Tag: Unfinished Symphony

Franz Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony is not his only unfinished symphony.

Schubert began thirteen symphonies, of which nine are generally numbered; but of these, he only completed seven. And regarding the canonical nine, there has been some discrepancy over the centuries as to the actual sequence of their composition.

Schubert began his famous “Unfinished” Symphony (now widely accepted as No. 8 ) in 1822. It consists of two complete movements. Despite the fact that Schubert would live another six years, for whatever reason, he never finished the other two. There’s a nearly-completed scherzo that exists in short score, with only two pages in the composer’s orchestration. (Another fragment was discovered in an attic in Vienna only in 2017.) It’s been speculated that material originally intended for the last movement may have wound up in another piece, or that Schubert was distracted by work on the “Wanderer Fantasy,” or that the symphony ultimately held bad associations for him, since it coincided with his having contracted syphilis.

But Schubert wasn’t exactly the kind of guy to fall into crippling despondency.

The symphony was given its first performance on December 17, 1865 – 37 years after the composer’s death. A characteristic Schubertian blend of geniality and passion, the piece was immediately recognized as one of his most beautiful orchestral works. It is sometimes referred to as the first Romantic symphony. It certainly is a moody one.

There have been a number of attempts to complete the symphony over the years. Like Michelangelo’s abandoned “Pietà,” it continues to fascinate, despite – or perhaps because of – its orphan status. The music is some of Schubert’s most famous. It has been used in numerous movies and cartoons and as the basis for other composers’ compositions.

Just don’t get the idea that Schubert never finished anything. He may have died at 31, but in a career that spanned less than 20 years, he managed to complete about 1500 works, including symphonies, overtures, incidental music, quartets, quintets, an octet, twenty piano sonatas, operas, masses, some fifty additional choral works, and about 600 songs.

Then, this was before Facebook.

Happy birthday, Franz Schubert.