Schubert's Most Sublime Melody (from C major String Quintet)
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Richard Atkinson discusses Schubert’s most sublime melody, occurring in the first movement of his remarkable C major String Quintet (and a bonus sublime melody from its second movement).
This is a fair use educational commentary that uses excerpts from the following recordings/performances/documentaries::
Schubert: Impromptu in G-flat major, Op. 90 No. 3
Krystian Zimerman, piano
Schubert: String Quintet in C major:
Wiener Streichsextett: Erich Hobarth, Peter Matzka (violins); Thomas Riebl (viola); Rudolf Leopold, Susanne Ehn (cellos)
Mozart: Symphony No. 36 in C, K.425 "Linz"
The Academy Of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Neville Marriner
Haydn: Symphony No. 48 in C, "Maria Theresia"
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
Mahler: Symphony No. 1 in D major
Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Claudio Abbado
Beethoven: String Quartet in E-flat, Op. 74, “Harp”
Emerson Quartet
Boccherini: String Quintet in E major, G. 275: III. Minuetto
Enrico Casazza & La Magnifica Comunità
Brahms: Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34
Quartetto Italiano and Maurizio Pollini, piano
Brahms: String Quintet in G, Op. 111
Takács Quartet and Lawrence Power, viola
Video excerpt:
“Arthur Rubinstein - The Love of Life” (1969 documentary)
Beethoven: Fidelio, Op. 72
3. Quartett. “Mir ist so wunderbar”
Staatskapelle Dresden, Bernard Haitink
Schubert: Fantasie for piano (4 hands) in F minor
Murray Perahia and Radu Lupu
00:00 - Video introduction
02:55 - Exposition (first theme)
08:03 - Exposition (sublime second theme)
16:56 - Exposition (canon based on sublime second theme)
19:54 - Exposition (closing theme)
20:55 - Development
23:02 - Recapitulation
30:15 - Bonus sublime melody (from second movement)
39:23 - Coda - เพลง
babe wake up new analysis dropped
real
I still remember the first time I heard this melody, I was simply struck. It came out of nowhere it seemed and it was simply breathtaking. Even for Schubert's standards, and what I have come to expect from him, it was miraculous. I remember repeating only that section 10-15 times before moving on. Schubert was truly one of a kind and when I listen to him, I realize more strongly than I do with other composers, that after all, the essence and joy of music lies in a great melody more than anything else.
@burakunsal7499
“[T]he essence and joy of music lies in a great melody”
th-cam.com/video/H9TlAOKCmaQ/w-d-xo.html
An die Musik
---------------------
Du holde Kunst, in wieviel grauen Stunden,
Wo mich des Lebens wilde Kreis umstrickt,
Hast du mein Herz zu warmer Lieb entzünden,
Hast mich in eine beß’rer Welt entrückt!
Oft hat ein Seufzer, deiner Harf entflossen,
Ein süßer, heiliger Akkord von dir,
Den Himmel beß’re Zeiten mir erschlossen.
Du holde Kunst, ich danke dir dafür!
To Music
---------------
Beloved art, in how many gray hours,
When life’s wild whirl surrounded me,
Have you kindled my heart to warm love,
Have you transported me into a better world!
Often has a sigh, flowed out from your harp,
A sweet, divine harmony from you,
Unlocked to me the Heaven of better times.
Beloved art, I thank you for it!
And when I first heard it, I thought I had somehow heard it before--which I don't think I did (I was about 12 years old). It sounded so obvious and eternal, as if it always existed, as if it expressed something I always knew was true.
As a cellist, this is one of my most favorite pieces to play. Absolute bliss… every single note. You did a brilliant and beyond thorough job presenting this. Thank you so much!
Genuinely appreciate your analysis, hope you know we're not just taking these gems you upload for granted!
This Quintet is in my top five favorite pieces of music.
I concur. It's so special that I listen to it very rarely to avoid getting used to it too much and it losing its earth-shaking impact. My favourite moment is the Trio of the Scherzo. When I first heard that I couldn't believe my ears. I had listened to most of Schuberts major works before, but nothing could have prepared me for this.
