Franz Schubert

Franz Schubert died in Vienna in 1828, aged 31, having produced more than 600 works. His greatest compositions were written in the final two years of his life while he was seriously ill. Almost none of his music had been performed publicly. Johannes Brahms spent more than twenty years working on his First Symphony before publishing it at age 43. When it finally appeared, a leading conductor called it "Beethoven's Tenth." He then produced three more symphonies, two piano concertos, and some of the most admired chamber music in the repertoire - all in his forties and fifties. Two composers. Two completely different relationships with time. Both are considered among the greatest figures in the history of Western music. The popular story of creative genius is almost always the early version: the prodigy, the teenage virtuoso, the artist who arrives complete and fully formed. The history of classical music suggests something more complicated - and considerably more interesting.