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"Unfinished Symphony" by Schubert. Unfinished Symphony Franz Schubert Symphony 4 history of creation




“Unfinished Symphony” in B minor is one of the most famous works of the Austrian composer Franz Peter Schubert, dedicated to the amateur musical society in Graz. The first two parts were presented in 1824.

In 1865, the Viennese court conductor Johann Herbeck, drawing up a program for a concert of old Viennese music, rummaged through piles of forgotten manuscripts. In the undisassembled archive of the chairman of the Styrian Amateur Music Society A. Hüttenbrenner, he discovered a previously unknown score by Schubert. It was a B minor symphony. Under the direction of Herbeck, it was performed for the first time on December 17, 1865 at a concert of the Vienna Society of Music Lovers.

Franz Schubert created the Unfinished Symphony during the last months of 1822. During these yearsSchubert waswas already widely known in Vienna as the author of many beautiful songs and popular piano pieces, but no one except his closest friends knew him as a symphonistand none of his symphonies were publicly performed. The new symphony was created first as an arrangement for two pianos, and then as a score. The piano edition contains sketches of three movements of the symphony, but the composer wrote down only two in the score. Schubert did not return to her again, becausethe symphony was called: "Unfinished"


Gustav Klimt "Schubert at the piano" 1899

There is still ongoing debate about whether this symphony is truly unfinished, or whether Franz Schubert fully realized his plan in two movements instead of the generally accepted four. Its two parts leave an impression of amazing integrity and exhaustion, which allows some researchers to argue that the composer did not intend a continuation, since he embodied his plan in two parts. However, sketches of the score for the third movement have been preserved, but for some reason they were left in the sketch. Moreover, among the music for the play “Rosamund”, written in the same period, there is an intermission, also written in B minor - a key that was extremely rarely used - and is similar in character to the traditional symphonic finale. Some researchers of Schubert's work are inclined to believe that this intermission, coupled with the sketches of the scherzo, constitutes a regular four-part cycle.


This was not his first symphony that turned out to be unfinished: before that, in August 1821, he wrote a symphony in E major, it is considered the Seventh, the score of which was written in sketches. In general, to create a work that begins in B minor and ends in E major,in Schubert's timeit was completely unthinkable.

In 1968, the good old Soviet television play “The Unfinished Symphony” was released about the life and work of the outstanding Austrian composer Franz Schubert.


Kalyagin's Schubert is very organic and charming. And Vedernikov in the most heartfelt way singsbehind the scenes


Despite some naivety and quite natural for its time and chosen genre didacticity,the film is interesting. The authors' conscientiousness in conveying the portrait likeness of the characters and their acting are impressive.

Vocal parts: A. Vedernikov, E. Shumskaya, G. Kuznetsova, S. Yakovenko.

The melody of the first movement is simple and expressive, as if pleading for something, intoned by oboe and clarinet. The excited, tremulous background and the outwardly calm, but filled with internal tension, cantilena create a most expressive, typically romantic image. The melody tape gradually unfolds. The music becomes more and more intense, reaching fortissimo. Without a connecting link, mandatory for Viennese classics, separated only by a laconic transition (the drawn-out sound of horns) from the main one, a side part begins. A soft waltz melody is sung effortlessly by cellos. An island of serene peace appears, a bright idyll. The accompaniment sways rhythmically, as if lulling. This theme takes on an even brighter character when it is picked up and transferred to a higher register of the violin. Suddenly the free, relaxed chant-dance breaks off. After complete silence (general pause) - an explosion of orchestral tutti. Another pause - and again an explosion of thunderous tremolo. The idyll is interrupted, the drama comes into its own. Crushing chords rise violently, and fragments of the accompaniment of a secondary theme respond with plaintive groans. She seems to be trying to break through to the surface, but when she finally returns, her appearance has changed: she is broken, tinged with grief. At the end of the exhibition everything freezes. The mysterious and ominous motive of the introduction returns, like an inevitable fate. The development is built on the opening motive and the intonations of the side part accompaniment. The drama intensifies, developing into tragic pathos. Musical development reaches a colossal climax. Suddenly complete prostration sets in. The weakened fragments of motives dissipate, leaving only a lonely melancholy note to sound. And again the opening theme creeps in from the depths. The reprise begins. The coda, in the tradition of Beethoven, was created as a second development. It contains the same painful tension, the pathos of despair. But the fight is over, there is no more strength. The last bars sound like a tragic epilogue.



