This book concerns less The Life of Schubert than “The Life of Schubert's Career,” a story more of the artist than the man. Perhaps someday a trove of new material will surface that might allow a future historian to write an intimate portrait of the man and artist, the son, brother, and friend. But for now, and probably forever, scholars can only speculate about such fundamental matters as Schubert's relations with his parents (his mother is virtually missing from all the surviving evidence) or about the true nature of his romantic and sexual activities. A recurring theme of this brief biography will be the reasons for, and the consequences of, voids in documenting Schubert's life, absences that have been filled with much fantasy and many projected images created by others, whether in popular biographies, novels, operettas, or movies.

The most important scholarly work on the composer in recent decades – including the German version of Otto Erich Deutsch's catalogue of compositions, a new complete edition of the music, and sophisticated critical and analytical studies – allows the full breadth of Schubert's creative achievement to shine forth as never before. Even though technical accounts are beyond the scope of this series of Musical Lives, some general musical observations are provided in relation to Schubert's professional career. The discussions of the music herein gain in length and significance as the composer matures, with special emphasis on his late compositions. My primary concern is to appreciate how Schubert negotiated between intimate songs, dances, and keyboard miniatures, and his far more ambitious instrumental, dramatic, and sacred projects.

The introductory chapter examines three visual depictions of Schubert (and can be read later if one wants to plunge immediately into the life story in chapter 2), and those that follow are roughly chronological, with each concentrating on larger issues relevant to the composer's daily existence, music, and reputation.