Schubert the Progressive

Editorial C()nsultants

Professor Robert Hatten

Dr Crawford Howie
Dr Nicholas Rast
Professor Julian Rushton
Schubert the Progressive
History, Performance Practice, Analysis

Edited by

BRIAN NEWBOULD

I~ ~~o~;~;n~~:up
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 2003 by Ashgate Publishing
Published 2016 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

Copyright © Brian Newbould 2003

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Act, 1988, to be identified as the editor of this work.

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Schubert the progressive: history, performance practice,
analysis
1. Schubert, Franz, 1797-1828 - Criticism and interpretation
I. N ewbould, Brian
780.9'2

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Newbould, Brian, 1936-
Schubert the progressive: history, performance practice, analysis / edited by
Brian Newbould.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7546-0368-7 (alk. paper)
1. Schubert, Franz, 1797-1 828--Congrcsses. I. Title.

ML41O.S3 N52 2002

780' .92--dc21
2001046268

ISBN 13: 978-0-7546-0368-9 (hbk)

 Contents

List of/v[usic Examples vii

List of Figures and Tables xi
Preface xiii
Notes on Contributors xvii

Schubert and the Example of Mozart

Charles Rosen
2 Death and the Composer: The Context of Schubert's
Supernatural Lieder 21
Clive McClelland
3 Notation and Performance: Dynamic Marks in Schubert's
Manuscripts 37
Walther Dtirr
4 Tonal Implication and the Gestural Dialectic in Schubert's
A Minor Quartet 53
James William Sobaskie
5 'Schone Welt, wo bist du?': Motive and Form in Schubert's
A Minor String Quartet 81
Nicholas Rast
6 'Timelessness' and 'Released Time' - Franz Schubert and
Composition Today 89
Susanne Kogler
7 Unknown Versions of Schubert's Early Piano Sonatas 101
Walbllrga Litschaller
8 Cornered in the Middle Eight: Dance Miniaturism vis-a-vis
Son~a 107
Brian Newbould
9 Reading bctween the Lines of Tempo and Rhythm in the B Flat
Son~a,D960 117
Roy Howat
VI Contents

10 The Doppelganger Revealed? l39

Roger Neighbour
11 Schubert's Pastoral: The Piano Sonata in G Major, 0894 151
Robert S. Hatten

Appendix 169

General Index 175

Index of Works by Schubert Referred to in the Text 179

 List of Music Examples

1.1 Schubert: String Quintet in C major, D956, 1st movement,

bars 1-20 3
1.2 Mozart: String Quintet in C major, K515, 1st movement,
bars 1-11 6
1.3 Schubert: String Quintet in C major, D965, 1st movement,
bars 259-286 7
1.4 Mozart: String Quintet in C major, K515, 1st movement,
bars 77-82 11
1.5 Schubert: String Quintet in C major, D959, 1st movement,
bars 33--45 12
1.6 Mozart: Sonata in B flat major, K433, 1st movement, bars
50-59 14
1.7 Schubert: Sonata in B flat major, D960, 1st movement, bars
80-88 15
1.8 Schubert: Sonata in A major, D959, 1st movement, bars
80-95 16
1.9 Schubert: Sonata in B flat major, D960, 1st movement, bars
196-226 17
2.1 Schubert: Hagars Klage (1811), bars 1-13 26
2.2 Schubert: Leichenfantasie (1811), bars 1-22 27
2.3 Schubert: Der Va term order (1811), bars 56-70 28
2.4 Schubert: Szene aus Faust (1814), bars 33-51 29
2.5 Schubert: Der Tod und das Madchen (1817), bars 22-29 30
2.6 Schubert: Der Wegweiser (1827), bars 68-end 31
2.7 Schubert: Leichen(antasie (1811), bars 444-end 32
2.8 Schubert: In der Ferne (1828), bars 8-11 32
2.9 Gluck: Orfeo (1762), 1111, bars 24-27 33
2.10 Schubert: Der Doppelganger (1828), bars 1-12 33
3.1 Schubert: Winterreise: Letzte Hoffnung, Ms. p. 26 38
3.2 Schubert: Alfonso und Estrella: Act 2, No. 18, Ms. folio 104
recto, bars 110-115 41
3.3 Schubert: Alfonso und Estrella: Act 2, No. 18, Ms. folio 95
recto, bars 1-6 42
3.4 Schubert: Mass in A flat major: Credo, Ms. bars 191 ff. 44
Vlll List orMusic Examples