The second part of the symphony is a world of other images. Here is reconciliation, the search for other, brighter sides of life, contemplation. It’s as if the hero, who has experienced a spiritual tragedy, is looking for oblivion. The bass steps (double pizzicato basses) sound rhythmically, overlaid with a simple but surprisingly beautiful melody of the violins, dreamy and soulful. Repeatedly repeated, it varies and acquires expressive melodies. A short dynamic takeoff tutti - and again a calm movement. After a short connection, a new image appears: the melody is naive and, at the same time, deep, more individual than the first theme, sad, in the warm timbres of the clarinet and the oboe that replaces it, reminiscent of a human voice, filled with lively trepidation. This is a side part of a laconic sonata form. It also varies, acquiring an agitated character at times. Suddenly there is a change in its smooth flow - it sounds dramatic in the powerful presentation of the entire orchestra. But a short burst is replaced by an expressive development, rich in imitations: this is a brief development, ending with long chords of strings, mysterious calls of horns and individual wood ones. Subtle orchestral sound design leads to the reprise. In the code there is a fading, a dissolution of the initial theme. Silence returns...

L. Mikheeva

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Franz Peter Schubert
Symphony No. 8, B minor, D 759, “Unfinished”
Symphony No. 8 in B minor, D 759, “Unvollendete”


Orchestra composition: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, strings.

History of creation

In 1865, the Viennese court conductor Johann Herbeck, while putting together a program for a concert of old Viennese music, began rummaging through piles of forgotten manuscripts. In the undisassembled archive of the chairman of the Styrian Amateur Music Society A. Hüttenbrenner, he discovered a previously unknown score by Schubert. It was a B minor symphony. Under the direction of Herbeck, it was performed for the first time on December 17, 1865 at a concert of the Vienna Society of Music Lovers.

The composer created it during the last months of 1822. During these years he was already widely known in Vienna as the author of many beautiful songs and popular piano pieces, but none of his previous symphonies had been publicly performed, and no one except his closest friends knew him as a symphonist. The new symphony was created first as an arrangement for two pianos, and then as a score. The piano edition contains sketches of three movements of the symphony, but the composer wrote down only two in the score. He never returned to this symphony. That is why it later received the name Unfinished.

There is still ongoing debate about whether this symphony is truly unfinished, or whether Schubert fully realized his plan in two movements instead of the generally accepted four. Its two parts leave the impression of amazing integrity and exhaustion. This allowed some researchers to argue that the composer did not intend a continuation, since he embodied his plan in two parts. However, sketches of the score for the third movement have been preserved, but for some reason they were left in the sketch. Moreover, among the music for the play “Rosamund”, written in the same period, there is an intermission, also written in B minor - a tonality that was extremely rarely used - and is similar in character to the traditional symphonic finale. Some researchers of Schubert's work are inclined to believe that this intermission, coupled with the sketches of the scherzo, constitutes a regular four-part cycle.

There are no thematic connections with Unfinished in this intermission, so it cannot be said with certainty that it was supposed to be the finale of the symphony. At the same time, such connections are visible in the sketches of the third part. Perhaps the most probable opinion is that also expressed on the pages of books dedicated to Schubert: he was going to write an ordinary four-movement symphony, but, unlike the song, in which he was a sovereign, self-confident master, he did not feel confident in the symphonic genre. After all, he has still not been able to hear any of his symphonies in a professional orchestral sound. And he did not at all strive to be an innovator: his ideal, to which he dreamed of getting closer, was Beethoven, as was proven by the next, Great Symphony in C major. And having written these two parts, he could simply have been scared - they were so different from everything written in this genre before him.

