Notturno in E flat major, D897

The Adagio in E flat major published after the composer’s death as the Notturno Op 148 was probably intended in the first place for the Piano Trio in B flat he was working on at the same time. If Schubert did indeed reject it in favour of the Andante in E flat which was definitively installed as the second movement of that work, it is not necessarily because he regarded it as an inferior in any way. He might have known, or he might have felt at least, that the concept had more potential than he had realised here and that it would be more appropriately developed in a different context. Certainly, it has much in common with the sublime Adagio of the String Quintet in C major completed a year later in 1828. The one questionable aspect of the Notturno in E flat is the extreme contrast between the timeless tranquillity of the main theme and the heroic, even aggressive quality of the material of the middle section. But since the two elements are so beautifully reconciled, as aggression melts into tranquillity towards the end of the piece, it can scarcely be regarded as a problem.