Octet in F major D.803 (1824)

Schubert’s Octet was commissioned by the clarinettist and composer Count Ferdinand Troyer. As head of the Archduke Rudolph’s musical establishment, he was a confirmed Beethoven enthusiast and it was he, apparently, who stipulated that the new work should be modelled on Beethoven’s Septet. Obviously, the instrumentation is different, since Schubert adds a second violin to Beethoven’s ensemble, but the number of movements is the same, the first and last in both cases beginning with a slow introduction. The key relationships between the six movements are the same too.

However, in spite of having to adopt this reverential attitude, Schubert wrote the greater work. The relationship between the Adagio introduction and the Allegro is an indication of how seriously he took this revival of the divertimento form. The violins’ rising semitones in dotted rhythms in the opening bars have far-reaching consequences, not least in anticipating the the main theme of the Allegro. Although the clarinet’s second-subject melody in D major is more distantly related, the rising semitones on the lower strings keep it firmly tied to the introduction.

One reason why Count Troyer wanted a repeat Beethoven Septet must have been that, as a clarinettist himself, he was looking forward to another succulent melody in the slow movement. The main theme of Schubert’s Adagio presumably did not disappoint him. It is a lovely, open melody built mainly in thirds and the ideal contrast to the cramped kind of material which prevailed in the first movement and which returns here as a second subject beginning in G flat major. The resultant unease is not settled until the end of the dramatic, almost operatic coda.

The next three movements are more characteristic of the divertimento tradition. This does not mean that there is anything trivial about the muscular Allegro vivace scherzo in F major with its lyrical C major trio, but there is an obvious difference in depth between the Adagio second movement and the Andante fourth movement – the latter being a series of seven uncomplicated variations on the song “Gelagert unter’m hellen Dach der Bäume” from Schubert’s early opera Die Freunde von Salamanka. While the material of the Menuetto has something in common with that of the first movement, the melody of the trio section seems to echo that of the minuet in Beethoven’s Septet.

In the last movement Schubert reconciles the two levels on which the work has moved so far. He makes an unmistakable reference back to the beginning of the Octet with an Andante molto introduction and a version of the dotted motif over dramatic tremolandos on the lower strings. The first theme of the Allegro is almost a variant of the theme of the introduction to the first movement. It generates the energy for a construction of apparently unstoppable continuity until the recall of the Andante molto completes the long-term cycle and inspires the Allegro material to run still harder to its F major objective.

Schubert’s Octet was commissioned by the clarinettist and composer Count Ferdinand Troyer. As head of the Archduke Rudolph’s musical establishment, he was a confirmed Beethoven enthusiast and it was he, apparently, who stipulated that the new work should be modelled on Beethoven’s Septet. Obviously, the instrumentation is different, since Schubert adds a second violin to Beethoven’s ensemble, but the number of movements is the same, the first and last in both cases beginning with a slow introduction. The key relationships between the six movements are the same too.

However, in spite of having to adopt this reverential attitude, Schubert wrote the greater work. The relationship between the Adagio introduction and the Allegro is an indication of how seriously he took this revival of the divertimento form. The violins’ rising semitones in dotted rhythms in the opening bars have far-reaching consequences, not least in anticipating the the first subject of the Allegro. Although the clarinet’s second-subject melody in D major is more distantly related, the rising semitones on the lower strings keep it firmly tied to the introduction. The same motif occupies much of the development section which ends by recalling it in rhythmic augmentation and in something like its original Adagio tempo.

One reason why Count Troyer wanted a repeat Beethoven Septet must have been that, as a clarinettist himself, he was looking forward to another succulent melody in the slow movement. The main theme of Schubert’s Adagio presumably did not disappoint him. It is a lovely, open melody built mainly in thirds and the ideal contrast to the cramped kind of material which prevailed in the first movement and which returns here as a second subject beginning in G flat major. The resultant unease is not settled until the end of the dramatic, almost operatic coda.

The next three movements are more characteristic of the divertimento tradition. This does not mean that there is anything trivial about the muscular Allegro vivace scherzo in F major with its lyrical C major trio, but there is an obvious difference in depth between the Adagio second movement and the Andante fourth movement – the latter being a series of seven uncomplicated variations on the song Gelagert unter’m hellen Dach der Bäume from Schubert’s early opera Die Freunde von Salamanka. While the material of the Menuetto has something in common with that of the first movement, the melody of the trio section seems to echo that of the minuet in Beethoven’s Septet.

In the last movement Schubert reconciles the two levels on which the work has moved so far. He makes an unmistakable reference back to the beginning of the Octet with an Andante molto introduction and a version of the dotted motif over dramatic tremolandos on the lower strings. The first theme of the Allegro is almost a variant of the theme of the introduction to the first movement. It generates the energy for a construction of apparently unstoppable continuity until the recall of the Andante molto completes the long-term cycle and inspires the Allegro material to run still harder to its F major objective.

Gerald Larner © 2008