Me too, music that reaches to the very edges of the soul. Also in there are the G Major Quartet and the Bb Piano Sonata (and possibly the Fantasy for Piano Four Hands). Fascinating analysis here, thank you.
I can't believe you can pull so many interesting things together--other musical comparisons, cartoons, quotations, photos and history--as well as the analysis of the music. Very unbelievable. I imagine it takes you loads and loads of time!
It takes even more time than most people think!
I love trying to follow your analysis. You help me realize how complex and glorious this is
It was just after when Schubert heard one of Beethoven's late quartets that he composed this quintet. It was reported that many in the audience couldn't grasp the ideas behind Beethoven's latest masterpiece. Schubert, on the other hand, walked home in silence, obviously impressed with the new music. I always felt that this quintet was the most modern sounding of Schubert's works and attribute this somewhat to Beethoven's influence. The main difference between Beethoven's late works and Schubert's is the point that you make, the "tunefulness." This quintet is one of my all time favorites. The 2nd movement was chosen by Arthur Rubinstein to be played at his funeral.
Schubert's sonata in B flat major also does this mediant key modulation route to the dominant in the exposition to incredible effect (B flat major - G flat major - F sharp minor - F major).
I almost used this sonata’s opening theme at the beginning of this video instead of the impromptu!
You pile beauty upon beauty just like Schubert. Thank you for what you do.
I’ve just rediscovered this gem this week and have been listening to it on repeat and could not believe that you just happened to upload an analysis of it! Lucky me:)
played this in college and it was and still is one of my favorite pieces of chamber music
I have not watched it yet but I already know I will be watching this at least 7 more times this week.
Welcome back! Love your videos, the best analysis channel on TH-cam!
Based. I concur!
I think this is the first time I visited this channel (or maybe i have met it looong time ago). I have seen a lot of videos of this kind but this time I would mention two exclusive points. first, the duration of musical fragments - they are just great! they are long enough to feel the full picture and they also include some bars before and after the essential ones, this is good for being prepared to the considered musical thought. also, they may repeat some material so you don't have to relisten to the music to get what was meant. second, the quality of selected performances, they are brilliant! quintets easily may sound a little wavy-noisy because of some lack of synchronization between musicians' vibrating, here the sound is just perfect. (of course, this is not the only component of a good perfomance.)
thank you for the video!
This channel is a breath of fresh air
I often wonder if Schubert's song-writing lead him to think of C major and C minor as "close." But this minor third modulation was something he was doing for much of his composition career - the second movement of his fifth symphony, written when he was 19, modulates from E flat to G flat.
I think in many of his songs he alternates between parallel major and minors without modulatory sequences
@@haomingli6175 Yeah, that is what I mean. He treats C major and C minor as roughly different facets of the same register. In voice, changing to the relative minor or major changes the register of the voice, and he often wants the register exactly the same.
I love that symphony! One of my under-appreciated favorites.
@@thomasoa Beethoven does the same thing, treats the parallel key as being a more dramatic or more triumphant/peaceful thing in the same register, like repeating the same melody fragment in C major and then C minor in the same register, Beethoven does that. And Schubert was very much in Beethoven's shadow, so it makes sense that Schubert would do that a lot as well.
@@caterscarrots3407 Plenty of composers did so before Schubert, but Schubert did it instinctively more than most because he wrote so much for the human voice. The violin or piano can "easily" change from C major to A minor, without much change in the sound quality. The voice has a narrow range, and even inside its range, the qualities of the notes changes radically. Schubert uses the parallel minor/major so much, he seems to have literally blurred the line. It is why he sees C major and E flat major as relatively close keys.
It seems odd to attribute this to Beethoven, rather something that was visible in Schubert's work from when he was 18. It didn't get to the extremes of this G major string quartet until he was a decade or so older, but it was part of his musical instinct far earlier. Attributing it to Beethoven seems to ignore that Beethoven didn't do this first, nor the fact that Beethoven never took it to the extreme that Schubert did.
