# Schubert D.950-D.960



## Hausmusik (May 13, 2012)

This is a thread to discuss this astonishing sequence of compositions, no fewer than half of them not only masterpieces, but masterpieces even among masterpieces: the E-flat mass (D.950), the String Quintet (D.956), the Schwanengesang lieder (D.957) and the three final piano sonatas (D.958-960).

The full list:

D.950 Mass No. 6 in E-flat for Quartet, mixed chorus, and orchestra
D.951 Rondo in A for piano duet
D.952 Fugue in E minor for Organ or piano duet
D.953 "Der 92. Psalm, Lied für den Sabbath" for baritone solo and chorus
D.954 Chorus "Glaube, Hoffnung und Liebe" with winds
D.955 Song "Glaube, Hoffnung und Liebe"
D.956 String Quintet in C 
D.957 Song Cycle "Schwanengesang"
D.958 Piano Sonata in C minor 
D.959 Piano Sonata in A Major
D.960 Piano Sonata in B-flat Major

What are your favorite works from this sequence? What are your favorite recordings?


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## Stargazer (Nov 9, 2011)

His D.960 piano sonata is my favorite for sure! His string quartet comes close, but the piano sonata has a special place in my heart lol. I actually haven't heard a couple of the songs you listed so I'm going to have to check them out tomorrow!


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

The string quintet has been my favorite there, but 960 may be my favorite now. 

There is a somewhat idiosyncratic take on it by Richter on the alto label. He takes it slooooow especially in the first movement. Made it new for me. I don't recommend it as a "reference recording" or anything, but as a really thought-provoking, personal look at a masterpiece by a master. If you are a fan of Pogorelich it's the kind of thing you'll enjoy.


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## peeyaj (Nov 17, 2010)

These late masterpieces just show how much promise Schubert possess in the last few days of his life.. 

The inscription on his tomb is a perfect statement.

*"Here music has buried a treasure, but even fairer hopes."*


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## Jeremy Marchant (Mar 11, 2010)

peeyaj said:


> These late masterpieces just show how much promise Schubert possess in the last few days of his life..


But, perhaps, an awareness of imminent death motivated him...


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Jeremy Marchant said:


> But, perhaps, an awareness of imminent death motivated him...


I have wondered if most interpretations of the last three sonatas have been unduly influenced by the emotional content of the quintet. The sonatas do not _have_ to be imbued with dark thoughts, witness Schnabel's interpretations.


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## peeyaj (Nov 17, 2010)

Jeremy Marchant said:


> But, perhaps, an awareness of imminent death motivated him...


Maybe.. But it is a known fact that he was planning to take lessons for counterpoint from Simon Sechter at the last few weeks of his life. Hardly, an activity of a dying man.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

I re-listened to 958 and 959 last night, and they're not as dark as 960 is at points. But 960 is my favorite because of that darkness.


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## Romantic Geek (Dec 25, 2009)

peeyaj said:


> Maybe.. But it is a known fact that he was planning to take lessons for counterpoint from Simon Sechter at the last few weeks of his life. Hardly, an activity of a dying man.


Can't imagine what kind of amazing works he could write after studying with Sechter...


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## GraemeG (Jun 30, 2009)

No musical 31-year-old ever achieved more than Schubert.

Humanity was indeed robbed.
GG


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## Hausmusik (May 13, 2012)

science said:


> I re-listened to 958 and 959 last night, and they're not as dark as 960 is at points.


science, but what about the 959 slow movement?


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## GGluek (Dec 11, 2011)

I forget who said it, but someone posited that the most productive eighteen months (in terms of masterpieces) in all of music, were those that commenced with the death of Beethoven, and ended with that of Schubert.


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

Were all of these composed in his final 12 months? It's a study in excellence to listen to the last five works on the list, in succession. I might root them out for the weekend, actually. I haven't listened to old Franz in a couple of weeks... :tiphat:


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## userfume (Nov 21, 2012)

String Quintet


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## Hausmusik (May 13, 2012)

Kieran said:


> Were all of these composed in his final 12 months?


Kieran, good question. Did a little research on WP and IMSLP, and 950 and 956-960 (whcih are the ones most of us would likely consider the greatest works of this sequence) were all composed in 1828 within 10 months of his death.

D.950 Mass (1828--couldn't find a more precise date)
D.956 String Quintet in C (Summer 1828)
D.957 Song Cycle "Schwanengesang" (completed by Oct. 1828)
D.958-960 Last Piano Sonatas (Spring-Fall 1828)

Schubert died in November 1828.

It is fascinating to think of Schubert composing the String Quintet in the middle of writing his final sonatas. I have seen it argued that the second movement of the B Flat sonata resembles the adagio of the Quintet in its texture--that its textures are more chamber-like than pianistic.


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## peeyaj (Nov 17, 2010)

GGluek said:


> I forget who said it, but someone posited that the most productive eighteen months (in terms of masterpieces) in all of music, were those that commenced with the death of Beethoven, and ended with that of Schubert.


*
Benjamin Britten.* Schubert's Fanboy. 



> "*It is arguable that the richest and most productive eighteen months in our music history* is the time when Beethoven had just died, when the other nineteenth-century giants, Wagner, Verdi and Brahms had not begun; I mean the period in which Franz Schubert wrote his Winterreise, the C major Symphony, his last three piano sonatas, the C major String Quintet, as well as a dozen other glorious pieces. The very creation of these works in that space of time seems hardly credible, but the standard of inspiration, of magic, is miraculous and past all explanation.Though I have worked very hard at the Winterreise the last five years, every time I come back to it I am amazed not only by the extraordinary mastery of it - for Schubert knew exactly what he was doing (make no mistake about that), and he had thought profoundly about it - but by the renewal of the magic: each time, the mystery remains."


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