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8th symphony,
B minor ("The Unfinished")
1st movement: Allegro moderato
Duration of performance: c.11 minutes
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Form scheme
1st movement |
Schubert uses a slightly moderated sonata form.
As the main theme is used frequently in the development, it does not
recur again in the recapitulation - the repetition of the ideas contained
in the exposition.
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bars 1-12
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The first movement of the "Unfinished" is opened pianissimo by a main theme presented unisono in the violoncelli and counterbass.
The theme ending on an F sharp, which is not the tonic of B minor, results in a strangely open, questioning close. The "answer" to the "question" is given by musical means - with the main theme at the beginning of the development.
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bars 13-21
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In a sweeping cantilene oboe and clarinet present the 2nd main theme, also in B minor. Schubert, the great composer of songs, remains melodious even as a composer of instrumental works.
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bars 22-30
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The head of the main theme, sounded by the oboes, imitated on the horn, leads to the unfolding of the main theme.
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bars 32-38
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The unfolding of the main theme is based primarily on the 6th bar of the 2nd main theme.
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bars 38-43
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A brief bridge to the secondary theme modulates from B minor to G major.
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bars 44-61
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Die große Popularität der h-Moll Symphonie rührt, musikalisch gesehen,
vor allem vom Seitenthema des ersten Satzes her. Die Violincelli stimmen
dieses Thema an. Es ist eine Ländlerweise, volksliedhaft im Ton, und von
leiser Wehmut bestimmt. Es ist eine Melodie, abgeleitet aus einem bis in
die neuere Zeit in Wien und Niederösterreich gesungenen Liedes.
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bars 63-71
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From the second part of the ländler-tune Schubert formed his secondary theme. Schubert gets his inspiration from local popular folk elements, i.e. Viennese ländler-music. However, he does not transfer the tune "literally", he divides it into 2 parts. The first introductory one in a single key (4 bars) is followed by a code of 6 bars in which Schubert modulates from G major to E major and thus achieves a new sound; the effect is that the melody is lifted from the sphere of folk music into that of art music. The sphere of folk music would have a symmetrical order:
two times four bars would form a group, e.g:
the secondary theme repeated by the first and second violin, ending in a general pause.
After the pause Schubert inserts a brief dramatic passage by a fragmented chord, reaching the fortissimo climax in ascending half-tone steps.
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bars 71-85
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An episode follows in which the 3rd bar of the secondary theme forms the melodic substance of the musical unfolding.
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bars 85-93
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The unfolding of the secondary theme leads to the epilogue, which closes the exposition.
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bars 94-104
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The epilogue of the exposition is discussed with the secondary theme in contrapuntal imitations and by a repetition on a higher key.
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bars 114-133
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The development, the centerpiece of the movement, is determined by the first main theme of the movement and its manifold and important transformations. The first main theme leads, slightly changed, to counter-C. This tone is now used as "organ-point", i.e. a deep-lying voice in bass. On it he builds a motive of 4 bars, taken from the head of the main theme, which is also imitated in other parts. If the main theme (at the beginning of the movement) could be interpreted as a question, the listener now gets a musical answer, an answer that is inevitably not a rational statement but an emotional one.
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bars 134-145
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The head of the theme recurs - in its original form and in its fragmentation.
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bars 146-169
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The development section ranging from pianissimo to fortissimo finds its solution in the descending chord fragmentations of the bridging passage. The rhythm of this phrase is determined by the rhythm of the first main theme in the first 2 bars. The phrases are separated by insertions from the accompaniment of the secondary theme.
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bars 222-230
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The musical illustration of the introductory first theme is taken up again. The main theme is heard in fortissimo, parts of the bars become independent, the head of the theme is inverted.
The recapitulation is a restatement of the ideas contained in the exposition, but Schubert does not include the first main theme as it forms the musical substance of the whole development.
In the recapitulation the secondary theme is heard in D major.
The Coda again takes up the first main theme. The arch to the beginning of the movement is perfect. The theme is played again in the original version as well as in the shape it has adopted in the development section of the symphony.
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bars 258-279
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In the recapitulation the secondary theme is heard in D major.
The Coda again takes up the first main theme. The arch to the beginning of the movement is perfect. The theme is played again in the original version as well as in the shape it has adopted in the development section of the symphony.
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Turn over to 2nd movement
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