By the way, this was not his first symphony that turned out to be unfinished: before that, in August 1821, he wrote a symphony in E major (conventionally considered the Seventh), the score of which was written in sketches. The approaches to the next two symphonic cycles are already visible in it - in the composition of the orchestra, scale, and a distinct romantic flavor. Perhaps the composer did not finish writing it because he had not yet found a new path along which he thought to move. Also - one can only guess about this - the path of the Unfinished did not seem fruitful to him: not realizing that what he created was a masterpiece that opened up completely new paths in the symphony, Schubert considered it a failure and left the work. There is all the more reason to consider it a complete two-part cycle, since not only Schubert, but also later composers, up to the 20th century, usually maintain the tonal relationships of the parts: the symphony should conclude with the same (or the same) key in which it began. The only bold innovation was Mahler's creation of the finale of the Ninth Symphony, in D major, in D flat major, which, however, was completely justified by the design itself. In Schubert’s time, it was completely unthinkable to create a work that would begin in B minor and end in E major, but the subdominant key could well appear in one of the middle parts of the cycle.

Unfinished is one of the most poetic pages in the treasury of world symphony, a new bold word in this most complex of musical genres, which opened the way to romanticism. With it, a new theme enters symphonic music - the inner world of a person who acutely feels his discord with the surrounding reality. This is the first lyrical-psychological drama in the symphonic genre. Unfortunately, its appearance on the stage was delayed for almost half a century, and the symphony, which was a shock to the musicians who discovered it, did not have the timely impact on the development of music that it could have had. It sounded when the romantic symphonies of Mendelssohn, Berlioz, and Liszt had already been written.

Music

First part. From somewhere deep in the unison of cellos and double basses, a wary opening theme emerges, playing the role of a kind of leitmotif of the symphony. She freezes, like an unresolved question. And then - the trembling rustle of the violins and against its background - the chant of the main theme. The melody is simple and expressive, as if pleading for something, intoned by oboe and clarinet. The excited, tremulous background and the outwardly calm, but filled with internal tension, cantilena create a most expressive, typically romantic image. The melody tape gradually unfolds. The music becomes more and more intense, reaching fortissimo. Without a connecting link, mandatory for Viennese classics, separated only by a laconic transition (the drawn-out sound of horns) from the main one, a side part begins. A soft waltz melody is sung effortlessly by cellos. An island of serene peace appears, a bright idyll. The accompaniment sways steadily, as if lulling. This theme takes on an even brighter character when it is picked up and transferred to a higher register of the violin. Suddenly the free, relaxed chant-dance breaks off. After complete silence (general pause) - an explosion of orchestral tutti. Another pause - and again an explosion of thunderous tremolo. The idyll is interrupted, the drama comes into its own. Crushing chords rise violently, and fragments of the accompaniment of a secondary theme respond with plaintive groans. She seems to be trying to break through to the surface, but when she finally returns, her appearance has changed: she is broken, tinged with grief. At the end of the exhibition everything freezes. The mysterious and ominous motive of the introduction returns, like an inevitable fate. The development is built on the opening motive and the intonations of the side part accompaniment. The drama intensifies, developing into tragic pathos. Musical development reaches a colossal climax. Suddenly complete prostration sets in. The weakened fragments of motives dissipate, leaving only a lonely melancholy note to sound. And again the opening theme creeps in from the depths. The reprise begins. The coda, in the tradition of Beethoven, was created as a second development. It contains the same painful tension, the pathos of despair. But the fight is over, there is no more strength. The last bars sound like a tragic epilogue.

