Photo of the Day: Franz Schubert, Stained-Glass Window Detail, Heinz Memorial Chapel, Pittsburgh

I took this photo of a stained-glass window in the University of Pittsburgh’s Heinz Memorial Chapel when I was on vacation in the area last October. Franz Schubert is depicted here as part of the larger Heritage Window in the chapel, along with other great musicians and poets.

It seems appropriate, in this time of deep and growing grief, to recall a sublime classical composer heavily associated with death. In 1818, Schubert composed the German Requiem. He died 10 years later, and it would be longer still (1865) before the world heard the premiere of one of his most moving compositions: Symphony No. 8 in B minor—more commonly called the “Unfinished Symphony.”