3.5 Schubert: Alfonso und Estrella: Act 2, No. 20, Ms. folio 113
verso 46
3.6 Schubert: Symphony in C major, 0944, Ms. last page 47
3.7 Schubert: String Quartet in B flat major, 0112: Opening of
II 48
3.8 Schubert: Alfonso und Estrella: Act 2, No. 20, Ms. folio 120 49
recto
4.1 Schubert: String Quartet in A minor, Menuetto, Allegretto,
bars 1-21, with analysis 54
4.2 Schubert: Waltz, 0146115: (a) score, with analysis;
(b) middleground sketch; (c) background sketch 57
4.3 Schubert: String Quartet in A minor, Menuetto, Allegretto:
middleground sketch 60
4.4 Schubert: String Quartet in A minor, Menuetto:
comprehensive sketch 63
4.5 Schubert: String Quartet in A minor, movements 1-4: tonal
hyperstructure 64
4.6 Schubert: Strophe alls 'Die Golfer Griechenlands', 0677,
second setting, bars 1-6 65
4.7 Schubert: String Quartet 111 A mmor, Allegro ma non
troppo: bars 1-24 67
4.8 Schubert: String Quartet in A mmor, Allegro ma non
troppo: analyses of thesis and antithesis 68
4.9 Schubert: String Quartet in A minor, Allegro ma non
troppo: (a) viola and violin melodies, bars 32-6 and 44-9;
(b) cello melody, bars 118-22; (c) comprehensive sketch 71
4.10 Schubert: String Quartet in A minor, Andante: (a) violin I
melody, bars 1-8; (b) bass sketch 72
4.11 Schubert: String Quartet in A minor, Menuetto: violin
cadential melodies, bars 11--12,50-51 and 110-111 73
4.12 Schubert: String Quartet in A minor, Allegro moderato:
(a) comprehensive sketch; 75
(b) bars 202-227; 76
(c) bars 277-292 77
5.1 Schubert: String Quartet in A minor: 1st movement, voice
leading graph, bars 1-129 84
'5".2 Schubert: String Quartet in A minor: 2nd movement, voice
leading graph, bars 1-5 86
7.1 Schubert: Sonata in OlE flat major, 0568: 2nd movement,
bars 39--43 104
8.1 Mozart: Allegro in B flat, K3 109
 List o/Music Examples lX

8.2 Oiabelli: Waltz in C: Schubert: Variation in C minor on a

theme of Oiabelli III
8.3 Schubert: Deutscher in C sharp minor, 0643 113
8.4 Schubert: Deutscher in C sharp minor, 0643, bars 17-18 114
9.1 Schubert: Sonata in B flat major, 0960, finale, bars 185-193 118
9.2 Schubert: Sonata in C minor, 0958, finale, bars 13-20 118
9.3 Schubert: Sonata in B flat major, 0960, 2nd movement: (a)
bars 51-53; (b) bars 43-45; (c) bar 57; (d) bar 64 120
9.4 Schumann: Fantasiestiicke, Op. 73: (a) no. III, bars 57-59; 121
(b)no.l,bar23 122
9.5 Schubert: Sonata in B flat major, 0960, 1st movement, bars
36-38 122
9.6 Schubert: Sonata in B nat major, 0960, 2nd movement: (a)
bars 1-4; (b) bars 90--93 (as aligned in the autograph fair
copy); (c) bars 107-111 123
9.7 Schumann: Symphony No.4, I, bars 207-213 (in reduction) 125
9.8 Debussy: 'La soiree dans Grenade', bars 1-4 126
9.9 Schubert: Sonata in B nat major, 0960, finale, bars 513-540 128
9.10 Schubert: Sonata in B flat major, 0960, finale, bars 7495 129
9.11 Schubert: Sonata in B flat major, 0960, finale, bars 354-363 130
9.12 Schubert: Sonata in A major, 0959, 2nd movement, bars
120 122 132
9.13 Schubert: Sonata in 0 major, 0850, 1st movement: (a)
bars 254-257; (b) bars 256-257, suggested editorial 133
emendation
9.14 (a) Schubert: Sonata in B flat major, 0960, 2nd movement,
bars 70-71 ; (b) Beethoven: Sonata in A major, Op. 101,
finale, bars 228-229 134
9.15 (a) Schubert: Sonata in C minor, 0958, 1st movement, bars
150-151; (b) Schubert: Sonata in C minor, 0958, finale,
bars 372-373; (c) Schubert: Sonata in A major. 0959, 1st
movement, bars 351--354 135
11.1 Schubert: Sonata in G major, 0894, 1st movement, bars
1-17 155
11.2 (a) Schubert: Sonata in A minor, 0537, 1st movement, bars
1-5; (b) Brahms: Ballade, Op. 10, No.1, bars 1-4 157
11.3 Schubert: Sonata in A minor, 0784, I st movement, bars
61-79 157
11.4 Schubert: Sonata in G major, 0894, I st movement, bars
27-38 158
11.5 Schubert: Sonata in G major, 0894, 1st movement, bars
73-81 160
x List orAlusic Ewmples

11.6 Schubert: Sonata in G major, 0894, 2nd movement, bars

1-14 161
I 1.7 Schubert: Sonata in G major, 0894, 2nd movement, bars
40-49 162
11.8 Schubert: Sonata in G major, 0894, 3rd movement, bars
55-73 163
11. 9 Schubert: Sonata in G major, 0894, 4th movement, bars
1-18 164
11. 10 Schubert: Sonata in G major, 0894, 4th movement, bars
382-396 165
 List of Figures and Tables

Figures

8.1 Comparison of binary and sonata schemes 107

8.2 Schemes of miniature dance and expanded sonata fonn lOX

Tables

2.1 Characteristics of thc umbra style 22

2.2 Some characteristics attributed to flat major and minor keys 24
2.3 Distribution of keys in settings of In questa tomba oscura 25
5.1 Fonnal scheme of Schubert's String Quartet in A minor, 1st
movement 83
5.2 Comparison of the tonal regions of the 1st movement with the
entire work 83
5.3 Fonnal design of the 2nd movement (Andante) of Schubert's
String Quartet in A minor 85
 Preface

What is to be the agenda for Schubert research in the twenty-first ccntury?

