Anecdotes of Great Musicians/Anecdote 162
162.—SCHUBERT'S "ERL-KING."
Perhaps none of the great composers deserve our pity more than Franz Schubert. Poor as the legendary church mouse, obliged to eke out a scanty living in the uncongenial and poorly paid occupation of teaching school, he was unknown by musicians and not understood by publishers. The following incident is a sample of the reception given his music by some of the gentry who grow rich off of the products of other people's brains.
In 1817, Messrs. Breitkopf & Härtel, of Leipsic, received from Vienna a manuscript setting of Goethe's "Erl-king," by Franz Schubert.
"Vienna?" exclaimed the publishers, "Franz Schubert? There is something wrong here. Franz Schubert lives in Dresden; he occupies the high position of Royal church composer, he is a highly respectable man, aged forty-nine; what has he to do with Vienna or Erl-kings?"
They send the manuscript on to the Franz Schubert of Dresden, and ask for an explanation. He replied: "About ten days ago I received your letter, in which you forward to me a manuscript, 'The Erl-king,' that professes to be by me. With the utmost astonishment I inform you that this cantata was never composed by me. I will use every endeavor to discover who has so discourteously sent you this bit of patchwork (machwerk), and expose the scoundrel who has so misused my name."
It is not known whether Breitkopf & Härtel declined Schubert's "Erl-king," but the ballad composed in 1816 was not printed till February, 1821, when it appeared in the first part of his "Lieder."
Schubert sold some of his songs to publishers for as little as tenpence apiece. When the publishers refused to issue them, some of his friends rallied to his assistance, and from their own pockets paid the expense of publication.