Franz Schubert – Famous Works

Vienna theatre associated with Franz Schubert and his unrealized operatic ambitions
The famous Viennese theatre associated with Schubert's musical world and with the hopes for theatrical recognition that remained largely unfulfilled during his lifetime.

Franz Schubert (1797–1828) left behind a body of work of extraordinary breadth within an exceptionally short life. His music emerged from the world of Classical Vienna, yet its relationship with melody, harmony, musical time, and memory opened paths that would prove fundamental to Romanticism. His position between Classicism and the nineteenth century is therefore defined not simply by chronology, but by the way inherited forms acquire a new inwardness and a new sense of duration in his music.

More than six hundred Lieder form the most strikingly extensive part of his output, yet Schubert's creative identity extends far beyond song. Symphonies, sonatas, works for piano four hands, quartets, trios and quintets, sacred music, and repeated attempts in musical theatre reveal a composer continually searching for ways to carry his lyrical thinking into increasingly large forms.

Symphonies

  • Symphony No. 4 in C minor, “Tragic”, D 417. A work of Schubert's youthful period, in which the dramatic intensity of C minor still unfolds within clearly Classical formal models. The designation “Tragic”, supplied by Schubert himself, already suggests his desire to give the symphonic form a distinctive expressive identity.
  • Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major, D 485. One of his clearest and most luminous symphonies, written for a smaller orchestra and showing a strong affinity with Mozart's symphonic language. Beneath its Classical balance, however, the spacious melodic writing and subtle harmonic shifts already reveal Schubert's individual world.
  • Symphony No. 6 in C major, D 589. Often known as the “Little C major” to distinguish it from the later D 944, it combines the Viennese symphonic tradition with elements of the orchestral brilliance and rhythmic vitality associated with contemporary Italian opera.
  • Symphony No. 8 in B minor, “Unfinished”, D 759. Its two completed movements are sufficient to create one of the nineteenth century's most recognizable symphonic worlds. Dark low-register lines, broad lyrical melodies, and sudden dramatic climaxes form an architecture so convincing that the work's “unfinished” state does not diminish the power of the experience.
  • Symphony No. 9 in C major, “Great”, D 944. The mature culmination of Schubert's symphonic writing. Its vast scale, relentless rhythmic propulsion, and ability to build extended forms through the repetition and transformation of small musical cells anticipate important aspects of later Romantic symphonic thought.

Piano Music

  • 36 Waltzes — Originaltänze, D 365. Short dance forms closely connected with Viennese social life. Within a remarkably small space, Schubert can transform a simple dance into a musical miniature shaped by unexpected harmonic turns and an individual character.
  • Piano Sonata No. 13 in A major, D 664. Compact, luminous, and deeply lyrical, it belongs to those works in which Classical form retains exceptional clarity. The effortless melodic line of the first movement and the quiet inwardness of the Andante have made it one of Schubert's most immediately approachable piano sonatas.
  • Fantasy in C major, “Wanderer”, D 760. One of Schubert's most virtuosic piano works. Its four continuous sections are linked through related thematic material derived from the Lied Der Wanderer, creating a form of unusual concentration and organic unity.
  • Moments musicaux, D 780. Six short pieces revealing how wide an expressive range Schubert could contain within a small form. Dance-like movement, melancholy, dramatic intensity, and moments of almost motionless reflection coexist without compromising the individuality of each piece.
  • Impromptus, D 899 and D 935. Two groups of four works combining the impression of spontaneous inspiration with carefully organized form. Their broad melodic writing, daring modulations, and frequently almost orchestral treatment of the piano place them at the heart of the Romantic piano repertoire.
  • The three final Sonatas, D 958, D 959, and D 960. Written in 1828, they constitute one of the greatest achievements of Schubert's final creative period. The C-minor Sonata D 958 is the most concentrated and dramatic; the A-major D 959 moves between expansive lyricism and extreme internal contrasts; while the B-flat-major D 960 develops a unique sense of extended musical time.
  • Grand Duo in C major, D 812. A large-scale sonata for piano four hands whose texture often acquires an almost symphonic density. The work demonstrates how seriously Schubert approached four-hand piano writing, far beyond the domestic and recreational associations often attached to the genre.
  • Fantasy in F minor for piano four hands, D 940. One of the supreme works of Schubert's final period and one of the most important compositions in the entire four-hand repertoire. Its successive sections unfold without interruption, and the return of the opening material near the end transforms the whole composition into a large circular journey in which memory becomes a fundamental element of form.

