Franz Schubert (1797-1828) String Quintet in C major, D. 956, op. posth. 163

Franz Schubert lived for 31 years, and only composed for about 18 of those years.  Yet in this relatively short lifespan, he produced over 1,000 musical pieces, including hundreds of songs, 15 string quartets and almost 9 symphonies.  He was able to keep this torrid rate by waking up at six in the morning and composing well into the afternoon, according to the testimonies of his close circle of friends.  The rest of his waking hours would be spent drinking, smoking, and partying with fellow musicians, poets and artists.  The combination of intense work and play took its toll on Schubert, and by 1828, he had become seriously ill, possibly from the complications of Syphilis.

It was during these final months of Schubert’s life that he composed the Cello Quintet.  It is a monumental piece—an example of what Robert Schumann referred to as Schubert’s “heavenly length.” If the repeat signs are honored, the piece takes over 40 minutes to perform—the first movement alone is 445 measures long.

 But it is not the quantity of measures or the staggering number of compositions Schubert composed that earned him his place in the pantheon of great Viennese composes (he is buried next to Beethoven and Brahms).  Schubert’s harmonic innovations and dramatic balance of gorgeous melodies with compelling textures have made his music—especially the later works—masterpieces of the Romantic era.

 In the Quintet, Schubert uses harmonic movements that reappear throughout the piece.  The first chord starts on a sweet and stable C major, but as the ensemble increases volume, the inner voices move by the tiniest of intervals (half-steps) transforming the harmony to C-diminished—a painful and potentially terrifying chord: so close, yet so far.  The quintet also moves in similar unexpected half-steps in the last chords the piece.  Half-steps are also exploited in the famously lyrical second theme of the first movement—a melody of blissful intimacy.  The melody is set in A-flat major instead of the expected G-major, again, a half-step away.

In the context of C major, A-flat major is less decisive and obvious than G major.  This choice of harmony has been explained as an expression of the cozy warmth of the German Beidermeyer living room that this chamber music was intended for. Academics have pointed to the chromaticism that figures into the overarching structure of the work— clever sleight-of-hand tricks for the connoisseurs.  Some have even made claims that the queer choice of keys is an expression of Schubert’s alleged homosexuality.  What all agree on, however, is that the music speaks universally to the human condition, expressing tender emotions that resonate deep within the soul. 

Schubert did not live to hear his Cello Quintet performed.  It was premiered in 1850 and published in 1853.  The addition of the extra cello is unusual in the repertoire, but it generates a rich dark sonority can’t be found in the regular string quartet or in the slightly more conventional viola quintet.

©Be'eri Moalem