Yay! Another Atkinson analysis, this time on one of my favourite compositions ever!
I owe you more than what you could imagine.
And certain one of the top Schubert compositions. He was a genius.
@@ladivinafanatic For sure! Another chamber piece of him I love is hid last string quartet, the last movement is in major/minor mode.
@@Ivan_1791The major to minor idea pervades that entire quartet (look at the first three bars of the first movement) - Mahler also famously used this as a thematic device in Symphony No. 6 (future five-hour-long video)!
@@Richard.Atkinson I know, it is such a fascinating string quartet.
And what? 5 hours? 💀 Make sure to leave time marks for the sections of the analysis and the cool examples you usually offer.
@@Richard.Atkinson This channel is going to reach its peak with the Mahler 6 finale.
By this time, one of my favorite videos of this channel.
That melody rises like the sun above the horizon, simple but absolutely glorious. Yet I think I like the theme of the adagio even more. The adagio deserves its own video all by itself.
Undoubtedly, my favourite chamber music work ever :) amazing video as usual
Such a wonderful work of genius. I normally don't like to hear my favourites analysed and pulled apart but you do it so well. Great insights. Schubert's last year really was miraculous
He is back! Thanks a lot, this is one of my favorites, too.
How nice you've chosen this magnificent work...thanks..And now, a couple hours later, having enjoyed the analysis, great job as always. The chord progressions are elucidated so well--I'd always wondered about the modulations.
What a remarkable performance of the quintet by Wiener Streichsextett !
My friend, you have so much taste.
Thank you for everything, you work hard and this is incredibly appreciated by many of us. I don't think someone else can embrace the variety of things involved (and I adore the comparisons with other composers) more brilliantly (i.e pertinence of the elements analysed in regard of the whole piece and clarity of explanation) than you do.
Now I can't forget that name of Orpheus Chamber Orchestra !!
Take care and many thanks again.
Thanks so much for putting together this. I would hope also to connect this C major string quintet with the sonata in A major, D. 959. A lot of things are closely related. Especially the "signpost" shared by both pieces. I just recently realized how the "signpost" in the 1st movement of D. 959 are the motivic pieces from the final gorgeous melodies of the 4th movement, which was already composed in years before in D. 537 2nd movement. Something also similar in this quintet where the the first two lines suggest everything that comes later. The connections, the "insistence" quality, the zest for life but also the tragic moments from both D. 959 2nd movement and this D. 956 2nd movement just made me want to cry...
How is it possible a IV-V-I progression can be so deeply moving. As ever fantastic analysis, please keep it up!
One of those chamber works I listen to the most, and composed by one of my favorite composers. Thanks so much for the upload!
My request, can your next video be about the beauty that lies within Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony No. 8 and "Great" Symphony No. 9?
Your response is much appreciated, dear Richard. Thank you! ❤
It won't be the next one, but I definitely plan to talk about both of those in the future!
Thank you! 👍
this was a favorite in our crowd when we were in our teens
Its always a good day when Richard Atkinson uploads
Fabulous exposition which only serves to deepen one’s enjoyment. Thank you Richard Atkinson!
Absolute favorite piece.
I had no idea this piece existed but Im so glad you posted it!!
"...except for this one minuet, that mostly only exists in an artistic netherworld inhabited by intoxicated wedding guests and thousands of suzuki method students." Pure gold of sneering comments that articulate sheer love for an idiom!
An analysis of a piece by one of my favorite Romantic composers? instant subscribe. Hadn't heard this piece before.
So happy to see this post , thank you. One of my favourite pieces
Beautiful!!!!! Wunderschön, einfach nur wunderschön. Thank's for the presentation.
Thank you so much for this video. I really appreciate the care and effort you put into your TH-cam channel.
Fantastic analysis: thorough, probing, illuminating and clear
wonderful post. i am not as familiar with schubert as i would like...your have marvelous gift for simple explanations of difficult concepts. love love love your posts.