Will it be set by the community of scnior scholars? Will we be encouraging
our younger recruits to continue chipping away the layers of varnish that
have obscured the biographical truths about their composer? Or to extend
analytical enquiry to more remote comers of the Schubel1 oeuvre? Or to
devise a rationale for the interpretation of Andante as a tempo indication in a
Schubert score? Shall we direct some towards iconography, others to the
study of Schubert's paper-types, yet others to the pursuit of gender issues?
Scholarly programmes are not as orderly as that, nor doyens as dirigiste.
What drives research is as much the inclinations and aptitudes of the
protagonists themselves as the prescriptions of their mentors. Without the
inclination there is no drive at all; without the aptitude, no promise of
success. Whatever may be the case in other, more purely scientific fields of
research, in the expressive arts we may further gloss 'inclination' and
'aptitude' as the twin virtues of amateur appetite and professional skill which
together- in music as in painting or poetry - form an unbeatable
combination.
The proliferation of sub-areas in Schubert research, which may be roughly
categorized under such broad headings as analysis, aesthetics, biography,
source study, or performance practice (to give but some principal examples),
has given the present picture of activity a somewhat untidy aspect. Add the
apparent conflict between a thirst for fact and a taste for hypothesis, and the
impression of disarray grows. For 'apparent', read 'ostensible': there is no
genuine conflict if hypothesis - that valuable stimulus to enquiry - is always
tested against fact. The variegated spectacle of Schubert scholarship today is
healthy: and the multiplicity of strands and practitioners is offset by the
burgeoning of publications and conferences, \vhich provide a forum for
exchange and refinement and, up to a point, self-regulation.
The present collection of research papcrs originates from a major
international conference (see Appendix) in which the Schubert Institute
(UK) pooled resources with the University of Leeds to provide a platform for
scholars working in any Schubertian field, with an emphasis on performance
practice, analysis and hermeneutics. With Schubert no less than with any
other of the great canonic composers - for we may perhaps use that epithet
by now without incurring any implication of counterpoint - the unresolved
XIV PreFace

questions of perfonnance practice are to this day as numerous as they arc

knotty. This is one avenue in which the musician who has achieved
distinction in both perfonnance and scholarship has a particular claim on our
attention. Charles Rosen, well placed to broach Schubert in view of his
published preoccupations with the composer's Classical precursors and
Romantic successors, does not here concern himself with the minutiae of
perfonnance practice as much as with illuminating some of Schubert's
compositional practices (in chamber works as well as the piano repertory) in
a way which will aid the perfonner's understanding. The composer's stance
in relation to Mozart and Beethoven is brought into sharper relief in the
process.
Walther Durr, a scholar of unmatched experience in the editing of
Schubert's music for performance, and especially associated in our minds
with the New Schubert Edition, addresses the central problem of Schubert
interpretation today - that the composer was precise in his notation of pitches
and rhythms but less precise in his perfonnance indications (dynamics and
articulation). His insight into the art of editing Schubert has value for all
instrumentalists as well as singers. Roy Howat, concentrating especially on
the last B flat Piano Sonata, points to what we risk losing as well as gaining
from scholarly advances that are incompletely digested, encouraging
performers (but not only pianists) to read between the lines of even the best
editions.
Clive McClelland's topic is the omhra style, designed to evoke awe and
terror in audiences by reference to a nexus of distinguishing characteristics.
Exemplified in Gluck and Mozart, omhra was to be a powerful rhetorical
gesture in instrumental music, by Schubert among others, and affected
Schubert's songs, which thereby continue a Classical trend while also
epitomizing the Romantic tradition. Two analytical approaches to the same
work, the String Quartet in A minor, are adopted by James Sobaskie and
Nicholas Rast. Sobaskie explores the concept of 'precursive prolongation', a
broad harmonic prefix to an initial structural tonic, which lends an intriguing
effect to this work's minuet. More generally, he pursues the ongoing
dialectic initiated by two tonal gestures appearing at the beginning of the
work. Rast examines the Quartet in an attempt to decode the significance of
the self-borrowings found in it, bringing to bear biographical factors and
analytical scrutiny, and giving consideration to the music's generic sourcing.
Susanne Kogler's wider focus is on specific qualities of the 'Schubert
style' in his time and today. Her central point of investigation is the
organization of musical time, and, taking Dieter Schnebel's dictum
concerning the 'search for freed time' as her starting-point, she traces a
dialectic of sound and silence that links Schubert with such contemporary
figures as Schnebel himself and Wolfgang Rihm. Unknown versions of
Schubert's early piano sonatas are discLlssed by Walburga Litschauer, who
 Preface xv

has recently published them in the New Schubert Edition. Study of these
versions, some of them fragmentary, adds a dimension to our understanding
of such works as the Sonata in C, D279, and the Sonata in B major, 0575.
Brian Newbould relates practices in Schubert's dances - a repertory
subjected to relatively little analysis so far - to those in full-blown sonata
movements, seeking to provide a basis on which to build an enhanced
understanding of the techniques of compression and expansion that are
central to Schubert's creative personality.
Roger Neighbour applies his professional expertise in medicine,
psychology and neuro-immunology to some of the enigmas surrounding
Schubert's life and music, and proposcs a novel hypothesis that may be seen
to explain certain well-known aspects of his personality and art. The G major
Piano Sonata, a work less subjected to close study than other sonatas of
Schubert's last five years, is considered by Robert Hatten to be Schubert's
'Pastoral'. After examining the genre of pastoral, this substantial essay finds
it characterized, for Schubert, by a timeless sense of continuity, and sees the
G major Sonata as a cyclic manifestation of pastoral tendencies, a distinctive
and original successor to Beethoven's increasingly Romantic pastoral
sonatas, Opp. 28 and 101.
The breadth and depth of these papers, presenting as they do the current
work of international scholars at the leading edge of Schubert research as
well as of younger writers sharing the same devotion to their subject, and
offering the seminal potential to point up areas for future work, implies a
burgeoning - and perennial- research culture among Schubertians. The
tradition of amassing conferences and other research outlets around Schubert
anniversaries has surely outlived its sufficiency.

