Comparison and Contrast

Schubert and Beethoven

Piano music has two (of many) great turning points in history: the compositions of Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert. This is made particularly evident by their piano sonatas, of which Beethoven wrote 32 and Schubert 11. It is important to note that for Beethoven, the sonata was the primary means of creative output when writing for the piano; this is born of his "Classical" roots inspired by the compositions of Haydn and Mozart. Schubert composed a greater variety of (non-sonata) forms, but the same patterns we hear in Beethoven are certainly present in Schubert, showing the same respect for earlier works.

Between the output of these two there is a great difference, yet an intimate similarity. Both were prolific around the beginning of the 19th century, as the "Romantic" movement in music was taking full force, and the characteristic aspects of personal expression and introspection are evident in the piano works of both. Their virtuosity and playing ability at the piano made them both well-recognized, though Beethoven is more famous for this.

When considering the entire output of both composers, there is a broad difference: It has been said that Beethoven's music is more "varied"; certainly his sonatas are more flexible in form towards the end of his career (Schubert's are mostly in the standard "Sonata-Allegro"), and one performing Beethoven is required to execute many diverse technical challenges and broad range of emotions. However, this is not to discredit Schubert: his music is in every way as varied as Beethoven's, but his personality makes it much more difficult to penetrate.

Once Schubert was composing full-time, he lacked the benefit of the rich patrons Beethoven had. Beethoven is known for his distracted walks about town and his fiery personality in performance and rehearsal; his forthrightness of personality is reflected in the clarity and magnitude of the emotions in his music: the contrasts between the first and third movements of the "Moonlight" sonata are devastatingly obvious. Schubert, instead, was terribly shy, rarely performing in public but only for friends; he wrote over 600 songs in his short life because he loved the intimacy of a human voice. In Schubert, it is difficult to make interpretive decisions because he must have had such a particular experience of his own in mind; the emotions are not always clear from reading the music, which sometimes makes the notation seem poorly thought out. Often, Schubert's music becomes dissonant and harsh and confusingly resolved, where in a similar situation, Beethoven would likely exaggerate through dynamics or phrasing why the harmonic oddities were there. Aspects of Schubert's music are often described as demonic or self-pitying, where Beethoven is nothing if not stoic. This difference could be attributed to their parallel experiences with illness: Schubert contracted syphilis (clearly from a "personal" experience) and experienced a variety of strange weakening illnesses as a result, whereas Beethoven became deaf, a handicap so glaringly obvious that dramatic changes in routine were required even to live, let alone continue to compose. Overall, there is no doubt that both men made Romantic and expressive music, but the difference shows through in their lifestyles; in Schubert one can imagine the homelessness, sickliness, fear and inner "Romantic" confusion, but Beethoven must have been the majestic "Classicist" titan he was to create what he did.