24:50 Roman Hoffstetter: "I know the feeling, Luigi. But least I got mistaken for Papa H."
Think of how famous he’d be if it had been the Op. 76 quartets and not the Op. 3 quartets! 😂
@@Richard.Atkinson Oh the musicologists would have a field day! 🤣
I’d have to re-evaluate my entire life! 😂
@@Richard.Atkinson Now, steady on :-)
Fr. Hoffstetter is now well known and acknowledged.
omg so happy u made a video on this! Was just recently acquainting myself with this gem of a piece
I share with you the same love of that extraordinary theme. A musical miracle.
And, yes, mediant relationships via common tones sound awesome.
Thank you very much for your analysis and interpretation. It has brought me personally a lot. Greetings from CZ.
Very skillful analysis with remarkable sensitivity and insight into Schubert's compositional genius. Love the C major quintet!
Beautiful explanation of sublime music. Thank you so much.
That "the good die young" certainly applies to Schubert amigo.
Thank you for this presentation.
My favorite schubert melody is the third movement of his piano quartet opus 47. im a grown ass man and i even teared up first listening
Thank you for these videos! They always inspire me to look for something new in music. I think I watched the series on Brahms 4 three times over.
Learn so much from you thanks. 😊
I do learn a lot here. Thank you so much.
I love how all of your videos are (not-so) secretly about Haydn and Mozart
I would love to see an analysis on Mahler’s 6th, esp. the finale!
On the docket!
I am glad you mentioned the adagio. Also glad you mentioned Boccherini!
One of my favorite pieces ever written for chamber music, and as a whole.
Would love if in the future you could do an analysis on the entire Quintet. Thank you again!
I adore the Quintet. But that Piano Fantasy... it's as if someone pushes a button: instant tears. Saved me a fortune on eyedrops along the decades.
Excellent breakdown of the music and such wonderful music it is indeed.
Great analysis, I love it, thank you.
This is the most fortunate timing. I have to hold a presentation in a few days on this exact piece for my music theory class. Thanks for your insights - they will certainly add a lot to what I planned on saying so far.
Mr. Atkinson; you are a genius. I am, unable to take parts of anything because I'm a completist. You don't have that problem and therefore can take things apart to explain them. Great job as always. How about the Mozart Gm quintet? A video on that? Happy holidays.
This is the only channel I turn on notifications for
Amazing video as always! was hoping that you would briefly talk about the stormy f minor section in the 2nd movement. Another favorite passage of mine from this masterpiece!
Great video! Another composer who used three-key expositions was Clementi, for example his F-sharp minor sonata, op. 25 no. 5. You might even argue that it's a 4-key expo (F-sharp minor--D major--A major--C-sharp minor). His music was pretty well known in the early nineteenth century.
So glad to discover your channel! I love you go down into the weeds of a composition, uncovering the patterns and comparing them to similar patterns in other pieces. And you're describing some of my most beloved melodies from childhood!
First time I heard this in college, it immediately moved to top spot on my all-time great chamber works.
For me, the most sublime part of the quintet is the trio in the scherzo (3rd movement). I was crossing my fingers that you would analyze it, and kept checking the remaining playing time over and over again, until a point when I realized that there wasn’t enough remaining time for that to happen. But I loved your analysis!😊
I love all 4 movements!
Great video! Would love to see one where you tackle the Schubert F Minor Fantasie, or the G Major Quartet (especially the first movement). The Mendelssohn C Minor Piano Trio and Brahms' Clarinet Quintet would also be worthy contenders!
I've never been so excited to watch a video
vi is the "surprise" modulation going way, way back. It was a favorite final cadence around the end of the 19th century.
Dear Richard Atkinson, your analysis of classical pieces were always truly amazing and haved very high quality explanation which can't be found anywhere else.
Can you please analyze Beethoven's "Missa solemnis"? I want to see your contrapuntal and harmonic analysis about Beethoven's large Fugue, "in gloria Dei Patris" and "Et vitam venturi saeculi amen" .