Brian Newbould
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 Notes on Contributors

Walther Diirr (b. Berlin, 1932) studied musicology, German and Italian in
Berlin and Tiibingen, gaining his DrPhil in 1956. After holding academic
posts at the universities of Bologna and Tiibingen (1957-62), he joined the
editorial board of the Neue Schubert Ausgabe in 1965, later becoming its
Chairman. He was also appointed Honorary Professor at Tiibingen in 1977.
As well as editions within the NSA, and translations of Italian operas into
German, he has published on Schubert, on the history of lied, on the Italian
madrigal. and on the relationship of words to music.

Robert S. Hatten is Professor of Music Theory at Indiana University and

author of Musical Meaning in Beethoven: Markedness. Correlation. and
Interpretation (Indiana University Press, 1994). His research interests
include semiotic theories of musical meaning and gesture, late Beethoven
and Schubert, Bntckner, and twentieth-century opera. 'The Expressive Role
of Disjunction: A Semiotic Approach to Form and Meaning in Bruckner's
Fourth Symphony' will appear in Perspectives on Anton Bruckner also
published by Ashgate Publishing. 'Musical Gesture', eight lectures for the
Cybersemiotic Institute, may be accessed at http:/www.chass.utoronto.ca/
epc/srb/cyber/hatouLhtml.

Pianist Roy Howat enjoys a wide repertoire and is specially known for his
expertise in French music (as author of the book Dehllssy in Proportion and
editor of Urtext editions of music by Debussy, Faure and Chabrier). He has
recorded piano music (notably by Debussy and Chabrier) and chamber music
for several record labels, and his recent concerts include live broadcasts of
Schubert sonatas in several continents. He is currently AHRB Fellow 111
Creative and Performing Arts at London's Royal College of Music.

Susanne Kogler has published in the fields of aesthetics, contemporary

music and music theatre. Born in Leoben, Austria, she studied music
education, classical philology and musicology at the Karl-Franzens-
Universitat, Graz, and at the Universitat fiir Musik und Darstellende Kunst in
XVl1l Notes on COl1tributors

the same city, where she has been a member of the research staff since 1996.
In 1998 she was appointed assistant to the Rector. Dr Kogler's doctoral
dissertation on the meaning of language in contemporary music is due to be
published in the series Stlldien ::ur Wertllngs.t()rschung in 2002.

Walburga Litschauer completed studies at the University of Vienna in

Musicology, Philosophy and Theatre Sciences and at the Vienna
Conservatory in piano. In 1980 she was awarded her PhD by the University
of Vienna. She is a member of the editorial board of the Neue Schllhert-
Ausgabe and director of its Vienna office. She has edited volumes of
Schubert's piano music for the NSA and has also worked on the Anton
Bruckner edition. Her numerous publications include two volumes of Neue
Dokumente zum Schuhert-Kreis, a book which she wrote together with
Walter Deutsch on Schubert und das Tanzvergm'igen, as well as articles on
Schubert, Bruckner and the music history of Carinthia. In 1992 she was
awarded the 'Grand Prix Franz Schubert' for special achievement 111
Schubert research. She is president of the' Austrian society of music' .

Clive McClelland is Lecturer and Admissions Tutor in the School of Music

at the University of Leeds. He recently completed his PhD on umbra music
in the eighteenth century, and has written the entry for ombra in the Revised
New Grove. He has an active interest in choral music, having been conductor
of the Harrogate Chamber Singers for many years. He directs various vocal
ensembles at the University. Outside music, he is passionate about cricket
and wine.

Roger Neighbour is a general medical practitIOner in Abbots Langley,

Hertfordshire. His professional interest in developmental psychology and
psychotherapy reflects his curiosity to understand the unconscious forces
that shape experience, behaviour, personality and creativity. He is the author
of The Inner Consultation (on the doctor-patient relationship) and The Inner
Apprentice (on the dynamics of one-to-one teaching), and has published
extensively on medical education, family therapy and foetal memory. A
violinist from the age of four, he has loved and played the music of Schubert
for nearly 40 years.

Brian Ne}vbould is the author of Schubert and the Symphony: a Nett·'

Perspective (Toccata Press, 1992) and Schubert: the Music and the Man
(Gollancz/University of Califomia Press, 1997), and editor of Schubert
Studies (Ashgate, 1998). His realizations of Schubert's sketched symphonies
are widely perfonned, broadcast and recorded, by advocates including Sir
Neville Marriner, Sir Charles Mackerras and Sir Simon Rattle. He is
Emeritus Professor of Music at the University of Hull, and was Chairman of
 Notes on Contributors XIX

the Schubert Institute (UK) from 1993 to 2002, and from 2002 Honorary
Vice-President.

Nicholas Rast completed a PhD on Schubert's music for piano four hands at
King's College, London in 1988. Together with Elizabeth McKay he co-
edited the proceedings of the Oxford Bicentennial Conference (Schneider,
Tutzing: 1998), and was on the committee of the Leeds 2000 Schubert
Conference. Besides writing for academic journals, he is a regular
contributor to the BBC Music Magazine and The Daily Telegraph.

Charles Rosen, internationally acclaimed as both pianist and scholar, is the

author of a landmark study of The Classical Style (Faber, 1970), which won
the National Book Award for Arts and Letters. Further publications include
Sonata Forms (Norton, 1980), The Romantic Generation (Harvard, 1995)
and Beethoven's Piano Sonatas: a Short Companion (with accompanying
CD; Yale, 2002). Dr Rosen's many recordings include Beethoven's Diahelli
Variations and last six sonatas, Bach's Art of Fugue and Goldherg
Variations, and works by Schumann and Liszt.

