He was first soprano in the church choir of Lichtenthal and the beauty of his voice attracted much attention. He also played the violin in the services, and stole little stray minutes to write songs or pieces for strings and piano. When he was sent to the school for Imperial choristers the boys laughed at his coarse, grey clothing, the big “Harold Lloyd spectacles,” and his retiring, bashful manners. They soon changed when they discovered the astonishing things he could do. His home-spun clothes were exchanged for the uniform trimmed with gold lace worn by the Imperial choristers, who formed an orchestra to practise daily music by Haydn, Mozart, Cherubini and Beethoven. Among them was Spaun and when he won his confidence, Franz told him that he had written many pieces and he would write more, but could not afford to buy the music paper. His new friend made it possible for Schubert to have paper and many other luxuries, in which Spaun did something to benefit the world,—a little kindness which brought great results. The extreme ease with which Schubert absorbed all learning made him neglect the study of counterpoint, because after all he could not give all his time to music, for he was a schoolteacher and had to work hard to get along. His heart was not in his work, for while hearing the pupils recite he wrote themes on every scrap of paper he could find. He wrote with lightning rapidity. The early songs met with immediate favor which encouraged him to write music in larger form. He was of the people and wrote from the heart, and to the heart. He hoped for the same success with his symphonies and chamber music, but the symphonies never reached the perfection of his songs, and his disappointment was keen when the critics did not rate them as highly. However, the steady flow of melody, the torrent of themes, never ended and his chamber music is like a song with lovely play of instruments. Who can forget the haunting beauty of the _Unfinished Symphony_? This was left unfinished, indeed, not by Schubert’s death as many suppose, but the composer felt that he had arrived at a summit of beauty in the second movement, and he dared not add a third, lest he could not again reach the heights. His tenth and last symphony in C major takes an hour to perform and is heard frequently. Robert Schumann wrote that it was of “Heavenly length.” Schubert lived when the romantic poets gave him wonderful verse for his texts. He loved the literature of Goethe and Heinrich Heine, both of whom knew the hearts of the simple people.