Or, instead of that, I also want to know your contrapuntal analysis of the last movement of Beethoven's Piano sonata no.29, "Hammer Klavier"
I believe that if you do making video for these pieces with their analysis, it will be your most excellent job ever do you made.
An absolute privilege Richard to be able to tune into your wonderful channel and listen to these thoughtful, carefully prepared, scholarly but accessible talks.
The presentation is outstanding in every respect, and enhances the brilliant and incisive analysis of this magnificent piece.
I particularly enjoyed the wider references to other composers which placed both Schubert and the Quintet in a proper and meaningful context (the honourable mention for Boccherini was particularly apt).
A sincere thank you Richard for the time, thought, and work put into these amazing videos which are clearly appreciated so much worldwide.
PS. The only small point I would dare to mention is that in the rest of the English-speaking world outside America, the German/American-English 16th note - and similar - is not understood at all, and it might be worth just saying ‘16th note or semiquaver’ (even if only the first time); the same goes for those listening whose first language is one of the major European languages like Italian, French, and Spanish, none of whom use the mathematical fraction naming system of notes.
I mostly started saying "bar" instead of "measure" for the same reason, so I'll try to remember to do this in the future!
@@Richard.Atkinson
Thank you; the main problem for English speakers outside America is that the whole note - 4 beats in American-English - is in fact only a semibreve (ie half) in English (and Italian, French, Spanish and others); the whole note is a breve (8 beats) which renders the entire German/American-English system meaningless as the whole note means something entirely different in the two systems - hence the confusion.
I had to stop the video to translate (musically I think in English and Italian).
The traditional English usage is more familiar worldwide than the German/American-English fraction system; I’m very conscious though that this is rather petty given the fantastic video to which we have just been treated, but simply wished to raise awareness of the point.
By way of a suggestion, I would like very much to hear your thoughts - post-Webster- regarding Haydn’s Symphony 45 in f# minor (‘Farewell’) in regards to through-composition and cyclic-integration, and other radical evolutionary features; whatever, thank you so much for some of the most inspirational videos on TH-cam.
Love it. Thanks for sharing. I’d love to hear your analysis of some of Schubert’s songs, like Die Nachtigall!
11:00 Berlioz on the cello: Oh, I believe that quote also goes for a segment in Ravel's Trio en la mineur. It starts around the 2 minute mark in I. Modéré. The violin plays the main melody, then the cello echos the melody of the violin, which begins to play a hauntingly beautiful melody, which I imagine is a musical depiction of someone crying about a lost love, crying about someone very important in their life. If you haven't watched the movie A Heart in Winter (1992), I would highly recommend doing so, at least the scene where Camille Kessler and her accompaniments play that segment (at the 27 minute mark). In any case, thank you, the Berlioz quote just gave me a beautiful moment. And I need to check out Schubert for his sublime and ethereal melodies! :D
Great stuff! The allusion in the final movement's third theme to the chromatic descent that leads to the theme in this video is also amazing. Will you be doing more Schubert videos?
Melody Itself. The heartbeat of Lieder.
insanely good analysis
Brilliant, Richard! I'd love to see a video on Shostakovich's 5th.
I first heard it from Dinu Lipatti . A recording of his concert at Besancon 1950 . Sublime ...
Let's gooooooo. One of my favorite pieces of all time. Are you planning on analyzing Chopin in the future?
Well done!!!
Wow, thanks as always!! One of my all time favourites pieces of music. BTW went to flat in Vienna where Schubert died... person there let me touch his brother's piano... played that very prominent G flat 1 from D960, which Schubert finished whilst there... Again, thanks so much!!
The jumping theme from the 2nd movement in the 1st violin is also integral to his "Death and the Maiden" quartet 4th movement!
True! Schubert loved tarantellas - also the finale of the famous C minor Piano Sonata and the finale of the less-famous 3rd Symphony.
