Four Arts takes three-concert look at music of Schubert

The story of the Austrian composer Franz Schubert inspires pity and awe in equal measure: Stupendously gifted, he wrote music at a frenetic pace, even while often impoverished and ill from syphilis, with only local Viennese recognition of his work before his death from typhoid fever at the impossibly early age of 31.

And yet in that short lifetime (1797-1828), he managed to write about 1,000 pieces of music, including nine symphonies, 17 operas, 35 chamber works, 22 piano sonatas, hundreds of choral works and short piano pieces, and six Masses. It’s a staggering achievement considering his compositional career itself lasted less than 20 years.

The pianist Wu Han, co-director of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in New York and artistic adviser to the Society of the Four Arts, stands second to none in her admiration for Schubert.

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“No words can adequately describe what the music of Schubert has meant to me during my lifetime,” she wrote in a prepared statement. “Without understanding why, his works reduced me to tears as I played them in my youngest years at the piano, and through to this day they continue to reach the innermost part of my soul in ways both familiar and new.”

Beginning Sunday, her love of Schubert will manifest itself in a three-concert tribute to the composer — called “Schubert Revealed” — that examines in turn the relationship between his songs and instrumental music; his musical influences and their effect on his works; and his last pieces, which to this day are among the most beloved pieces of chamber music in the entire canon.

At 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Wu Han will perform along with pianist Giles Vonsattel, violinist Benjamin Beilman and contralto Lauren Decker (who appears later this month in Palm Beach Opera’s production of Verdi’s "Falstaff"). The program includes the beautiful Fantasie in F minor for piano, four hands — a very popular form of home entertainment in the early 19^th century, two people at one piano — the "Wanderer" Fantasy for piano, and the Fantasy in C for violin and piano. Decker, with Wu Han as accompanist, will sing six Schubert songs, including “Der Wanderer,” the song Schubert used to fashion his "Wanderer" Fantasy.

At 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Wu Han is joined by her husband, cellist David Finckel, plus violinist Paul Huang and violist Guillermo Figueroa, who is best-known as a violinist and as the conductor of the Lynn Philharmonia at the Lynn University Conservatory of Music in Boca Raton. Huang, Wu Han and Finckel will play the Piano Trio No. 1 of Beethoven (Schubert’s compositional idol) and Schubert’s early String Trio in B-flat, with Figueroa on viola. Huang and Wu Han will then play three works by the violin virtuoso Nicolò Paganini, the rock star of Schubert’s day. The concert closes with Huang and Wu Han performing Schubert’s "Rondo brillant" for violin and piano, a work that emulates Paganini’s fiery showmanship.

The third concert, set for 3 p.m. March 12, presents two of Schubert’s greatest and most admired chamber compositions. It opens with the Piano Trio No. 2 (in E-flat), with Wu Han, Beilman and Finckel, and closes with the gorgeous String Quintet in C, written for the unusual combination of two violins, one viola and two cellos, and completed just before Schubert’s death. It will be played by Huang, Beilman, Figueroa, Finckel and guest cellist Keith Robinson.

All of the Schubert Revealed concerts take place at the Four Arts’ Gubelmann Auditorium. Tickets are $40 apiece, and free for Four Arts members. Call the box office at 561-655-7226 or visit fourarts.org.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Franz Schubert the focus of three-concert festival at Four Arts