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viola parts that the quartet had been complet-

ed on October , the generally accepted date.

Ho meister issued the score in Vienna in De-

cember

e piano quartet’s striking originality con-

founded the Viennese public. Its demanding

and dominating keyboard part, the impassioned

minor key, and the sweeping thematic ideas are

more characteristic of a concerto than of cham-

ber music.

e piano assumes the leading role

in the

Allegro

, in a fashion similar to a concerto’s

rst movement. Broad lyricism sustains the

An-

dante

, and the nale is a lighthearted major-key

rondo movement.

Journal des Luxus und der Moden

(June

a monthly magazine on style and fashion pub-

lished in Weimar, issued a gossipy but insightful

review of Mozart’s piano quartet.

e anony-

mous reviewer rightly perceived the profession-

alism and intimacy this recent chamber com-

position required: “ e rumor was: Mozart has

composed a new and very special

Quadro

, and

this or that princess or countess has it and plays

it. e rumor spread quickly, excited general cu-

riosity, and was responsible for the witless idea

of performing this original work in large, noisy

concerts.

“Many another piece can sustain a mediocre per-

formance; this product of Mozart’s is, however,

scarcely bearable if it is performed by mediocre

dilettante hands and carelessly presented.

is was what happened countless times during

the past winter. … It

could not

please; everyone

yawned with boredom at this incomprehensible

noise for four instruments, but it

had

to please,

had

to be praised.

“What a di erence, when this much-discussed

work of art was played in a quiet room by four

skilled musicians who have studied it well,

where the suspense of each and every note did

not escape the attentive listener’s ear, and which

was played with the greatest precision.”

FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797–1828)

String Quintet in C major, .

Schubert’s last and perhaps most sublime cham-

ber composition was the quintet for two violins,

viola, and two cellos. Its wondrous romantic

warmth and timbral variety only intensify the

tragedy of his untimely death at age .

“cello quintet”—popularized a generation earli-

er in the works of Luigi Boccherini—remained

an unfortunate orphan to early- th-century

Viennese tastes. Schubert o ered the quintet,

along with his nal three piano sonatas and the

late Heine songs (

Schwanengesang

), to publish-

er H.A. Probst in an almost desperate attempt

to earn income, presumably for his mounting

medical expenses.

By his own admission, the quintet had not yet

received a single private reading. Schubert

promised Probst on October ,

, that “the

quintet will be tried out only during the com-

ing days.” However, there exists no documented

performance before his death on November .

Schubert’s brother Ferdinand sold the quintet,

along with a huge collection of unpublished

manuscripts, to A. Diabelli & Co. in

. Play-

ing from this manuscript, the Hellmesberger

Quartet (with guest cellist Josef Stransky) gave

the rst known performance on November ,

, at the Musikverein in Vienna. C.A. Spi-

na—Diabelli’s successor—published the quintet

score in

Allegro ma non troppo

begins with a chordal

passage, as much a presage of coming sonorous

experimentation as a theme statement. First

Schubert introduces the upper four instruments,

a typical violin-led string quartet.

e lower

quartet repeats this phrase with the cello playing

the melody. Various duet textures appear during

the transition, most prominently the rst cello

and viola.

e lush contrasting theme begins

with a high-lying cello duet as the viola provides

a pizzicato bass.

is material too is repeated

with di erent instrumentation—for violin duet.

e expansive development highlights a rst

cello and viola duet with a stratospheric violin

descant. A complex double fugato leads to the

recapitulation, during which Schubert extends

his orchestrational ingenuity.

Sustained slow extremes of tempo in the

Ada-

gio

create a / piece in E major, almost with-

out a perceptible rhythmic pulse. Furthermore,

Schubert strati es his ensemble into a three-

part texture: a lyrical trio of middle strings, a

low pizzicato cello, and a persistent Morse-code

rhythm in the rst violin. A daring modulation

to F minor accompanies the anxiety-ridden

middle section. Melodic interest shi s to a vio-

lin–cello duet, while the second violin and viola

add a syncopated counterpoint and the second

cello interjects triplets and trills rmly placed in

its lowest register. e original theme returns, at

rst elaborately decorated and then more simply

stated.

e boisterous and carefree C-major

Scherzo

o ers a miraculous testament to the composer’s

de ant spirit, evenwhile ravaged by grave illness.

Energetic tremolos and open- h cello drones

evoke sounds of Hungarian ddlers, so popular

in Central Europe at the time. Schubert’s D- at

major

Trio

section breaks from convention and

plummets into the opposite frame of mind, an

extreme depth of introspection. However, the

music eventually returns to the lively scherzo.

is Gypsy spirit continues in the nal move-

ment, a typical Schubertian abbreviated rondo.

e violin-dominated opening melody, which

meanders from C minor through several keys

to C major, functions as a refrain theme. A lyr-

ical contrasting violin–cello duet radiates an el-

egant Viennese string style.

e Gypsy refrain

resumes, followed by its development. ere is a

brief pause before the restatement of the sump-

tuous contrasting duet, now expanded by a mys-

tical, almost time-suspending interplay of the

ve instruments.

e refrain returns one nal

time, building to triple

forte

in its drive to the

electrifying

presto

coda.

Todd E. Sullivan

Franz Schubert

Posthumous portrait of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

by Barbara Krafft (1819)

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