Franz Schubert Genius From Poverty.

In 1808 eleven-year-old Franz Schubert couldn’t sleep the night before the choir examinations. He was out of bed at the first streak of dawn, searching for something to wear. How he wished he had a new suit, but the meager salary of his schoolmaster father wouldn’t stretch to cover such a luxury. The fourteenth child, he would have to do with hand-me-downs.

“You look fine!” his mother beamed as she set a bowl of steaming mush before him. “I hope you do well!”

“Of course he’ll do well,” his father declared, “Doesn’t he know all of his scales?”

“And his voice is like that of an angel,” his wife added.

Franz blushed at their praise, but he knew he was good. Even his music teacher had said so. Warmed by the porridge and his parents’ pride, Franz set off for the auditions, feeling good about his prospects.

His happiness was short lived, for he was met by ridicule. Boys gathered in groups and pointed at his ill-fitting clothes.

               “He looks dumb in that miller’s suit” a fat boy sneered.

Franz hung his head in shame and bit his lip. He couldn’t help what he wore. It was the best he had. Seeing his discomfort, others joined in the cruel sport.

“Where’d you find that outfit?”

“From the charity box?”

“Or the rag man?”

Franz was relieved when the examinations began. Despite his hurt, he sang the scales perfectly and sight-read without flaw the music presented to him. Imagine how his tormentors felt when Franz was the only one chosen to enter the Vienna Boys Choir training school.

Underneath the homespun clothes was a boy of exceptional talent and deep feelings. Before he died at the age of 31, Franz Schubert wrote more than 600 musical compositions, including the still popular and timeless Ave Maria.

Boys and girls haven’t changed much in the past 200 years. There are still those who like to poke fun at poor kids. None of those boys will ever be remembered. But Schubert is famous – still.

“Those who mock the poor insult their Maker; those who rejoice at the misfortune of others will be punished.” Proverbs 17:5.