The Double Life of Franz Schubert

The musically productive but troubled (and lamentably short) life of Austrian composer Franz Schubert (1797-1828) is the subject of Peter Webber's hour-shy 1997 dramatic profile produced for British television. The Double Life of Franz Schubert is presented in flashbacks as Schubert (Simon Russell Beale)—hospitalized for syphilis (the disease that would ultimately kill him)—recalls major turning points in his career: his departure from his father's school (where he'd served unhappily on the faculty) to devote himself to composition; his friendship with the dissolute and unreliable aristocrat Franz von Schober, who wanted to be his collaborator; the support he received from singer Michael Vogl; and his infatuation with Karoline Esterhazy, daughter of a count. The dramatic episodes are presented solidly, though without a great deal of psychological depth (as the title suggests, the approach emphasizes the dichotomy between Schubert's personal demons and his artistic side), but the acting and staging are both reasonably good, and the film offers fine musical excerpts from some of the composer's best-known songs, as well as piano sonatas, chamber pieces, and orchestral works (notably the “Unfinished Symphony”). The Double Life of Franz Schubert may suffer from melodrama in narrative terms, but overall it's a decent introduction to the career of an important composer during the transition from classicism to romanticism. A strong optional purchase. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)