FRANZ SCHUBERT CHAMBER MUSIC WORKS
Complete LIST of SCHUBERT's CHAMBER MUSIC WORKS
SCHUBERT's COMPOSITIONAL STYLE
MELODY
The one element of Schubert's style which is totally, completely distinctive and unique, is his gift for spontaneous, lyrical, charming melodic invention.
His melodies include some of the most famous in all Western music, and often express tremendous joy, but can also convey dark mood swings and deep despair.
HARMONY
In terms of harmonic originality, Schubert is equal, maybe even superior, to Beethoven.
He often explores wildly unusual key relationships, and has a penchant for modulations into distant harmonic territory
FORM
Schubert stretched Classical sonata form to its absolute limits. His expositions usually feature a bewildering array of thematic material, presented in highly imaginative key relationships.
Many works, particularly the String Quintet and the last piano sonata, anticipate many later composers and notably Bruckner in their luxurious spaciousness of form.
Schubert's TROUT QUINTET
The Trout Quintet is the popular name for the Piano Quintet in A major by Franz Schubert. In Otto Erich Deutsch's catalogue of Schubert's works, it is D. 667 . The work was composed in 1819 , when Schubert was only 22 years old; it was not published, however, until 1829 , a year after his death.
The piece is known as the Trout because the fourth movement is a set of variations on Schubert's earlier Lied " Die Forelle " (The Trout).
The rising sextuplet figure from the song's accompaniment is used as a unifying motive throughout the quintet, and related figures appear in four out of the five movements - all but the Scherzo. As in the song, the figure is usually introduced by the piano, ascending.
The importance of the piece stems mainly from the use of an original and innovative harmonic language , rich in mediants and chromaticism , and from the timbral characteristics of the piece. As regards the latter, the Trout Quintet has a unique sonority among other chamber works for piano and strings. This is due mainly to the piano part, which during substantial lengths of the piece is concentrated on the highest register of the instrument, with both hands playing the same melodic line, an octave apart. Such writing occurs also in other chamber works by Schubert, such as the piano trios, but to a much lesser extent.
This writing is characteristic of Schubert's works for piano in four hands, one of his most personal musical genres. Such timbral writing may have influenced the works of Romantic composers such as Chopin , who admired Schubert's music for piano in four hands.
Franz Schubert - Trout Quintet / 3rd and 4th Movements
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Schubert's STRING QUINTET in C Major D. 956
Franz Schubert D.956 String Quintet Adagio
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The work holds the distinction of being the only full-fledged string quintet in Schubert's vast oeuvre. It also stands out for its somewhat unconventional instrumentation, employing two cellos instead of the customary two violas. Most other string quintets follow the example of Mozart and call for an ensemble consisting of the four standard instruments of the string quartet (two violins, viola, and cello), plus a second viola. Schubert, like Luigi Boccherini before him, decided to replace the second viola with an additional cello, thereby enhancing the richness of the quintet texture's lower register.
The work consists of four movements:
1. Allegro ma non troppo
2. Adagio (pls also see blog section for this movement)
3. Scherzo. Presto – Trio. Andante sostenuto
4. Allegretto
String Quintet has grown steadily in reputation and current consensus holds that the Quintet represents a high point in the chamber repertoire;
and now it is regarded as deeply sublime,
with moments of unique transcendental beauty.
It incorporates many unusual technical features, including the final two notes: the flat supertonic and the tonic, played forte in all parts.
Being composed during the summer of 1828, two months before his death,
the Quintet was first performed in 1850 and published in 1853, 25 years after Schubert's death as Opus Posthume 163.
Franz Schubert String Quintet 1st Mov.
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Franz Schubert Death and the Maiden Quartet 1st Movement
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