Introduction and Variations on Trockne Blumen, D802 (1824)

Schubert is alone among the major Viennese composers of his day in having scored a work specifically for flute and piano. It’s an uncommonly interesting piece even apart from that. Why, when writing a set of variations for his flautist friend Ferdinand Bogner in 1824, did he choose Trockne Blumen (Withered Flowers) as the theme? It is not the most melodious of the songs in the Schöne Müllerin cycle and, while it is one of the most expressive, it is very much less meaningful out of its wider context and with no words attached to it.

For Schubert, however, who had only recently completed the cycle, it must still have had much of its emotional significance. That much is clear from the seriously dramatic introduction, where the piano makes a prominent feature of the grim rhythmic pattern and minor harmonies (possibly borrowed from the Allegretto of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony) closely associated with his Death and the Maiden. Although it does not figure in the Trockne Blumen theme itself when piano and flute formally introduce it, that rhythmic motif intrudes in the second, fourth and fifth variations - though with less disturbing effect on each appearance. Otherwise, the variations take a fairly conventional course, for the most part preserving the two-part harmonic structure of the theme (E minor in the first half, E major in the second) and showing off such admirable flute characteristics as its moto-perpetuo agility in the first and its lyrical elegance in the third. In the seventh and last variation, a triumphal march set in E major from the start, Schubert finally shakes off the vision that has been haunting him.

Although the Trockne Blumen Variations were originally written for flute, they lose little or nothing in being played on violin and, whatever the instrumental colouring, the concept remains intriguing. Why, when writing a set of variations for his flautist friend Ferdinand Bogner in 1824, did Schubert choose Trockne Blumen (Withered Flowers) as the theme? It is not the most melodious of the songs in the Schöne Müllerin cycle and, while it is one of the most expressive, it is very much less meaningful out of its wider context and with no words attached to it.

For the composer, however, who had only recently completed the cycle, it must still have had much of its emotional significance. That much is clear from the seriously dramatic introduction, where the piano makes a prominent feature of the grim rhythmic pattern and minor harmonies (possibly borrowed from the Allegretto of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony) closely associated with his Death and the Maiden. While it does not figure in the Trockne Blumen theme itself when piano and violin formally introduce it, that rhythmic motif intrudes in the second, fourth and fifth variations - though with less disturbing effect on each appearance. Otherwise, the variations take a fairly conventional course, for the most part preserving the two-part harmonic structure of the theme (E minor in the first half, E major in the second) and showing off such admirable flute or violin characteristics as moto-perpetuo agility in the first and lyrical elegance in the third. In the seventh and last variation, a triumphal march set in E major from the start, Schubert finally shakes off the vision that has been haunting him.