[Illustration: No. 6 COOPER.] [Illustration: No. 7 BRYANT.] You may not know so much about them now, but some day they will be quite as good friends as any you will ever make. Even though these boys were a little older than Franz Schubert, let us always think of them together. Then, of course, we should think of Schubert together with the composers who lived when he did. Here are some whose names you can remember very easily. [Illustration: No. 8 VON WEBER.] [Illustration: No. 9 ROSSINI.] [Illustration: No. 10 CZERNY.] [Illustration: No. 11 DONIZETTI.] Czerny was born in the year 1794, and wrote many studies for the piano. How much older was he than Franz Schubert? Von Weber wrote operas and conducted them himself. He was born eleven years before Schubert. Rossini was an Italian composer of operas, born in 1792, five years before Schubert. Schubert's life was so short, however, that Rossini lived forty years longer than the great song writer. Donizetti was an Italian opera composer. One of his well-known operas was Lucia di Lammermoor. He was born in 1797, just as Schubert was. Franz's father was a schoolmaster, and so was Franz himself for three years. He taught the little children of Vienna their A-B-C's, and how to do sums. Of course, he helped them to learn to read. Sometimes we find it quite hard to take one piano lesson or violin lesson a week. But from the time when Franz Schubert was a very little boy he had lessons every week for violin, voice, and piano. A little later he began to study harmony with a very famous man who knew Mozart. His name was ANTONIO SALIERI. [Illustration: No. 12 ANTONIO SALIERI.] With so many lessons and with school work just as we have it, Franz must have been a very busy boy. He was quite poor and often very hungry; but in spite of that he was always good natured and full of fun. At eleven years of age he became a singer in the chapel of the Emperor. It was here that Salieri was director. Franz sang in the choir until he was nearly seventeen. Then he became a schoolmaster, because, of course, he had to earn his living. Wherever he was Franz was thinking music and composing it. Once he wrote a song called _The Serenade_ at a table outside an inn. An artist has made a picture of this. [Illustration: No. 13 SCHUBERT WRITING "THE SERENADE."]