James William Sobaskie teaches music theory and composItIon at the

University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point. A pianist, his scholarly publications
include chapter-essays on the music of Gabriel Faure and Franz Schubert, as
well as articles on music theory and electroacoustic music. Currently he is
completing a book entitled The Music of Gabriel Faure: SZvle, Structure, and
the Art of Allusion.
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 Chapter 1

Schubert and the Example of Mozart

Charles Roscn

If reception history is to be morc than a fashionable speciality, it must

enlighten us not only about the history of taste but also about the nature of
the \>,'orks which were subjected to the changes of taste and reception. Thc
eclipsc that Cosifan tufte, for example, underwent throughout the nineteenth
century ought to teach us something about the work itself: the reputation for
immorality and cynicism with which it was reproached for so long is as
relevant to the music as to the libretto, even if we feel that the terms in which
the reproach was couched were not only mistaken but foolish. Furthermore,
although the reaction of succeeding generations to a work is socially and
culturally influenced and evcn determined, that does not mean that there are
no inherent characteristics in the work itself which resist or welcome the
progress of reception.
The fame of Schubert started with the Lieder and the music for four
hands. It began essentially, therefore, with those of his works that were
performed either privately or for a very small and semi-private set of
listeners. With the gradual disappearance in our century of the performance
in the home of piano music for four hands, an important and even crucial
body of Schubert's work has been obscured, and our assessment of his
achievement has been badly skewed. Thc songs remain, of course, as the
basis of his glory.
The chamber works have finally won appreciation on a permanent
footing. Four of the quartets, the String Quintet, the 'Trout' Quintet, the
Octet and the two piano trios, are now a part of the repertoire. They have
not, however, attained a prestige equal to the chamber works of Mozart and
Beethoven. The solo works for violin and piano, and cello and piano,
remain in the shadows, while the great works for male chorus are almost
never heard. The latter, like the four-hand music, were essentially for the
pleasure of a private society. The music for piano solo has in recent decades
attained a much larger public with frequent performances, even if the level
of popularity does not come near the prestige of the piano music of
Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann or Debussy. The symphonies, a fully public
genre with which Schubert had no success during his life, have now an
ambiguous status. Only two have entered the repertoire as acknowledged
masterpieccs, and another two are occasionally pcrformed. The greatest of
2 Schubert the Progressil'e

the masses get a hearing, but the operas have had very limited success and
remain curiosities, the subject of musicologically stimulated revival, and
are generally received only as experiments.
The prestige of Schubert as one of the supreme classical composers is
oddly unaffected by the lack of success in so many genres and the clearly
mixed success of others. It must be remembered that the greatest part of the
music of Schubert that has come down to us was written in his early youth.
Nevertheless, the somewhat ambiguous status of so much of the music is
curious, particularly when it concerns many of the greatest works. The
accusations of excessive length continue to surface, and will not go away.
There is also the reproach of a lack of power, of what has traditionally been
called the effeminacy of Schubert's style. This is unfortunate, particularly
because many of the most perceptive musicians feel the charges to be
unwarranted or irrelevant. It is clear that standards are being applied to some
of the most important works which are partly inapt and inapplicable, or
worse, and which, at least to a certain extent, lead to an evaluation which
does only incomplete justice to the tinest works. This misunderstanding,
however, cannot be completely dismissed - in fact, it may paradoxically help
us to a deeper appreciation of Schubert's achievement, and it merits some
consideration.
In his chamber works and piano sonatas, particularly, we think of Schubert
as somehow taking over from Beethoven and continuing the Viennese
tradition in a kind of straight line - successively Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven,
Schubert and finally Brahms, each one engendering his successor. History is
less straightforward than that. There is no disputing the influence of
Beethoven on the later Schubert, but his style was not in fact formed on
Beethoven, to whom, as we know, he was hostile at an early stage. His early
model was clearly Mozart for instrumental music, and he remained faithful
to his youthful idolatry in ways that made it impossible for him ever
completely to assimilate the work of Beethoven. In this, of course, he was
not alone: not even Mendelssohn was able to deal comfortably with the
figure of Beethoven, who in his later years remained relatively isolated in
spite of - or because of - his immense prestige (it is interesting, for example,
that although Mendelssohn could confront and welcome the influence of the
late Beethoven quartets with extraordinary benefit to his own style, the only
way he could face the 'Hammerklavier' Sonata was with a joking parody,
published posthumously by his heirs with the no doubt humorous opus
number of 106). Along with Mozart, the influence of Mozart's pupil
Hummel probably had greater weight with Schubert than Beethoven.
One interesting example may be given of Schubert's continuing study of
Mozart and the way it continued to refine his musical conceptions. The C
major String Quintet seems at its opening to owe nothing to Mozart
(Example 1.1).
 Schubert alld the E~'(Ql11ple o/lvfozart 3

Allegro rna non troppo

/-"
----
" (l - -
Violin I ..
u
p f p
(l
Violin II
t)
p - f p
-

Viola
- - -
p f p
-ec -ec -e' -ec -ec------
Violoncello I
p f- p

Violoncello II
...

----
" (l ~. ~ >-~ >-~ ~

===--
t) I
pp
fl
.. A
u
===--
>- >- '--'"
pp

~
>-
- ~
r >-
===-- pp

• . ~~
"*
~fr· >- >-

===--

Example 1.1 Schubert: String Quintet in C major, D956, 1st

movement, bars 1-20
4 Schubert the Progressive

;' 1\ ~.

tJ

1'\ .(2..

