In 1823, the year he composed Fierrabras, Schubert experienced the first highly contagious stage of his syphilitic illness, leading to hospitalizations and treatment with high doses of mercury.
Compositional Technique
The title character Fierrabras has the shortest role of any titular hero in opera history, appearing only briefly in the final act.
Recording & Production
This album is part of a complete recording of Franz Schubert's symphonies by the Basel Chamber Orchestra conducted by Heinz Holliger.
Compositional Technique
Schubert's Fifth Symphony is the most chamber-like of his symphonies due to its reduced instrumentation, lacking clarinets, brass, percussion, and featuring only a single flute.
Composition History
Schubert's opera Fierrabras was composed in 1823, a decade after his First Symphony, during a period when he was a relatively famous composer hoping to succeed in opera.
Composer Biography
Franz Schubert composed his First Symphony at the age of sixteen, while he was a pupil and choirboy at Vienna's Imperial Seminary.
Interpretation
Conductor Heinz Holliger, an oboist who also composed at a young age, interprets Schubert's First Symphony to reveal its depths and link it to the composer's later symphonies.
