Subscription Concerts 2024-2025Program C
No. 2021 Subscription (Program C)

Not one of Franz Schubert (1797–1828)’s symphonies had the opportunity to be officially heard during his lifetime, except for the ones written before 1818 (Nos. 1 to 6) which were privately performed by his fellows at the Imperial Seminary or by his friends gathering around the violinist Otto Hatwig.
The year 1818 was eventful: Schubert had his compositions’ first-ever publication (Lake Erlaf D. 586) and first-ever public performance (Overture in Italian Style D. 590 or 591). After abandoning at least three symphonies in 1818–1821, the Viennese composer set to work in October 1822 on a symphony, dubbed Unvollendete (Unfinished) today for only the first and second movements are left to us completed in full orchestration. There are various theories about the reason(s). What we know about this likely biggest enigma in music history is limited: in 1823, Schubert sent only the two movements to the Graz Music Society in return for the honorary diploma they awarded him. The scores were kept somehow in a drawer and unheard until in 1865, almost four decades after his passing.
The first sonata movement opens with a quiet, gloomy introduction: the low strings intone a three-note motif (B/C-sharp/D) which will recur throughout the movement. The second slow movement is, though in bright E major, still tinged with dimness particularly due to the desolate second theme in minor introduced on a clarinet. It concludes in celestial quietness as if posing an unanswered question about this unfinished but not imperfect masterwork.

[Kumiko Nishi]

Franz Schubert (1797–1828)’s No. 8 was forgotten, too. It was Schumann (1810–1856) who saved it from oblivion. The story goes back to 1826 when Schubert dedicated it to the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde (Musikverein Wien) in return for making him a substitute member of its board of representatives. Receiving some honorarium, he attended the closed play-through of the work. Nevertheless, it had stayed buried until 1839 when Schumann visited the deceased composer’s brother in Vienna and dug it up from the relics. The same year, the entire work was first performed publicly by Mendelssohn conducting the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig.
The subtitle of the work was posthumously given for convenience in distinction from Schubert’s shorter symphony in the same key (D. 589), a. k. a. Little C major. However, his Great symphony obviously deserves this nickname in quantity and quality. Schumann famously praised its “heavenly length” comparing it to Jean Paul’s great mighty novel.
Many suppose today that The Great was written during the summer of 1825. It is replete with ingenious harmonies and flowing melodies, as is usual with Schubert. The first movement has a significant introduction kicking off with a horn unison. The energetic crescendo leads to the fast sonata section, which treats the vivacious, dotted first theme (in the principal key) given by strings and the darkish second theme (unconventionally in E minor) by woodwinds. At the end, the opening unison melody resounds as if to come full circle. The next movement has a symmetric structure (A–B–A–B–A). The theme of section A first appears with the melancholic oboe solo, while the restful descending theme of section B is initiated by violins. The third movement in A–B–A form, has a graceful trio (B) section in waltz time. The high-spirited finale in sonata form begins with the fanfare-like first theme in C major, and later comes the melodious second theme in G major. From the start of the development onward, Schubert pays honor to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony (1824) by suggesting the Ode to Joy.

[Kumiko Nishi]