U -e: - "U" 09-_ _ _ _ _ _

- 1.-09- "U~

£:. p - f p

p
-
f
- ~.
N
p ------
.p.~~

p f p

....
p
p~===-=
f =======--
1\

tJ

1'\

·tJ '-'~.
7J ~~ ~
,.
>- ....
>-
-0,__,;*
==--
~

'-' "-' >- >- ~. -.

pp
-0.

==--
III .. D~~ .fL~
>-
I ...~ >------, ~
:

==-- pp

.~ .
I r ,.
"- I :> >-
==-- ~
pp
~.

Example 1.1 (continued)

 Schuhert and the Example olMozart 5

The rewriting of the main theme at the opening of the recapitulation,

however, reveals that Schubert had Mozart's famous C major Quintet in
mind all along (Examples 1.2 and 1.3).
The recapitulation, in which the detached mounting arpeggio that is a
principal element of Mozart's opening now appears (introduced at the end of
Schubert's development and continued into the reprise), allows us to see that
two other elements of Mozart's structure were already present in Schubert:
the decorative and expressive turn is found in both works at the fourth bar of
the opening phrase, and Mozart's eccentric five-bar rhythmic structure has
been retained but adapted by Schubert to a ten-bar structure. The rhythm, and
this is typical of Schubert, is basically similar to his classical model but
stretched out to be twice as long.
In addition, Mozart shortens a later appearance of his main theme in the
exposition to the more orthodox four-bar groups (the fifth bar of each
original phrase overlapping with the next), and Schubert obediently follows
suit in the counterstatement of his main theme by shortening his ten bars to
seven-bar groups (actually eight-bar overlapping phrases). (See Examples
1.4 and 1.5.)
Essentially, even in the last of his great instrumental works, we can see
that Schubert retained the conventional Viennese models (Mozart's above
all) and increased their size, giving them the greater sense of space that was
Schubert's most extraordinary innovation, and which would have a signal
effect on the future history of music in the work of both Brahms and
Bruckner.
One characteristic of Mozart's conception of large form that Schubert
found useful in many works is the bursts of conventional passagework used
in the second part of an exposition to round out a section with increased
motion. Mozart sometimes develops this just before a short closing theme, as
in the Sonata in B flat major, K333 (Example 1.6).
When Schubert imitates this, it causes distress to some of his most ardent
admirers (like D.F. Tovey). The root of the difficulty is the increased scale of
Schubert's forms. Like Mozart, Schubert needs to introduce an accelerated
motion later in his expositions, but he needs it at greater length, and it is not
always justified, as it is in Mozart, by a display of virtuosity: unlike Mozart
and Beethoven, Schubert was not a virtuoso keyboard player. The
conventional nature of the material he uses in the second part of an
exposition may seem, consequently, to make too great a contrast with the
idiosyncratic and personal opening of the form. Before the final theme of the
exposition of the Sonata in B flat major of 1828, we find the following bars
(Example 1. 7).
There is a striking difference in invention between these arpeggios and the
extraordinary lyrical opening of the sonata, and it creates a problem for the
perfonner. who must struggle to keep this page from sounding trivial, to give
6 Schuhert the Progressive

Allegro
tJ
Violin I

~
Violin II
tJ
P
Viola I
P
Viola II

...
~~ ~~ ~~
p
~
Violoncello
~. ~
f
,,1\ ~-- ... i
~~ ~ ,OR.

~ p dolce

tJ

I...L...I...I ~ -- -=--= .=-=

...
... ,.
f P
~
tJ ,.,---... 'f ~ f: ~

~
tJ

..........-...--

--
~ ~
~I....I....I...I I...I.....J.... L......L.....I.

4"
f P
Example 1.2 Mozart: String Quintet in C major, K515, 1st movement,
bars 1-11
 Schubert and the Example olMo::art 7

I'l

t.J
- I

I
,;.

I
-
~#In"~~ /~
~
p~ ~#Ir"'~,
.ffz
.ffz ===--

..
I'l I

---
I

t.J " ________

-.f "!' .~.

~
.ffz .ffz

I !T~
.ffz
.ffz
------
-
h~

.--'

.ffz .ffz
---- ~
- ::--. ~== ~

-
h Ih ----

.ffz :==-=~ .ffz =====-

-
" I'l
. .-
. .- t .. f;: .- f;:

t.J ~ r
JP
I'l ~ ,..., ~

t.J J'" I

------
~

J
P

I ..0. ')9- ~¥= p.~

,
P

Example 1.3 Schubert: String Quintet in C major, D965, lst

movement, bars 259-286
1\ Schubert thc ProgrcsSil"C

,.
. ,. . . . ~

-
11 -I't ~ ~

~
pp-
f-

-- -----
11

~ , -
=

-----
pp f
~

pp --- If
"~ -e- -e-
--- -- -----..

: pp f:

:
-
" pp f

. €
JJ Jl ,. L ~ ~
tJ
P

JJ ,. :r;: ~.
~
-
u'-'
P

-
I
.
'-'
p '-'

,",,s-~~ ~
""
>~~ Ai'F ~ ~~ -t
p

p
Example 1.3 (continued)
 Schuberr and the Example oU.fo::art 9

.; I'l ~ ~.

u
pp
I'l ~ fL·
"

tJ
pp
~.
.. ~
:> :> ~

==- pp
~~ ;~ #~
. ~

r
==- ~' ~
pp
I~I

!'.
:> II~· '---'

I'l /f '\ #~~~..--~ ...

