The record for the year 1815 is marvellous:--the third symphony, in D, the second mass, in G, and the third, in B flat, one opera and six operettas, a stabat mater, a salve regina, the string quartet in G minor, four piano sonatas, thirty miscellaneous pieces for the piano, and one hundred and thirty-seven songs! Among the larger of these works the mass in G merits especial notice for its beauty. Among the songs are some of Schubert's most famous,--"Heidenröslein," "Rastlose Liebe," the "Wanderer's Nachtlied," the exquisite "Nähe des Geliebten," the Ossian songs, and the magnificent Erl King. This most dramatic and descriptive of songs was thrown off instantaneously in a fit of wild inspiration. Schubert had just come upon Goethe's ballad, which he had not seen before; he had read it two or three times and was dashing the music upon paper when his friend Spaun came in and found him. It was all done in a few moments, the rushing accompaniment and all; and that same evening it was sung at the _Convict_ before Schubert's friends and devoted admirers, his old teachers and fellow pupils. It was quite customary for Schubert to carry his new compositions there to be tried, and he was wont to find warm sympathy and appreciation. But the Erl King was received rather coldly, as will be hereafter explained. This year 1816 saw one hundred and thirty-one new compositions by Schubert. Among these were the fourth or "Tragic" symphony, in C minor, the fifth symphony, in B flat, an overture for full orchestra, a concerto for violin and orchestra, a rondo for violin and string orchestra, one string quartet, one string trio, seven pieces of dance music for piano, three sonatinas for piano and violin, and other piano music. There was an unfinished opera, "Die Bürgschaft," followed by four cantatas; one, called "Prometheus," was the first work composed by Schubert for money; it was written in a single day and the honorarium was one hundred florins in Viennese currency; the occasion was the name-day of a certain Herr Heinrich Watteroth, of Vienna. Another similar but slighter work was composed in honor of Herr Joseph Spendon, chief inspector of schools; a third was for Schubert's father; the fourth was for the occasion of Salieri's jubilee hereafter to be mentioned. Among the sacred compositions was a magnificat for solo and mixed voices with accompaniment of violin, viola, hautboy, bassoon, trumpet, drum, and organ; the duetto "Auguste jam Cœlestium" for soprano and tenor voices, accompanied by violins and violoncello, double-bass, bassoon, and hautboy; the "Tantum ergo" for four voices and orchestra; the fragment of a requiem in E flat; the "Salve regina" for four voices and orchestra; and especially the noble "Stabat mater" in F minor, one of the finest of Schubert's earlier contributions to church music. Of this year's songs ninety-nine have been preserved, including the Wanderer, the three songs of the Harper in "Wilhelm