The second part of the symphony is a world of other images. Here there is reconciliation, the search for other, brighter sides of life, contemplation. It’s as if the hero, who has experienced a spiritual tragedy, is looking for oblivion. The bass steps (double pizzicato basses) sound rhythmically, overlaid with a simple but surprisingly beautiful melody of the violins, dreamy and soulful. Repeatedly repeated, it varies and acquires expressive melodies. A short dynamic takeoff tutti - and again a calm movement. After a short connection, a new image appears: the melody is naive and, at the same time, deep, more individual than the first theme, sad, in the warm timbres of the clarinet and the oboe that replaces it, reminiscent of a human voice, filled with lively trepidation. This is a side part of a laconic sonata form. It also varies, acquiring an agitated character at times. Suddenly there is a turning point in its smooth flow - it sounds dramatic in the powerful presentation of the entire orchestra. But a short burst is replaced by an expressive development, rich in imitations: this is a brief development, ending with long chords of strings, mysterious calls of horns and individual wood ones. Subtle orchestral sound design leads to the reprise. In the code there is a gradual fading, dissolution of the initial theme. Silence returns...


L. Mikheeva

Symphony No. 8 h-moll (Unvollendete), D. 759
I. Allegro moderato
II. Andante con moto

Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Gunter Wand

Karl Boehm and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

Franz Schubert (1797–1828) A brilliant Austrian composer who laid the foundation for European musical romanticism, Schubert is one of the most tragic figures in the history of world musical culture. His life, short and joyless, uneventful, ended when he was in the prime of his strength and talent. The great musician died without hearing most of his compositions. The fate of his music was also tragic in many ways: priceless manuscripts, partly kept by friends, partly gifted to someone, and sometimes simply lost in endless travels, could not be put together for a long time. Some are lost forever, the fate of others is unclear. Researchers are still arguing about Schubert's legacy. A contemporary of Beethoven, who outlived him by only one year, Schubert nevertheless belongs to a completely different generation. If Beethoven's work was formed under the influence of the ideas of the Great French Revolution and embodied its heroism, its ideals, then Schubert's art was born in an atmosphere of disappointment and fatigue. In his time there was no longer any talk about universal human problems, about the reorganization of the world. The fight for it all seemed pointless. The most important thing seemed to be to preserve honesty, spiritual purity, and the values ​​of one’s spiritual world. century. He became the greatest innovator in the symphonic genre, creating a fundamentally different type of symphony compared to the classical one. True, he himself did not realize this and considered his masterpiece, “Unfinished,” to be unsuccessful. Schubert's symphonies reflected various genres of folk music of the multinational Austrian empire - Tyrolean yodels, Austrian ländlers, Viennese waltzes, peasant songs - Czech, Slovak, Moravian, Italian, Hungarian. A completely new type of symphonism arose - song, which would later find its continuation in the works of Bruckner and Mahler. Schubert's symphonies vary in content and range of moods - from lyricism and landscape sound painting to heroic impulse and deep tragedy. “It is wrong to present a universal creator primarily as the creator of a song, in which he, of course, is inimitable,” Glazunov wrote about Schubert. - He is no less inaccessible (my point - L.M.) as an instrumentalist and symphonist. His chamber and orchestral works amaze with the grandeur and grandeur of their design.” Orchestral music by Schubert. In his youth, Schubert led and conducted a student orchestra. At the same time, he mastered the skill of instrumentation, but life rarely gave him reasons to write for the orchestra; after six youth symphonies, only a symphony in B minor (Unfinished) and a symphony in C major (1828) were created. In the series of early symphonies, the fifth (B minor) is the most interesting, but only Schubert’s Unfinished introduces us to a new world, far from the classical styles of the composer’s predecessors. Like them, the development of themes and texture in Unfinished is full of intellectual brilliance, but in terms of the strength of its emotional impact, Unfinished is close to Schubert’s songs. In the majestic C major symphony, such qualities appear even more clearly. The music for Rosamunde contains two intermissions (B minor and B major) and lovely ballet scenes. Only the first intermission is serious in tone, but all the music for Rosamunde is purely Schubertian in the freshness of its harmonic and melodic language. Among other orchestral works, the overtures stand out. In two of them (C major and D major), written in 1817, the influence of G. Rossini is felt, and their subtitles (not given by Schubert) indicate: “in the Italian style.” Also of interest are three operatic overtures: Alfonso and Estrella, Rosamond (originally intended for the early composition of The Magic Harp - DieZauberharfe) and Fierrabras - the most perfect example of this form by Schubert. Schubert wrote 9 symphonies. During his lifetime, not one of them was fulfilled. He is the founder of the lyric-romantic symphony and the lyric-epic symphony. Of Schubert's 9 symphonies, 6 early ones (1813-1818) are still close to the works of the Viennese classics, although they are distinguished by romantic freshness and spontaneity. Examples of romantic symphonism were the lyrical-dramatic 2-part “Unfinished Symphony” (1822) and the majestic heroic-epic “Big” Symphony in C major (1825-1828). The lyrical and dramatic “Unfinished Symphony” was written in 1822, at the time of the composer’s creative dawn. For the first time, a personal lyrical theme became the basis of a symphony. Songliness pervades it. It permeates the entire symphony. It manifests itself in the character and presentation of themes - melody and accompaniment (as in a song), in form - a complete form (like a verse), in development - it is variational, the proximity of the sound of the melody to the voice. The symphony does not consist of four movements, as is customary, but of two. Schubert started on the third - a minuet, as the classical symphony demanded, but abandoned his idea. This is typical for the era of romanticism: as a result of free lyrical expression, the structure of the symphony changes (a different number of parts). The symphony, as it sounded, was completely completed. Everything else would be superfluous and unnecessary. None of Schubert's symphonies were ever performed during the composer's lifetime. Moreover, both the seventh and eighth symphonies were lost. The eighth score was found by Robert Schumann ten years after the composer’s death, and the famous “Unfinished” was first performed only in 1865.