~

tJ
f p =--
I'l
-
U f p

f = p

t: -. ..--
'7
f p==-

.. ~ ~ ~ "- ~
,..
'.

f p ===-
Example 1.3 (continued)
10 Schuhert the Progressive

I'l .~ >.----...
. ~

I r
====-
~

I'l >- I~~ I -I

>- -
====-
~

r- :;;.
. >-
----- ..
====-
V'

pp
I.,n r-
. :

>- >-

====- pp

:
... ~' ~.
pp

Example 1.3 (continued)

it an expressive interest. This ean be done only if the Molto moderato tempo
is interpreted as a very slow one; this may not be the correct interpretation,
but it is understandably chosen by some performers in order to impart what
they feel is the necessary gravity to the movement as a whole.
The increased motion can only be achieved with difficulty if the material
is as idiosyncratic as the opening themes that are the glory of Schubertian
invention, but Schubert's sense of spacious form needs the increased
rhythmic development, and this is the occasion for the more conventional
material. In following Mozart rather than Beethoven, Schubert was not often
inclined to adopt Beethoven's solution to the problem of employing
conventional material for the purpose of enlarging classical structures.
Beethoven's method, largely based on that of Haydn, was to make the
conventional material appear as if it were a part of the original thematic
invention of the main theme: that is why so many of Beethoven's themes are
constructed out of simple arpeggios or scale motifs. This was not a practice
that would recommend itself to Schubert, whose thematic invention was of a
very different nature from Beethoven's. In addition, Beethoven's technique
resulted in forms of a very tight economy, where Schubert clearly wished to
let more light and air into his creations.
 ,r.'chuhert and the Example olMozart II

~ Ii .... ~ ~

p-: I" .
~f
U fP------- -------- ------_. ........
fP

fp II' II'
"
"'"~ ~

... -.J ~-----

f
~Ii .;, ~~ ~

u ~.
P
Ii f
U
I"""'T"""~

................ .. .............. ..............

:..-.
U':>

... - p ~
-==

- U':>~rr ~:¢ ~
~!J
'~

u U':>
f
r--1I'-
~
Ii ,9-~.- ---n~-

-
U ~ en
~-
f
-" 0'- ..
---
~~y

f
.-----
U':>
~ ~

f-6'-----·· 1

~ 1 1 1

f ~

Example 1.4 Mozart: String Quintet in C major, K515, 1st movement,

bars 77-82
 .
12 Schuhert the Progressive

tl ~ t !. ~ • .... Q~~.
,.. ~1iI·

u
-
--
ff
.~
~
fz
I'l >- >-

u ·~·if~
....
ff fz

ff
~~"- or~ . "'!'
1ft ~ .,,~'----"

ff
>-

ff

>-
ff ff

~tl
,.. . ~. ~,L "''1. >- ....

Itrf-:FFFF F
>

~
~ L.-l 3 3 ~I

I'l y! t: t: t: t:~~
IV ~.~~. -: if -: > i--j" 3 ~I

rn·
3
• ;;

,-,or ~tr. ""'!' I r I I ~.;..~~~ !"J 3

/~ ~

-----
I -'-. '- ./

L~ ~

'-

-----
I '- ./

Example 1.5 Schubert: String Quintet in C major, D959, 1st

movement, bars 33-45
 Schubert and the Example o(Mozart l3

; 1\ ~!:::I ....;r~~~~. ~~. ~ .. r-T-T-.

u·~,
fo'-'
~~""!f
==== 5
ff
~ "!"

1\ :> ~

u~, ~ .. ~
7f
"!".~"!".

fo"'--'

..
fo= ~>--- .~.
. I....I...U
ff
~~-----~ - I

ff==- ~'"
it
!!"'D~
~ ..,J' -d. :u-
ff==-

1\ e=t:'
:>

~~i!. ~. ~ ,..., :>. .. ~ ~~~~~~~

u't, --.. <If' 3 3

fifo >- ...,

- 'r••••• ;;
U--. r "'!' .? .

....
~~>~L..U-J 3 3
fo
... I~ •. ~~ c-~ttttE:
~>--- ~~ . . L....U....J ~ 3 3
fo

---
:> /N .-.
- '"'"'
ff
I
::
---:..
--- =

>--------"-
.-.

-
N

.....
u:
ff
7d:~--' '---
--- ::

Example 1.5 (continued)

 54 ~.~

Example 1.6 Mozart: Sonata in B flat major, K433, lst movement,

bars 50-59
 Schubert and the Example of Mozart 15

Judging Schubert's procedures by Beethoven standards results, therefore,

in a certain misunderstanding, although it is not easy to evade this particular
critical process: the efficiency and success of Beethoven's forms provided an
inescapable critical model for more than a century to come. This was at least
tacitly acknowledged by Schubert, who was on occasion able to adapt many
of Beethoven's techniques in his own work.
One essential aspect of Beethoven's work, however, was never congenial
to Schubert, and that still makes some of his forms uncomfortable to modem
performers and listeners, as we have been educated to believe it

86

Example 1.7 Schubert: Sonata in B flat major, D960, 1st movement,

bars 80-88
16 Schubert the Progressive

n .- .- r, ... .- . - I"""T'"""1 I

{ L
I I I I .;..'--" I
dim. f

.g ~ ~ .g ~ ~ ¥ ... ~CJ 11- - .. ..

fl ,,<+ I i"T'i, rw::Tl I I

:

t.! L..:.W L......I...J I I :> L.....L...J ... I r

--== ==-- ==
:
~~ l}f ~

:>
-
.J .b-,.. :>
~ :>

{
L.....L...J- '" ~ T I
== I :> b~ ~ ." .
:

cresco ===-
~ .#. .

