRSchubert- Day 2: the Shape of Schubert

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Franz Schubert

Chubby and short at only 5 foot one inch, Franz Schubert had to endure the nickname “Schwammerl” or mushroom by his friends.

Perhaps these attributes are the reasons for a life unlucky in love, but they are certainly not apparent in the youthful, charmingly handsome 16 year old seen in this portrait by Kupelweiser.

Spread the word and save: if you re-tweet or re-post any of our VRSchubert posts, you have the opportunity to save 25% on regularly priced tickets*. Call our box office to reserve your tickets: 604-602-0363.

VRScubert: In anticipation and celebration of Paul Lewis’ performance of the Late Schubert Sonatas on October Tuesday, October 23, the VRS is embarking on 23 days of tweets, Facebook and blog posts about the life and work of Franz Schubert and the celebrated interpreter of his music.

Follow us daily on Twitter with the hashtag #VRSchubert, visit facebook.com/vancouverrecitalsociety, or check back in with us each day at vanrecital.com/tag/vrschubert/.

VRSchubert- Day 1: Lewis on Schubert

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In anticipation and celebration of Paul Lewis’ performance of the Late Schubert Sonatas on October Tuesday, October 23, the VRS is embarking on 23 days of tweets, Facebook and blog posts about the life and work of Franz Schubert and this celebrated interpreter of his music.

Follow us daily on Twitter with the hashtag #VRSchubert, visit facebook.com/vancouverrecitalsociety, or check back in with us each day at vanrecital.com/tag/vrschubert/.

Paul Lewis has been described by Gramophone Magazine as “arguably the finest Schubert interpreter of his generation.” Modest as he is, here is the artist’s perspective on performing music by Franz Schubert:

“This is the music I love, and my hope is that the people who come and hear it can love it too. That the experience will be long-lasting – and if it is, it will be because of Schubert.” – Paul Lewis

Spread the word and save: if you re-tweet or re-post any of our VRSchubert posts, you have the opportunity to save 25% on regularly priced tickets. Call our box office to reserve your tickets: 604-602-0363.

Small print: discount on A, B, C, D price section not to be combined with other offers.

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