The String Quintet in C major, D. 956, op. posth. 163, is a piece of chamber music written by Franz Schubert. Chamber music is a form of Classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber It was composed during the summer of 1828, two months before his death. The year 1828 ( MDCCCXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap The Quintet was first performed in 1850 and published in 1853. For the game see 1850 (board game. 1850 ( MDCCCL) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link Year 1853 ( MDCCCLIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common
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Analysis and discussion
The work holds the distinction of being the only full-fledged string quintet in Schubert's vast oeuvre. A string quintet is an ensemble of five String instrument players or a piece written for such a combination It also stands out for its somewhat unconventional instrumentation, employing two cellos instead of the customary two violas. In Music, the word instrumentation is used to refer to the particular combination of Musical instruments employed in a composition and to the properties The violoncello (abbreviated to cello, or 'cello, plural cellos or celli —the c is tʃ The viola is a bowed String instrument. It is the middle voice of the Violin family, 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. A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified for the purpose of making Music. A string quartet is a Musical ensemble of four String instruments &mdash usually two Violins a Viola and Cello &mdash or a piece The violin is a bowed String instrument with four strings usually tuned in Perfect fifths It is the smallest and highest-pitched member 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. Luigi Rodolfo Boccherini ( February 19, 1743 &ndash May 28, 1805) was a classical era Composer and cellist In Music, a register is the relative "height" or range of a Note, set of pitches or Pitch classes Melody
The work consists of four movements:
- Allegro ma non troppo
- Adagio
- Scherzo. Presto – Trio. Andante sostenuto
- Allegretto
In common with other late works (eg. the Symphony in C major, D. 944, the Piano sonata in B-flat major, D. 960, etc. The Symphony No 9 in C major D 944, known as the Great, is the final symphony completed by Franz Schubert. The three Piano sonatas numbered 958 through 960 in Deutsch 's catalogue of Franz Schubert 's complete works are the composer's last major compositions for the ), the opening movement is broadly expansive, accounting for more than one-third of the total length of the piece. The second movement is in three part ABA form. The outer sections, in E Major, are of an otherworldly tranquility. The central section is intensely turbulent; it breaks in on the tranquility almost cruelly, in the unrelated key of F Minor. When the opening music returns, there is a running 32nd note passage in the second cello which seems to have been motivated by the turbulence that came before it. In the last three measures of the movement, Schubert somehow contrives to tie the entire movement together harmonically with a quick, brilliant modulation to the F minor of the middle section and an immediate return to E Major. The Scherzo is symphonic and large-scaled, with the open strings of the lower instruments exploited in an innovative manner to create a volume of sound which seems beyond the capabilities of five stringed instruments. The middle section, or trio of this movement is an unearthly slow march which seems to predict the sound world of Mahler. The last movement is an exuberant rondo with clear Hungarian influences.
While it was thought by earlier critics to lack the polish appropriate to a work of high-classical art music, it has grown steadily in reputation. Current consensus holds that the Quintet represents a high point in the chamber repertoire; the work 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. In Music or Music theory, the supertonic is the second degree or note of a Diatonic scale (in other words immediately "above" The tonic is the first note of a musical scale in the tonal method of Musical composition.
The second movement's plaintive mood makes it popular as background music for pensive or nocturnal scenes in film. Examples include the 1989 Nocturne Indien, the 2001 film Conspiracy, and the 2003 film The Human Stain. Conspiracy is a BBC / HBO television film which dramatizes the 1942 Wannsee Conference. The Human Stain (2000 is a novel by Philip Roth. It is set in late 1990s rural New England. Also Episode 21 from the Inspector Morse television series (Dead on Time) draws extensively from this string quintet, as do certain episodes in Desmond Morris' BBC series The Human Animal. Detective Chief Inspector Endeavour Morse is a Fictional character in a series of thirteen Detective novels by British Author Colin For the Australian rugby league footballer coach and administrator see Des Morris Desmond John Morris (born 24 January 1928
Influences
Schubert's string quintet was inspired by Mozart's third string quintet, written in the same key. The String Quintet No 3 in C major, K 515 is written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The opening theme of Schubert's work has retained many of the characteristics of Mozart's opening theme, such as decorative turns, irregular phrase lengths, and rising staccato arpeggios (the latter appear only in Schubert's recapitulation)[1]. In Music, ornaments are musical flourishes that are not necessary to carry the overall line of the melody (or harmony but serve instead to decorate or "ornament" In Musical notation, the Italian word staccato (literally detached, plural staccatos or staccati) indicates that notes In Music, an arpeggio is a broken chord where the Notes are played or sung in Sequence, one after the other rather than Ringing out simultaneously
In turn, Schubert's work inspired Johannes Brahms in the writing of his Piano Quintet. Johannes Brahms ( pronounced ˈbʁaːms (May 7 1833 &ndash April 3 1897 was a German Composer The Piano Quintet in F minor, opus 34 by Johannes Brahms was completed during the summer of 1869. The third movement of Brahms's quintet, written in C minor/major, ends in the same manner as Schubert's finale, with strong emphasis on the flat supertonic, D flat[2].
References
- ^ Charles Rosen, "Schubert and the example of Mozart", in Brian Newbould [ed. Charles Rosen (born May 5 1927 is an American Pianist and music theorist. ], Schubert the Progressive: History, Performance Practice, Analysis, 2003, Ashgate.
- ^ James Webster, "Schubert's sonata form and Brahms's first maturity (II)", 19th-Century Music 3(1), 1979, pp. James Webster is a musicologist, specializing in the music of Joseph Haydn and other composers of the classical era. 52-71.
External Links
A 45-minute analysis of the work on BBC Radio 3's "Discovering Music" program
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