Stephan Franz was a busy professional violinist, conductor and composer in Vienna. He was of Hungarian origin. His name occurs in the Schubert documents on two occasions: on 28 December 1826 Franz von Hartmann records in his diary that he attended the evening concert of the Musikverein where, among other things, Schubert’s song Die junge Nonne was performed. Whether Schubert himself was present at this concert is not clear (he was not the accompanist of the singer). The ‘insipid’ violin concerto mentioned by Hartmann was in fact a set of variations for the violin by Stephan Franz, performed by his pupil, one Karl Dürr. At this time Franz was leader of the orchestra at the Burg Theatre. At a concert in the Hofkapelle on 22 April 1827, Schubert’s Normans Gesang was performed with the composer as accompanist. The evening had begun with Beethoven’s ‘Egmont’ overture conducted by Stephan Franz.

from notes by Graham Johnson © 2006