Example 1.8 Schubert: Sonata in A major, D959, 1st movement, bars

80-95
 Schubert alld the Example oj'Afo::art 17

19~

... . . .
/
- -6J-' ~.

{
-V-
(sapra)
:
y OJ • ...... .. .. .. . . . . . • • .,. • -* -*qY Y

199
1\ ...
.... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
{
tJ ..".."
decresc.
1\ tr
:

tJ ~.~ ... lt. . . . . . . . . . iI*,-u- q~

2°A .fL ~ .fL ~ ~. ~

{
tJ ..".."..".
ppp
:
~
.
v .. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
(satta)
20'
;.. t t
. . .. . . . . . . . .. .
~ .fL # .fL

{
~

-.
1\ tr
:

tJ .." .." .."

iu- flj

20~
-~
- -6J-' ... ,

{
-V- .." .." -" -"
p

Y' . .. .. .. .. -" -" -" - .. ....

-
• • .,. • -* -*qY Y

Example 1.9 Schubert: Sonata in B flat major, D960, lst movement,

bars 196-226
18 Schubert the Progressive
21l
.~

.fp

214 (8) - - - -- - - -- - - -- - - - -- - - - -- - - - - -- - - - --- - - - -- - - - - -- - - - -- -- - --- - - -- - - - --- - - - --- - - --

fl
----- • --------~. ~
------
{
t)
.fp
fl

t)
s: s: s: s: s: s: :J:J :J

{
217

fl

t)

fl
pp
>-------- -== ==-
~ ..
(8)" -- -- - -- - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - -- - - - --1

-
-t*-.

3-

t)
s: s: s: s: s: s: s::J s:

220 tr-
fl h. b. ~ J, /~I!iI~
....
{ ."
t) ~.

decresc. ppp
fl
:

t)

223
{.\
I I~I I~
...
{
.., .
... I ... ~
~

pp sempre legato
{.\ -r-1 I

I I I I I I

Example 1.9 (continued)

 Schubert alld the Example olMozart 19

indispensable to classical form: this is the sense of direct harmonic motion.

We always know where a movement of Beethoven is headed, even if
surprises may lie on the way: only at a rare moment of climax does he
suspend directed harmonic movement (the most extensive example being the
circle of fifths before the final variation in the Adagio last movement of
the Sonata in C minor, Op. III). Schubert, however, often tries to evade the
sense of a directed goal in just those places that we are accustomed to think
require a real sense of direction. The middle of the exposition of the Sonata
in A major of 1828 is one example: it appears to be a modulatory
development, but in fact it only goes from E major back to E major and the
motion is small-scale, the larger movement being an illusion, a sleight of
hand (Example 1.8).
This also leads to a long section of conventional arpeggios and is not, I
think, one of Schubert's most successful ideas, although it can be played to
great virtuoso effect.
This destruction oflarge-scale direction, however, can be the occasion for
some of Schubert's greatest inspirations, as in the development section of the
first movement of this A major Sonata, where the harmony oscillates: C
major, B major, C major, B major, C minor, A minor, returning suddenly in
this surprising way to the tonic. Appreciating Schubert's conception here,
nevertheless, forces us to revise our habitual expectations of tonal form. The
return to the tonic in this case is neither a tinal goal nor the ultimate
resolution of an increase of harmonic tension: it is part of an idiosyncratic
process which has suspended any conventional feeling of pressing forward in
a classical development.
Even more striking is the retransition at the end of the development in the
Sonata in B flat major of 1828. Here Schubert, having arrived at 0 minor,
hovers there and then oscillates with the most intense lyricism between 0
minor and the tonic B flat major (Example 1.9).
Schubert could have learned from Beethoven's Symphony No. 4 to
prepare the return of the tonic with the tonic itself, but the effect of this
page of the Sonata in B flat major is so extraordinary that it must be
considered an absolutely original conception. The repeated juxtaposition of
o minor with the tonic B flat major at such an important structural junction
is so radical as to have no parallel before Schubert, and very little
afterward.
Schubert's dependence on Mozartean tradition, however, is revealed by
the sudden appearance, at the cnd of this pendulum movement betwecn 0
minor and B flat major, of thc dominant of B flat, followed by 12 bars of a
pedal point on that conventional harmony. The purely conventional character
of this dominant preparation by a very long pedal (an elaborate preparation
of a tonic at which one has already arrived, it should be pointed out) makes a
sharp contrast with the originality of the preceding phrases, although the
20 Schubert the Progressil'e

working out of the sustained pedal is exceedingly beautiful, and it leads to

the necessary playing of pianississimo trill.
We might say, in fact, that Schubert conceives the effect of the moment of
recapitulation not so much as the return of the tonic or of the main theme
(both of which have already taken place) but rather as the reappearance of the
strangely distant and quiet sonority of the trill at its original pitch. In the
development of the A major Sonata, as well, the arrival at the tonic minor in
the development section is followed by a very long pedal on the dominant to
prepare the tonic major, a technique that Schubert may have learned from
Mozart and others, but which he has expanded very grandly. Once again,
however, the conventional dominant preparation only emphasizes the fact
that the tonic had been finally attained as part of a process that suspended any
sense of moving urgently to a predetennined goal.
In spite of Schubert's revolutionary rethinking of harmony, however, in
his large instrumental works he was always tied to Mozartean principles,
which even Beethoven occasionally abandoned and, in any case, rarely
followed so slavishly. The old-fashioned view of Schubert as a composer
midway between the Classical tradition and Romantic innovations is,
therefore, basically correct. This creates for him a special status which does
not allow us to measure his achievement either by Classical or by Romantic
standards.