Name: Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Hometown: Himmelpfortgrund, Vienna, Austria
Listen to: ‘Unfinished Symphony’, ‘Winterreise’, ‘Trout Quintet’
Schubert was one of the greatest lied writers known to the canon, composing over 600 songs, alongside nine symphonies, operas, piano works, and a large mass of chamber music in his short lifetime. His musical style broke away from Classical form, making him one of the leading figures of the Romantic period. In 1989, Maynard Solomon, a music historian, suggested that some of his song lyrics carried evidence of romantic attraction to men. Additionally, he lived with Johann Mayrhofer for many years, who was certainly gay, and wrote much poetry with homoerotic imagery that Schubert was a fan of, further suggesting his sexual preferences for men.