Notes for: August 13, 2013
The incredible outpourings of music that we associate with Franz Schubert reached a high point in the winter of 1824. In only two months – February and March – he completed three of his chamber music masterworks – the Octet in F Major, the String Quartet in A minor and the String Quartet in D Minor, “Death and the Maiden.”
Perhaps as astounding as this flow of chamber music was the public’s indifference to it. Contrary to common belief, Schubert was not a neglected composer – some 450 of his compositions were published during his lifetime.
However, music that could be performed in Viennese family living rooms – lieder, dances and part-songs – accounted for more than 90 per cent of these publications, and were the basis of Schubert’s popularity. When it came to his serious instrumental music, his Viennese compatriots, intent on music for domestic entertainment, could not care less. Of the three chamber masterworks of 1824, only the A Minor String Quartet was published during Schubert’s lifetime, and it was a commercial failure.
The strange performance and publication history of this Octet is a case in point. Completed on March 1, 1824, the Octet was performed privately but received no public performance until April 1827. Although it was then favorably received, Schubert was unable to place it with a publisher in Vienna or in Germany.
After Schubert’s death in November 1828, moreover, the Octet was all but forgotten. Movements 1, 2 and 3 were finally published in 1853. The complete 6–movement Octet was issued only in 1889 – 47 years after its composition, and then as part of the complete publication of Schubert’s works.
The Octet – for clarinet, horn, bassoon, two violins, viola, cello and double bass, was commissioned by Ferdinand, Count von Troyer, chief steward to Archduke Rudolph, one of Beethoven’s patrons. An expert clarinetist, Troyer wanted a companion performance piece for Beethoven’s Septet in E flat Major, completed 24 years earlier but still a Vienna favorite. Not surprisingly, the two works have several similarities: Both use the same instruments though Schubert added a second violin to provide a more orchestral texture. Both are long works with six movements instead of the usual four. The first and last movements of both open with slow introductions. Both include a slow movement with variations. And both are throw-backs to the 18th century divertimento with its characteristic mixture of martial and pastoral styles.
Beyond these structural similarities, however, the Octet is characteristically Schubertian, with its emphasis on romantic lyricism and its tendency to “modulate” into new and often remote keys at the drop of a hat. Further, it reflects, like much of Schubert’s music, the emotional complexity of his personality – his wide mood swings between joyful exuberance and morbid melancholy. Thus, while the Octet was intended as “entertainment” music and a lightness of spirit predominates, Schubert’s dark side appears at unexpected moments, particularly in the tragic introduction to the final movement.
The first movement opens with a moody introduction, adagio, that sets the stage for the joyous main section, allegro. Here we meet the dotted rhythm and rising contours of the two main themes, particularly the big upward jump of the second, and the shifting from key to key. In the ensuing main section, the first violin shares the lead with the clarinet (Troyer’s instrument), the strings presenting the vigorous first theme and the clarinet the leaping second. The horn also plays an important role, restating the second theme like a hunting call and having the last word near the movement’s end. The development furthers the emphasis on the dotted rhythm, upward jumps and changes in tonality.
In the slow movement, andante un poco mosso, the flowing melody is presented by the clarinet accompanied by a rocking rhythm in the strings; it is then repeated by the first violin with the clarinet adding an upper part. A middle section is improvisatory in nature. The melody returns, this time played by the first violin against a counter–melody in the winds and a variant of the rhythmic accompaniment in the lower strings.
The third movement is a scherzo, allegro vivace, the main section suggesting the open country, perhaps a hunting party. Again, listen to the facility with which Schubert moves unexpectedly from key to key. The more placid trio is marked by an unbroken staccato figure in the cello.
The fourth movement is a theme with seven variations. The simple–minded theme, andante, is taken from a duet Schubert wrote at the age of 18 for a comic operetta The Friends from Salamanca, which was never performed during his lifetime. The variations stress changes in color and rhythmic treatment rather than thematic transformation.
The fifth movement is marked menuetto: allegretto, but its main section is more of a romantic interlude than a ballroom dance. The trio, however, has the rhythm of a ländler or country dance.
The darker Schubert appears in the slow introduction, andante molto, to the sixth movement with its grim tremolos, painfully abrupt rhythms and ambiguous tonality. This leads, however, to the main section, allegro, which is dominated by the rhythm and boundless energy of a march. The darker color of the slow introduction reappears near the end, but the Octet concludes with a headlong rush.