Chamber Music

  • String Quartet No. 13 in A minor, “Rosamunde”, D 804. A work of 1824, from the period in which Schubert turned toward large-scale instrumental music with renewed ambition. Its nickname comes from the use in the second movement of thematic material connected with his music for Rosamunde.
  • String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, “Death and the Maiden”, D 810. One of Schubert's most dramatic chamber works. In the second movement, material from the earlier Lied Der Tod und das Mädchen, D 531, is transformed into a theme and variations, while the quartet as a whole unfolds within a world of intense rhythmic, dynamic, and tonal contrasts.
  • Octet in F major, D 803. Written for clarinet, bassoon, horn, and five strings, it combines the detail of chamber music with nearly symphonic dimensions. It belongs to the same creative period as the quartets D 804 and D 810 and forms part of Schubert's renewed effort to master large instrumental forms.
  • Sonata in A minor for arpeggione and piano, D 821. Written in 1824 for an instrument that soon disappeared from regular musical life, the work survived mainly through arrangements for cello or viola. Its long lyrical lines and close dialogue between solo instrument and piano have kept it alive far beyond the history of the instrument for which it was originally conceived.
  • Piano Quintet in A major, “The Trout”, D 667. Its unusual instrumentation —piano, violin, viola, cello, and double bass— gives the work exceptional luminosity and transparency. In the fourth movement Schubert uses the Lied Die Forelle as the basis for a set of variations, transferring a familiar song into a new instrumental world.
  • Piano Trio No. 1 in B-flat major, D 898. One of the most outwardly radiant works of Schubert's final period. Its expansive melodies and continual exchange of the leading role among piano, violin, and cello create a generous and brilliant musical world, without excluding the characteristic Schubertian journeys toward distant harmonic regions.
  • Piano Trio No. 2 in E-flat major, D 929. Larger and more dramatic than D 898, it acquires particular unity through material from the slow movement that returns later in the work. Its reappearance in the finale creates the impression that the music is looking back, turning memory into part of the form itself.
  • String Quintet in C major, D 956. Scored with two cellos rather than two violas, Schubert's final major chamber work acquires extraordinary depth and breadth of sonority. In the Adagio in particular, the almost motionless serenity of the outer sections confronts a turbulent central episode, creating one of the most powerful contrasts in his mature writing.

Lieder and Song Cycles

The Lied stands at the centre of Schubert's creative achievement. Across more than six hundred songs, the piano ceases to function simply as accompaniment and becomes an active participant in creating the space, movement, atmosphere, and psychology of the poem. Through this new relationship among voice, text, and piano, Schubert decisively shaped the course of the German art song in the nineteenth century.