- “a poet among musicians, who has never had an equal,” as Liszt put it. Increased interest in his personality and life goes hand in hand with a renewed interest in his music, especially instrumental music. A sensitive and profound performer of Schubert's sonatas, pianist Schnabel reveals in them yet unknown horizons—melody-saturated worlds of sounds. Melody and only melody gives rise to magnificently blossoming forms. Smooth and soulful, pure, like a mountain stream rushing from distant peaks, it carries people along with it in a musically manifested movement, dissolving everything dark and evil in it and evoking in us a bright feeling of life. Schubert's lyrics, indeed, turn out to be the only and exceptional example of mastering the human emotional element through song in its simplest elementary and most complex manifestations, saturated with the strongest dramatic tension. Without premeditation, sensitively, directly, simply and sincerely, Schubert, in song-like delight, conveys everything that touches us, excites us and that gives rise to an instinctive desire in us to cling to life, to crave and love it. His work is the strongest reserve of vital energy, but it exudes not in thunderstorms or heroic struggle, but in a transparent lyrical flow. The attraction of modernity to Schubert is the awakening of a passionate, uncontrollable instinct for life.

Schubert the symphonist is little known, especially in his youthful experiences, where he groped his way alongside and almost independently of the giant Beethoven and his powerful efforts. Especially few people know his beautiful lyrical symphony in C major (No. 6), and it is rarely performed, unlike his large lyrical-epic symphony in C major (No. 7), a regular visitor to concert programs. The “little” symphony was composed in 1817–1818 (October–February) and is the last link in the chain of Schubert’s youthful symphonies, which arose between 1814 (First Symphony) and 1818.
The composer's symphonic talent has not yet developed in them to full originality and maturity, as in his last two famous symphonies (unfinished B minor and C major), but the characteristic features of Schubert's individuality gently germinate in each of the six and make their way through the familiar features of Haydn and Mozart, through Italian influences and through the usual schemes of the Viennese symphony school. Beethoven is felt least of all, and, in any case, even where the power of his work is felt in one way or another, Schubert instinctively eludes it and resolves each new problem of the symphony in his own way. All you can hear is a push from Beethoven, and then everything goes on like Schubert.
In the Sixth Symphony performed in C major, this kind of impulse is present in the scherzo, but it is already filled with the freshness of Schubert’s original scherzos, there is so much purely Viennese humor and wit in them - and anticipates the seductive harmonies and rhythms of the scherzo of the Seventh - gigantic - in C major. noah symphony. In the remaining parts of the Sixth ("small") symphony there are many Mozartian and especially Haydnian techniques and manners, both in characteristic acceptances and in melodic turns, in endings, in the transparency of instrumental fabric, in light and agile gait. Everywhere one can see how organically and consistently, as if bypassing all those areas touched by the mighty thought of Beethoven, the lyrical and symphonic genius of Schubert develops. Based on the Haydn-Mozart orchestra and intonation patterns that have already become templates, a bright, smooth and coherent flow of inexhaustible, generously squandered melodies grows and blossoms. New delicate instrumental colors, fresh modulation techniques and soft tonal comparisons are pleasing. Lifelike, without