Franz Schubert
Schubert lived in Beethoven's Vienna and died the year after him, at thirty-one. He used the Classical forms but his instinct was for melody and for harmony that shifts colour rather than drives forward. A Schubert second subject is a song; a Schubert development often sits on one idea and changes its key in slow, wide steps rather than fragmenting it.
Two habits to know. He moves between major and minor on the same note constantly, so a phrase can turn from bright to shadowed and back within a few bars. And he repeats long stretches of material with the key changed rather than the material developed, which makes his movements feel spacious.
The Fifth Symphony in this catalog is early (1816), written for a small orchestra without clarinets, trumpets or drums, and stays close to Mozart in scale. The later Schubert of the Unfinished and the Great C major is larger; this work is the clear, light version.
What to listen for
- Major-minor switches on the same melody. They happen quickly and without preparation.
- The second subject as a complete tune, often longer than the first.
- Repetition at a new pitch level: the same paragraph heard again a third higher or lower.
- In the Fifth Symphony, the small orchestra: no clarinets, so the oboes and bassoons carry the wind colour.
Source: Franz Schubert