  • Gretchen am Spinnrade, D 118. Composed in 1814 to a text from Goethe's Faust, it is one of the works that already reveal Schubert's extraordinary dramatic understanding of the Lied while he was still in his teens. The uninterrupted piano motion evokes the spinning wheel while simultaneously following the changing course of Gretchen's thoughts, tension, and breath.
  • Erlkönig, D 328. Narrator, father, child, and the supernatural Erlking are portrayed by a single singer, while the piano maintains an almost continuous sense of a frantic ride. The speed with which vocal expression, tonality, and dramatic perspective change makes the work one of Schubert's most concentrated dramatic creations.
  • Der Tod und das Mädchen, D 531. The brief dialogue between the frightened Maiden and the calm figure of Death is shaped into two clearly distinct musical worlds. Years later, the material associated with Death's presence would become the basis of the second movement of the String Quartet D 810.
  • Die Forelle, D 550. The fluid movement of the piano transforms the water and the motion of the trout into musical imagery. The song acquired a second, instrumental life when Schubert used its theme in the Quintet D 667.
  • Die schöne Müllerin, D 795. The first of the two great cycles based on poems by Wilhelm Müller consists of twenty songs. The young miller's journey from wandering and romantic expectation to jealousy, disillusionment, and loss is connected by recurring images —the brook, the colour green, and movement itself— whose meanings continually change as the narrative develops.
  • Winterreise, D 911. Twenty-four songs on poems by Müller form a journey without a conventional narrative resolution. The winter landscape gradually becomes an inner landscape, while the piano evokes footsteps, wind, ice, memories, and persistent repetitions accompanying the wanderer into an increasingly isolated world.
  • Ellens Gesang III, D 839 — widely known as “Ave Maria”. The work is the third of Ellen's songs in a group based on Walter Scott's The Lady of the Lake and was not composed to the Latin text of the Catholic prayer Ave Maria. Its later association with different sacred texts explains the title by which it became known throughout the world.
  • Schwanengesang, D 957. The songs on poems by Ludwig Rellstab and Heinrich Heine belong to Schubert's final period, but Schwanengesang is not a cycle conceived and assembled by the composer as a single work. The publisher Tobias Haslinger collected and issued the songs posthumously in 1829 under the title that has remained in use ever since.

Sacred and Choral Music

  • Mass in A-flat major, D 678. One of Schubert's most ambitious sacred works, occupying him over an extended period and undergoing revision. Its scale and elaborate choral writing distinguish it markedly from the brevity and liturgical immediacy of many of his earlier church works.
  • Mass in E-flat major, D 950. Written in 1828, it is the last of Schubert's six completed Latin Masses. Its large architectural scale, polyphonic writing, and dramatic treatment of chorus and orchestra make it a culmination of his sacred output.
  • Deutsche Messe, D 872. Written in 1827 to a German text by Johann Philipp Neumann, the work occupies a distinctive place within Schubert's sacred music. It is not a German translation of the established Latin Ordinary of the Mass, but a collection of German hymns intended for different points in the liturgical service.
  • Lazarus, oder: Die Feier der Auferstehung, D 689. An ambitious three-act “sacred drama” that remained unfinished. Its combination of religious subject matter, theatrical action, and intensely lyrical vocal writing places it between sacred composition and Schubert's continuing search for a personal form of musical drama.

Stage Works and Music for the Theatre

Schubert's stage works never acquired the place in his later reputation occupied by his Lieder or chamber music. For Schubert himself, however, the pursuit of meaningful theatrical success was persistent. The limited performance history of many of these works during his lifetime profoundly affected their subsequent fate and contributed to keeping this side of his creative life in the shadows for many years.

  • Alfonso und Estrella, D 732. A large-scale opera composed in 1821–1822 that was not staged during Schubert's lifetime. Its later stage history in Weimar became associated with Franz Liszt. The work reveals Schubert's ambition to carry his lyrical language into an extended dramatic framework.
  • Fierrabras, D 796. A three-act opera of 1823 and Schubert's last completed large-scale operatic work. Despite its scale and musical ambition, it received no production during his lifetime, depriving the composer of another opportunity for the theatrical recognition he sought.
  • Rosamunde, Fürstin von Cypern, D 797. The incidental music for Helmina von Chézy's play was composed in 1823 and includes orchestral interludes, ballets, choruses, and vocal numbers. Although the drama itself did not survive in the repertoire, Schubert's music acquired an independent life, while some of its thematic material resurfaced in later instrumental works.

This selection reveals a Schubert far broader than the familiar image of the spontaneous lyrical composer. Song remains the natural centre of his musical language, yet the same ability to transform a simple melodic idea into a journey of memory, transformation, and unexpected harmonic distance runs through his symphonies, sonatas, and chamber music. Especially in his final years, this language assumes increasingly large dimensions without losing the sense that even the most expansive form can begin with something as immediate as a melody.