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January 31: Franz Schubert (1797)

It was on this date, January 31, 1797, that Austrian composer Franz Schubert was born in Vienna. He studied the violin from age eight and the pianoforte after that, composing his first piano duet before he turned 14. Two of his songs so impressed Antonio Salieri, that the composer sought out Schubert and taught him harmony. But probably Schubert’s most popular work remains incomplete: the Unfinished Symphony in B-Minor (No. 8, D.759). Schubert also wrote an unfinished oratorio, Lazarus, and 17 unmemorable operas, but a great body of religious music. These included three Masses among other sacred music. The Catholic Encyclopedia, always eager to claim Catholic inspiration for art, makes much of Schubert’s service to church music…

To read more, go to THIS LINK.

Originally published January 2003 by Ronald Bruce Meyer.

Ronald Bruce Meyer

Our Fearless Leader.


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September 7: Elizabeth I

Queen Elizabeth I (1533) It was on this date, September 7, 1533, that the first Queen Elizabeth, monarch of the "Golden Age" of English history, was born at Greenwich Palace. She was a disappointment to her father, King Henry VIII, who desperately wanted a son. Henry had gone so far as to break away from […]



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