Burial and Memorials

Abstract WHEN Schubert fell into a coma on the evening of 18 November, Ferdinand wrote a note to his father informing him that his son was dying. On the next day his father replied, bidding Ferdinand to seek comfort in God and trust in His wisdom and goodness; He would give him strength and courage. And, Franz Theodor continued: ‘See to it, to the best of your ability, that our dear Franz is forthwith provided with the Holy Sacraments for the dying, and I shall live in the comforting hope that God will fortify and keep him.’1 But Schubert never regained consciousness and, unable to take the sacraments from the priest summoned by Ferdinand, received only ‘extreme unction’. That afternoon he died. The day after his son’s death, as the next of kin, his father ordered the printing of 150 copies of the customary announcement of death, including information on arrangements for the funeral which was to take place the next day: Yesterday, Wednesday, at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, fell asleep, to wake to a better life, my most dearly beloved son Franz Schubert, musical artist and composer, after a short illness and having received the Holy Sacraments, in the 32nd year of his age.