“Schubert went through much of 1828 with that sense of ‘carpe diem’. It was a hugely prolific year, including writing sketches for a new opera called Der Graf von Gleichen, a Mass in E flat major, various shorter liturgical works and the beginnings of another symphony, to say nothing of the Fantasy in F minor for piano duet, the Drei Klavierstücke, final triptych of piano sonatas, the String Quintet, The Shepherd on the Rock and the songs that would become Schwanengesang. Defying death, Schubert was full of life almost to the end. “
1828 was Schubert’s last year alive. As if predicting the bad times ahead, his friend Bauernfeld composed a poem for New Year’s Eve. ‘The pleasures of singing,’ he wrote, ‘they too will be gone’. Despite the air of pessimism, Schubert spent the evening with friends at Bogner’s coffee house. It…