theatrical pathos, lovingly, without stuffy emotionality, cheerfully and impulsively, without nervous impetuosity - this is how the music of Schubert’s young symphonies moves, exciting us with its naivety and affection, sincerity and innocence. It was simply and fearlessly that Schubert touched the everyday, and it became a fairy tale. Simply and with childlike trust, his imagination first followed the path trodden by the Viennese symphonic school before Beethoven, and this path seemed to be transformed: a slight unusual bend in the melody, a new tonal turn or slope, a beautiful pattern, a smooth progression of chords, an elegant instrumental touch - and now everything sounds differently. In appearance, unpretentious and as if in passing, joking, playing with the richness of his imagination and never emphasizing his inventions, the young Schubert symphonist teases the listener and tempts him with exceptional possibilities and immediately again hides his features under the mask of the good-natured old joker Haydn. And the power of song dominates everything and captivates the free and spontaneous play of melodies. They are saturated with four changes of symphonic movement (the slow introduction and the transparently mobile first Allegro, the Haydn-like expanded Andante, the whimsical and contrasting scurrying, lively music of the scherzo and, finally, the good-natured, cheerful finale - a movement restrained in its crafty mobility, in which a series of melodies with unexpected, instrumental “antics”—for example: fanfares!—and juxtapositions).

Schubert's grandiose Seventh C major Symphony 35 is a great epic of life, a reflection of an era of colossal scope - the excitement and restlessness experienced by humanity, the heroic efforts and great struggle of nations. Especially the rhythms of the last movement, which replace the beautiful playing of the brilliant scherzo, the rhythms are alarmed and rapid take your breath away with their titanic tension. The bright sorrow of the famous Andante (second movement) seems to me to be an echo of ancient “laments” - majestic scenes of many people mourning fallen heroes: petty personal grief is not heard in this calmly beautiful lyricism. The entire symphony as a whole amazes with its monumentality. This is a fresco painting of majestic plans and wide scope. It is difficult to believe that the symphony, full of energy and saturated with vitality, was written by Schubert in the year of his death, almost on the eve of it. If we further assume that the note on the first page of the manuscript of the score “March 1828” indicates the end symphony - which is very doubtful, even then there was not much time left until Schubert’s death on November 19, 1828, so as not to be surprised at the extravagance and power of his creativity until the last months of his life. The symphony was found by Schumann in the winter of 1838 from Schubert's brother and performed for the first time in Leipzig under the baton of Mendelssohn-Bartholdy on March 21, 1839. For eleven years this brilliant composition remained unknown to anyone and lay in the papers of the late composer: so great was the interest in it among his contemporaries! And yet, its fate is happier than the fate of the no less remarkable lyrical unfinished symphony, written in 1822 and remaining unknown until 1865! The path of Schubert the symphonist is a great path: simply and with childish trust, his imagination first walked along the road trodden by the Viennese pre-Beethoven school, only outlining its own, its beautiful pattern, its turn of melody or harmony, its graceful instrumental touch - and suddenly creativity blossomed, strengthened, spread widely and culminated in a gigantic epic embrace of life, not inferior to Beethoven’s.

