- The romantic story of Franz Schubert 's fight for recognition of his music. Fleeing Austria, he arouses passion strongly akin to mother love in a beautiful bucolic girl, who loves him to much to sacrifice genius on the altar of marriage.
- The story of "New Wine" spotlights the youthful days of Franz Schubert, when his wonderful music had not yet attracted the plaudits of the world. It pictures the days when the young composer was forced to flee to Austria and there meets Anna, a beautiful girl who is in charge of a ranch belonging to a giddy countess. Anna falls in love with Franz and realizes that his work has the stamp of immortality. How they return to Vienna and seek out the great Beethoven for help and how their stirring romance comes to a strange finish provides "New Wine" with all the ingredients of a thrilling motion picture.
- In Vienna, circa 1820, Franz Schubert, an aspiring composer, is forced to resign his position as a mathematics professor because of his unconventional teaching methods. Later that evening, soldiers arrive at the local tavern with orders to escort the unemployed Franz and his bohemian friends to the barracks for mandatory conscription in the Emperor's army. A brawl breaks out and, with the help of his kindly landlord and friend Poldi, Franz manages to escape across the border into Hungary. Destitute and hungry, Franz seeks employment on a large country estate and is hired as a sheepshearer. While wrestling with a recalcitrant animal, Franz encounters a proud young Hungarian woman named Anna who, unknown to him, is the manager of the estate. Franz is fired for incompetence on his first day, but Anna, feeling sorry for him, gives him room and board for the night. That evening, Franz charms Anna with his skill on the piano and, before leaving the following morning, offers her one of his own songs as a parting gift. Impressed by Franz's talent, Anna finds him work on the estate as a bookkeeper. Soon after, the owner of the estate, a vain and simpering countess, orders Anna to begin preparations for a sumptuous ball in honor of the Archduke's imminent visit. The duke, an amateur composer, gives the countess his latest piano opus, and Anna encourages Franz to perform the piece at the ball as a means of attracting a wealthy patron. At the ball, Franz attempts to play the duke's halting composition, but it proves to be so awful that he is soon improvising with his own music. The enraged duke orders Franz to stop, and after Anna steps forward to defend him, denouncing the assembled aristocrats as dilettantes unable to recognize true genius, the countess fires her. The conscription now ended, Franz is free to return to Vienna, and Anna accompanies him. Taking up lodgings at Poldi's, Franz devotes his time to composing, while Anna tries to interest music publishers in his work. When her efforts are unsuccessful, Anna seeks out the influential and greatly admired Ludwig van Beethoven for help. Describing Franz's music as "new wine," Anna eventually convinces the stubborn Beethoven, who is distrustful of inexperience and youth, to take a look at Franz's latest symphony. As he pours over the sheets on which Franz has scribbled the symphony, Beethoven hears the music in his head and is overcome by its beauty. Proclaiming Franz a genius, Beethoven promises to help, but advises Anna to say nothing of their visit until Franz has completed the symphony. When Franz declares his intention to return to teaching, Anna implores him to wait until he has finished the piece, asking him to present it to her as a gift for her upcoming birthday. A month passes, and when her birthday finally arrives, Anna excitedly anticipates Franz's gift, but Franz greets her instead with word of Beethoven's death, and is unable to comprehend the depth of Anna's grief over the news. To add to her despair, when Anna opens her gift, she finds not the symphony, but a neatly tied bundle of money that Franz has earned after secretly returning to teaching. Declaring that his symphony shall remain unfinished, Franz informs Anna that he has decided to quit "chasing rainbows" so that he can marry her and support a family. That evening, Anna sets off alone for Hungary, leaving behind a letter in which she tells Franz that he must not give up his dream on her account, for he would end up despising her. Gazing at an engraving of the Virgin Mary, Franz remembers that Anna once described his music as a "window to another world," and he then sits down to compose the "Ave Maria."
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content