Franz Schubert

V

Orchestral Music

Schubert’s symphonies were neglected during the 19th century. None was published or performed during his lifetime, and he was overshadowed during the remainder of the century by composer Ludwig van Beethoven, who died a year before Schubert. Schubert wrote nine symphonies, although the Symphony No. 7 remains a sketch without orchestration (parts for individual instruments) and the Symphony No. 8 (known as the Unfinished Symphony) remains incomplete. Today, the best-known Schubert symphonies are the Unfinished and the Symphony No. 9 in C Major (Great C).

Schubert’s early instrumental works follow the patterns used by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Joseph Haydn. But a new resonance and a harmonic and melodic richness mark his later works as romantic. With the Unfinished Symphony Schubert entered a new world, far removed from the styles of his classical predecessors. Although the symphony maintains the classical style’s intellectual vigor in the development of a theme, it makes an assault on the listener’s emotions through its expressive melodies, picturesque orchestration, and creative modulations (transitions from one key to another). In the Great Symphony these qualities are intensified and they express deeper and more philosophical thought.

VI

Chamber Music

His intimate chamber music brings listeners closest to Schubert. He wrote many of the chamber pieces when he was young, but it is in his later works that his greatness is especially felt. The Quintet for Piano and Strings (Trout) is a popular favorite, loved for its tunes and buoyant rhythms that capture the shimmering fish as it darts through the water. In 1824 Schubert wrote the Octet in F, a charming, easygoing work for two violins, viola, cello, bass, clarinet, horn, and bassoon. The wind instruments add to its colorful modulations.

The Quartet in A Minor and the Quartet in D Minor (Death and the Maiden), also written in 1824, are among Schubert’s most moving works. In them he allied his tunefulness with a greater depth of feeling than is evident in the earlier chamber pieces. Sad melodies alternate with bursts of rhythmic energy. Schubert’s song “Death and the Maiden” provided the melody for a series of variations in the second movement of the Quartet in D Minor; hence the quartet’s name. Schubert’s final quartet, in G Major (1826), has an even greater tension than the quartets of 1824 and an energy verging on violence. With the Quintet in C Major (1828), Schubert returned to the lyrical and dramatic qualities of his earlier quartets.

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VII

Piano Works

Schubert’s 21 piano sonatas constitute a body of work second in importance only to the sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven. The sonatas No. 14 (A Minor), No. 17 (D Major), and No. 18 (G Major), written in 1825 and 1826, are among his most appealing in their sweetness and dreamy quality. The mood is more varied, more anguished, more private, and more reflective in the three last sonatas Schubert wrote: No. 19 (C Minor), No. 20 (A Major), and No. 21 (B-flat Major). He also wrote a large number of piano duets, including the popular Sonata in C Major (Grand Duo) of 1824, a composition of symphonic proportions, and the Fantasie in F Minor (1828). His shorter pieces for piano include the six poetic Moments musicaux (1823-1828) and two sets of impromptus, music intended to suggest improvisation. Schubert also wrote waltzes, ländlers, minuets, and other dances.

VIII

Evaluation

In his early piano sonatas, Schubert worked to free himself from the influence of Ludwig van Beethoven. Although he cast his symphonies and sonatas in classical outlines, in their development sections these works tend to emphasize expansive melody and evocative harmonies, and they rarely achieve the dramatic tension that is the core of the classical sonata form.

Schubert’s instrumental works show development over the course of his short life, but some of his greatest songs were composed before he was 20 years old. In Schubert’s songs the literary and musical elements are perfectly balanced, composed on the same intellectual and emotional level. Rather than follow set patterns, he exploited bold and free forms when the text demanded it. Schubert achieved little success with the general public during his lifetime, but he was recognized as a composer of genius by a small circle of friends, among them the baritone Vogl, who performed his songs, and the poet and playwright Franz Grillparzer. His instrumental music was gradually rediscovered in the 19th century, years after his death.

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