I beg your pardon? Have we never played Schubert?
Sanssouci has been running for a year and a half, and in all that time we have never played a piece by Franz Schubert, not even once. Is this Viennese master, who lived from 1797 to 1828, perhaps too modern for this programme? Or is it because he already belongs to the Romantic era that we do not play him?
No, that is no excuse. Like every composer of his generation, Schubert certainly still has one foot in the classical tradition. His songs are highly modern and can safely be regarded as Romantic, but it is a different story with his orchestral and chamber music. In these genres Schubert could not ignore the legacy of the great Viennese composers. Mozart’s presence in particular, is strongly felt. Only towards the end of Schubert’s life did Beethoven begin to leave his mark as well. Mozart and Schubert share a talent and a fondness for the most beautiful melodies.
In Schubert’s Symphony No. 5, we can hear this influence very clearly. Of course, musicologists have pointed out that Schubert does not entirely abide by the rules, and that the work cautiously indicates a new era, but its tone and clear structures still make it an utterly classical piece. Anyone who does not feel cheerful while listening to this work should probably pay a visit to the doctor.
From Schubert’s chamber music we usually only hear the later masterpieces. But even in his early career – in fact, in his teenage years – Schubert gave considerable attention to the string quartet. While many composers were intimidated by Haydn’s legacy and waited years before writing their first quartet, Schubert — at the age of sixteen — was already working on his sixth. Talent is something we can definitely recognise in this work. But the question is whether we can also hear Schubert’s own style in it. The composer who is never short of a melody uses this piece to experiment with monothematic writing. With as little material as possible he tries to achieve the greatest possible effect, just like Haydn before him did so adequately.
Playlist
- Franz Schubert – Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major
- Franz Schubert – String Quartet No. 6 in D major
- Franz Schubert – Minuet in D Major for String Quartet
