# Schubert 8: Finished!



## BoggyB (May 6, 2016)

It's known that the scherzo for Schubert's 8th was partially written and has been completed with relative ease by others (e.g. Newbould). It is also believed that the finale was re-assigned to the ballet Rosamunde, as entr'acte no. 1.

I find the scherzo repetitive and annoying, and the (assumed) finale doesn't impress me much. I therefore look to other people's completions. But alas, they're few in number and hard to find.

However, I've heard (a while ago, and again more recently) the completion by Frank Merrick, which famously won its regional round of the Columbia Gramophone competition in 1929, and I like it a lot. In my little world, the "Unfinished" is now "Finished", at least as far as my private listening goes.

What do you think? Do you know the Merrick completion? Can you point me to any other completions? But needless to say, the recent Huawei one was rubbish!


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

I have the Newbould one on CD, and I completely agree with your assessment of the 3d and 4th movement. I never play them anymore. For me, the 'unfinished' is perfect in its two movements.

I have never even heard of the Merrick, let alone heard it. I admit I'm getting curious.........


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Back in 1927/28 the Columbia Broadcasting Company ran a contest to complete the Unfinished. There was general uproar about this "travesty" so they backed off and made it a competition to write a symphony in the style of Schubert. Franz Schmidt won the Austrian division with his 3rd, and Kurt Atterberg won the whole shebang with his 6th.

Frank Merrick wrote the last two movements only, and they were recorded. He was the winner in another category; memory fails me right now. He would go on to become a big time promoter of Esperanto.

Here's the scherzo. Does it sound Schubertian?






Here's the Finale. It's too 





I was invited to conduct the Schubert 8th several years ago and wanted to use the Merrick movements, but the owner of the parts was really reluctant to loan them out and set a formidable price. They really don't sound like Schubert to me, but still would have been an interesting addition to the concert - which consisted of all incomplete works completed by others.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

BoggyB said:


> Can you point me to any other completions?


My orchestra, the Sharon (Massachusetts) Community Chamber Orchestra, played the US premiere of a completion by Benjamin-Gunnar Cohrs a couple of years ago. It was interesting, but to be honest, I liked it better when we played just Schubert's two completed movements a few years earlier...


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## BoggyB (May 6, 2016)

mbhaub said:


> Here's the scherzo. Does it sound Schubertian?





> I was invited to conduct the Schubert 8th several years ago and wanted to use the Merrick movements, but the owner of the parts was really reluctant to loan them out and set a formidable price. They really don't sound like Schubert to me, but still would have been an interesting addition to the concert - which consisted of all incomplete works completed by others.


Oh, this is a surprise; I thought the score of Merrick's completion was lost! What a shame that that owner wasn't more supportive of "spreading the word"... But at least future concerts and recordings will be possible.

In terms of sounding Schubertian, I would say they're "fairly" so. The overall quality isn't as high as the proper first two movements, but I judge the quality and compatibility to be high enough to "plug the gap".



wkasimer said:


> My orchestra, the Sharon (Massachusetts) Community Chamber Orchestra, played the US premiere of a completion by Benjamin-Gunnar Cohrs a couple of years ago. It was interesting, but to be honest, I liked it better when we played just Schubert's two completed movements a few years earlier...


Another good reply to my thread - makes me glad I posted. I respect Mr Cohrs because of his Bruckner work, and I'd love to hear that completion. Is it completely new, rehashed from other Schubert material, or a variation on the "actual" scherzo and finale?

Edit: I've just found that it is the actual scherzo (a new completion thereof) and the Rosamunde finale, so alas that lowers my desire level.


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

As far as I know, Schubert wrote only several bars of the third movement . There is no material for the trio section , and Newbold had to write his own music for this . This is nothing like the finale of the Bruckner 9th, which is almost complete,lacking only in a final peroration . Pages of the manuscript may have lost right after Bruckner's death ; apparently some of these pages were taken as souvenirs by certain individuals who knew him, or so the story goes .


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