Schubert's 'Unfinished' business

Synopsis

When Franz Schubert died in Vienna in 1828, he left behind several manuscripts of symphonies unpublished and, in some cases, unperformed during his short lifetime. It wasn’t until today’s date in 1865 — 37 years after Schubert’s death — that his most famous symphony received its premiere performance in his hometown of Vienna.

This Symphony in B-minor came to be called the Unfinished, since its manuscript score contained only two completely finished movements. A normal Viennese symphony of Schubert’s time should contain four movements, and, in fact, a fairly complete piano sketch of the third movement exists, as does a full score of just the first nine measures of that same movement.

When Johann van Herbeck conducted the Vienna Philharmonic in the first performance in 1865, he tacked on the last movement of Schubert’s Third Symphony as a finale. More recently, some scholars have argued that a portion of Schubert’s Rosamunde incidental music was in fact the missing final movement of his symphony.

Despite these attempts to finish the Unfinished, most performers and audiences seem content to hear the score as Schubert left it — romantically cut short, just like the composer’s tragically short life.

Music Played in Today's Program

Franz Schubert (1795-1828) Symphony No. 8 (arr. Brian Newbould); Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields; Neville Marriner, cond. Philips 412 176

On This Day

Births

• 1749 - Italian composer Domenico Cimarosa, in Aversa;

• 1894 - American conductor Arthur Fiedler, in Boston;

• 1904 - Soviet composer Dimtri Kabalevsky, in St. Petersburg (Gregorian date: Dec. 30);

Deaths

• 1562 - Flemish composer Adrian Willaert, age. c. 72, in Venice;

• 1870 - Italian composer Giuseppe Saverio Mercadante, age 75, in Naples;

• 1930 - British composer Peter Warlock (Philip Heseltine), age 36, commits suicide in London;

Premieres

• 1737 - Handel: anthem “The Ways of Zion do Mourn” in London at King Henry VII’s Chapel in Westminster Abbey, during the funeral service for Queen Caroline , a major patroness of Handel’s (Gregorian date: Dec. 28);

• 1853 - Brahms: Piano Sonata No. 1 in C, Op. 1, and "Scherzo" in eb, at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, by the composer at his public debut during a chamber concert of the David Quartet;

• 1865 - Schubert: "Unfinished" Symphony in b (No. "8") in Vienna, Johann von Herbeck conducting; For this performance, the last movement of Schubert's Symphony No. 3 was appended as a finale;

• 1879 - Dvorák: String Quartet No. 10, Op. 51, in Prague;

• 1887 - Rimsky-Korsakov: “Capriccio Espagnol,” in St. Petersburg, by the Russian Symphony, with the composer conducting (see Julian date: Dec. 5);

• 1937 - Miaskovsky: Symphony No. 17, in Moscow;

• 1953 - Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10, by the Leningrad Philharmonic, Yevgeny Mravinsky conducting;

• 1954 - Persichetti: Symphony No. 4, by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy conducting;