FAMOUS COMPOSERS:
Franz Peter Schubert

SCHUBERT BIOGRAPHY HISTORY LESSON

Directions:

Print the Franz Peter Schubert reading comprehension passage and questions (see below).

Students should read the passage silently, then answer the questions.  Teachers may also use the text as part of a classroom lesson plan.

Lesson Excerpt

Franz Peter Schubert was one of the most productive composers of all times. He grew up and composed during the Romantic period of music. In his short life, Schubert wrote nearly a thousand compositions! He was born into a large family in Vienna, Austria in 1797. Franz Peter's father was a teacher, and the family lived in a cramped three-room apartment that is now a museum. Schubert's father and older brother taught him to play the violin and piano. It was not long, though, before Franz Peter could play both instruments better than his teachers could.

When Schubert was eleven years old, he was sent to a boarding school, where it was assumed that he would become a teacher like his father. In those days, most boys followed in their father's footsteps. In 1813, he began teaching at his father's school. But Schubert did not really want to be a teacher. He believed his only purpose in life was to compose music, and that's exactly what he decided to do after only a short time as a teacher.

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