Symphony No.8 in B minor (“Unfinished”), D.759

A few months after he had started work on his Symphony in B minor Schubert did a very strange thing. He sent as much as he had written of it, the first two movements and just half of a third, to the Styrian Music Society in Graz in acknowledgement of the honorary membership they had just bestowed on him. This surely suggests that he did not intend to finish the work. If he had had any hope of going on from the point where, towards the end of 1822, he had left off, he would surely have kept his workings to himself until he had the time or the inspiration to complete them. He must have felt that he had met an insoluble problem and that he had no alternative but to abandon the project. The best he could do with it at this stage was to make use of the manuscript to fulfill his obligation to the Styrian Music Society - in whose archives it was discovered more than forty years later. The two complete movements, the Allegro moderato and the Andante con moto, were first performed (with the last movement of the Third Symphony in D major as finale) in Vienna in 1865.

The reason why Schubert failed to complete the work - and why, nevertheless, it is one of the most popular symphonies in the repertoire - could well be that the two complete movement are so much alike. Although they are in different keys, they are a perfectly matched pair. They are both in triple time; they proceed at much the same pace (the Allegro moderato is in 3/4, the Andante con moto in 3/8); they are similarly constructed; and, emotionally, the second movement is the exact opposite of the first. How could he have followed that? Clearly, half-way through the next movement, he decided he couldn’t.

The most remarkable quality the two movements have in common is a moment of inspired unreality at much the same point - on the entry of the second subject, to be precise - in the construction. The mood of the Allegro moderato is determined by the dark omen uttered very quietly by cellos and basses in the opening bars. The first subject, presented by oboe and clarinet in unison, does little to change it. But then, after a transition so abrupt that it seems almost an intrusion, a charmingly innocent melody is introduced by cellos with a syncopated accompaniment on clarinets and violas. It loses its illusions at an early stage, however. It proves to be just as unrealistic when it reappars in the recapitulation and is overtaken by a coda which tragically fulfils the omen of the opening bars.

The first subject of the Andante is as serene as that of the Allegro moderato is unhappy. Then, in an exact reflection of events in the first movement, there is an abrupt transition in two bars of syncopated chords to prepare for the entry of the second subject - the unreal element in this case being the worrying harmonies in which the melody is introduced by clarinet over continuing syncopations in the strings. After firm questioning of the validity of this second subject both here and in the recapitulation, it is the serenity that finally prevails, as a lingering coda conclusively confirms.

Schubert left more than one work unfinished. There are unfinished string quartets, unfinished pianos sonatas, two other unfinished symphonies. Most of these incomplete scores date from Schubert’s early twenties when, clearly, he was passing through some sort of crisis. The Symphony in B minor was started towards the end of that period, in October 1822, and abandoned a month later in favour of the “Wanderer” Fantasia, which was the first instrumental work he had been able to complete in two years.

That the symphony really is unfinished - that it was neither intended as a two-movement work nor completed by two movements since lost - is indicated by the fact that the first page of a sketch for a scherzo and trio was found with the manuscript of the first two movements. They were in the possession of Anselm Hüttenbrenner, a member of the Styrian Music Society which had made Schubert an honorary member in 1823. In return for the honour, Schubert had undertaken to dedicate a symphony to the society, and, knowing perhaps that it was a lost cause, it was the unfinished B minor he chose to present them with. The manuscript lay forgotten until, more than forty years later, Johann Herbeck, coming to hear of it from Hüttenbrenner’s brother Joseph, persuaded the old man to part with it and conducted the first performance (with the last movement of the Third Symphony in D major as finale) in Vienna in 1865.

The reason why Schubert failed to complete the work - and why, nevertheless, it is one of the most popular symphonies in the repertoire - could well be that the two movement are so much alike. Though one is in B minor and the other in E major, they are a perfectly matched pair. They are both in triple time; they proceed at much the same pace (the Allegro moderato is in 3/4, the Andante con moto in 3/8); they are similarly constructed; and, emotionally, the second movement is the exact opposite of the first. How could he have followed that?

The most remarkable quality the two movements have in common is a moment of inspired unreality at much the same point - on the entry of the second subject, to be precise - in the construction. The mood of the Allegro moderato is determined by the dark omen uttered very quietly in B minor by cellos and basses in the opening bars. The first subject, presented by oboe and clarinet in unison, does little to change it. But then, after a transition so abrupt that it seems almost an intrusion, a charmingly innocent melody is introduced in G major by cellos with a syncopated accompaniment on clarinets and cellos. It loses its illusions at an early stage, however. Its reappearance in D major in the recapitulation proves to be equally unrealistic when it is overtaken by a coda which tragically fulfils the omen of the opening bars.

The first subject of the Andante in E major is as serene as that of the Allegro moderato is unhappy. Then, in an exact reflection of events in the first movement, there is an abrupt transition in two bars of syncopated chords to prepare for the entry of the second subject - the unreal element in this case being the worrying C sharp minor harmonies in which the melody is introduced by clarinet over a syncopated accompaniment in the strings. After firm questioning of the validity of this second subject both here and in the recapitulation, it is the E major serenity which finally prevails, as a lingering coda conclusively confirms.