String Quintet in C major D.956 (1828)

Although Schubert knew and admired Mozart’s string quintets, when he came to write one of his own he chose to add a second cello rather than a second viola to the basic string quartet texture. If we knew anything about the circumstances of the composition of the work, apart from the fact that it was completed only a matter of weeks before the composer’s death, we might have some idea why he made that decision. Perhaps it was a matter of pure artistic inspiration, a vision of a new sound – Schubert’s quintet with two cellos is nothing like any of Boccherini’s – allied with a structure on a scale to match its potential.

Certainly, the Quintet in C major is one of the greatest of all works of chamber music. And chamber music it still is, in spite of its symphonic dimensions: there is little here that would work well on a string orchestra. The surge of cello sound produced by the pair of them together just after the introduction would be nothing like as effective if there were more than three instruments involved in introducing the spiky first subject above them. And what a luxury, when it comes to the contrastingly melodious second subject, to have two solo cellos in fond counterpoint on their A-strings! Another new possibility, frequently resorted to in the development section, is that if one cello accepts the responsibility for the bass line the other can join in a duet with the viola.

The slow movement is similarly resourceful in this respect. In the outer sections three voices sustain the rapturous melodic interest in the middle of the texture while first violin and pizzicato second cello exchange harmonic comments from above and below. The central section abruptly breaks the spell with a dramatic incident that rarely falls below fortissimo level while the second cello storms in anger and the first cello aligns itself with the passionate first violin.

If the Presto sections of the Scherzo could be just as effectively performed by a string orchestra, the slower Trio section with its expressive solo lines certainly could not. As for the Allegretto last movement, while its main dance-tune material does not encourage much in the way of textural enterprise, there are two episodes – the second just before the tempo accelerates towards the end – where a cello duet recalls the first movement as a distant but touching memory.