Symphonic and chamber music is an equally important and interesting chapter of his creative biography. Schubert began composing symphonic music at the age of 16. In total, he wrote, including the so-called “unfinished”, eight symphonies, of which the most popular are the “neo-yotenmeya” in B minor (1822) and the large C major (1828). Of the 6 amphonies that preceded them, only two - the “tragic” B major (1816) and the early, second B major (1814), whose content is reminiscent of Beethoven’s fourth, occasionally appear in concert programs.

Schubert's symphonies only superficially come into contact with Beethoven's; in fact, they are fundamentally opposite to them both in terms of harmonious modularity (here he is one of the most inventive artists in the world) and in the sense of colorful sensation. Schubert took a very important step for the further history of symphonic music. He strengthened the song principle in the symphony, introducing the artless melody of his romance into the symphonic flow. The elements of folk music, the melodies of the Slavic peoples inhabiting the Upper Austrian valley (allegretto), the aroma of fields, forests, hot streams of sunlight fill his best symphony - a large C major. The history of romantic instrumentation begins with him - it is enough to point out, for example, the unprecedented before him the use of the romantic sonority of the horn and oboe.

Schubert was not as heroic as Beethoven. He lacked Beethoven's optimism and consciousness of his civic mission. Timid and politically underdeveloped, although gifted with great intelligence and observation, Schubert was completely depressed by the gloomy “Metternichian” reaction. Characteristic of Schubert is a mood of light sadness, sometimes thickening to tragic pathos. Virtuoso brilliance is completely alien to his music; this circumstance limited the circle of listeners to his wonderful piano and chamber compositions. The largest piano works - 15 of his sonatas - are little known to modern pianists, and only two of them enjoyed and enjoy some fame. Just as in his symphonic music, Schubert here also shows an extraordinary flair for the sound color of the instrument, bringing him closer to Liszt.

In addition to the sonatas, Schubert also created a number of small characteristic piano pieces rich in poetic content (“Impromptu”, “Musical Moments”). The influence of the latter on Chopin, Schumann and Liszt was very great, and Schubert must certainly be considered the predecessor of these composers in the field of piano poems. He remained inimitable in the field of four-hand piano compositions. Finally, quite worthy of his genius are rarely played compositions for violin and piano, a large number of dances for piano... His inexhaustible imagination also created a large number of chamber ensembles - 15 string quartets, two piano trios and a nocturne for the same composition, string quintet with two cellos, quintet with piano (the so-called “Trout” quintet), octet for winds and strings, funeral music for 9 wind instruments. Of all these works, the most significant are his last quartets), two piano trios and both quintets. Finally, for the historian of Schubert's musical creativity, his musical and dramatic works are even more important - the vaudeville "The Twin Brothers", the melodrama "The Magic Harp", the music for Chezy's play "Rosamund", the big opera "Alphonse and Esgrella", "Fierrabra", "Home" war”, etc. The list of cult works composed by Schubert is very extensive. Symphonist Schubert is a strikingly progressive phenomenon in terms of mature, lush orchestration, with its extensive use of brass. His amazing melodic gift is combined with the great temperament of a paint artist, who can always find the right color for his melodies.

Schubert influenced the next generation of musical romantics only through the originality of his melodicism. As a symphonist, he found his reflection only later, among the largest representatives of symphonism of the late 19th and early 20th centuries; as an author of romances, he created a school that has continued to this day. Outside his homeland, which was so indifferent to its brilliant son, Schubert's music spread very quickly, but almost exclusively in the vocal field. In Russia, for example, the first performance of Schubert's large C major symphony took place only in 1858. The Russian composers closest to him in the nature of the lyrics are Glinka and Rimsky-Korsakov. The complete works of Schubert, published by Breitkopf and Hertel, under edited by E. Mandishevsky, covers forty volumes.The first biography of him, written by Kreisle von Heilborn, was published in 1865. In connection with the memorable date of the centenary of the death of Schubert, a number of new studies about his music were published, a world competition was announced to complete the symphony (The award was received by the Swedish composer K. Atterberg.) In 1935, new documentary materials about Schubert and the manuscript of his symphony in E major were discovered.



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