Dude I love your videos! I almost refuse to listen to music now unless it's accompanied by a color coded score haha
I agree, one of the most beautiful melodies
While classical conventions imposed after a first theme in C major a second in G major,SCHUBERT chose to write it in A flat major which will be the tonality of love among the romantics as for example in the act II of Tristan when Tristan draws Isolda gently down on a flowery bank by a chromaticism WAGNER goes from C major to A flat major: »O sink hernieder Nacht »
Great videos, but this one is a real reminder of how much personal preference comes into any assessment of art. I’ve never understood what people find beautiful about Schubert’s melodies.
Far too early in the day to be crying. Thank you.
Were you Heinrich Schenker in a past life? 😊 You're highlighting all my favorite moments. Great taste, great video, and great music.
The downward, chromatic sighing phrase leading into this great melody is recast in the march-like coda tune and the triplet accompaniment reminds me of the same device used in the Piano Sonata op. posth. 143 in a-minor, 1st mvmt. recap. Simple yet so effective, like the reverberation of the heart.
One of my favorite Schubert tunes is the "Im Fruhling" finale of the Piano Sonata D. 959 (not to mention the wild slow movement!).
Can't wait until you analyze the first mvmt. of the SQ D. 887 and the Violin/Piano Fantasy D. 934. Color codes be flyin'.
Thanks for another great video. Love your reverence for these masterpieces.
👍❤
If you like the "downward, chromatic sighing phrase," stay tuned for my video on the finale of the K. 464 quartet I mentioned in this video!
@@Richard.Atkinson Tuned and ready, sir.
Great video! Do you plan to ever talk about shostakovich or other 20th century composers?
38:58 I was wondering why that motif in the first violin sounded so familiar! I haven't listened to the quintet in quite a while, but my friends have been practicing that fantasy quite a bit recently. Thank you for perhaps inadvertently solving that mental mystery for me
The Piano Quintet also has sublime melodies, mainly in the first movement 👌🏼
Fascinating video, thank you. You didn’t express the modulations in these terms, but what thoughts about my own observation that a shift between keys and major third apart is often miraculous?
(1) G and E flat (as in this piece);
(2) between bar 14 and bar 15 in Schubert’s magical song ‘Nacht und Träume’ (in my bass singer edition A flat to E major); or
(3) in Beethoven’s tenth violin sonata op96 first movement bars 58-59 where the second subject D major theme gives way to B flat major.
All three modulations have the same magic for me.
I am impressed that you are doing these analyses and you are first and foremost a doctor! I had a question about which software or program you use to do the highlighting of the themes in your videos? It is very professional and I want to do something similar for a presentation I am giving. Your videos are spot on!
I'm still using a now-defunct drawing app for mac ("Artboard"), Audacity for the audio editing, and Filmora for video.
It takes a certain mind, perhaps a profound mind filled with autonomy, to come to terms with beautiful music such as this. My kids listen to rap, 60s and 70s (the latter I enjoy), but play this to them? I have tried with Beethoven and Vivaldi. Failure. Schubert? It needs revelation. I just truly hope, and pray, that which is great will not be forgotten. Thank you for the post, and may it stand as posterity.
Oh, this. I remember I cried the first time when I heard the second theme because it was so overwhelming. And I rarely cry for music. You prolly had done Schubert's Great C Symphony, the opening theme of 1st mvt is very simple yet so introspective, like opening up an entire new universe.
Wonder what you think about Vaughan-Williams' Piano Quintet first movement? its first theme is also very emotionally intense.
Сильный анализ.
Richard is brilliant
I know many musicians, including wind players and pianists, who simply put the Schubert C major quintet as the finest piece of non-quartet chamber music ever. I am among them.
One tiny interesting remark: the double viola quintet is "traditional" cause it goes back to the austrian baroque quintet texture (cf. the resp. works of Schmelzer, Biber, Muffat, Weichlein, Fux, Tuma, Werner). In the baroque this texture was of course augmented with the basso continuo, but the string writing is no different and builds the roots for the classical string quartets and quintets.
Thanks.
24:53 did not expect to laugh this hard when watching an video about classical music