The Octet in F major, D. 803 was composed by Franz Schubert in March

1824 May 7: The almost completely deaf Beethoven premieres his Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven) , Ninth Symphony Events January–March * January 8 – After much controversy, Michael Faraday is finally elected as a member of the Royal Society, ...

. It was commissioned by the renowned clarinetist

Ferdinand Troyer Count Ferdinand Troyer (February 1, 1780 – July 23, 1851) was an Austrian noble, philanthropist, and amateur clarinettist. Born in Brünn (Brno), Moravia, Troyer became the chief steward to Archduke Rudolf of Austria-Tuscany. It was noted t ...

and came from the same period as two of Schubert's other major chamber works, the 'Rosamunde' and 'Death and the Maiden'

string quartet The term string quartet can refer to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinists ...

Structure

Consisting of six movements, the Octet takes almost an hour to perform. #''Adagio – Allegro – Più allegro'' #''Adagio'' #''Allegro vivace – Trio – Allegro vivace'' #''Andante – variations. Un poco più mosso – Più lento'' #''Menuetto. Allegretto – Trio – Menuetto – Coda'' #''Andante molto – Allegro – Andante molto – Allegro molto'' The Octet boasts the largest scale for any chamber work by Schubert. It is scored for a

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

, a

bassoon The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuo ...

, a

horn Horn most often refers to: *Horn (acoustic), a conical or bell shaped aperture used to guide sound ** Horn (instrument), collective name for tube-shaped wind musical instruments *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various ...

, two violins, a viola, a cello, and a double bass. This instrumentation is similar to that of the Beethoven Septet, differing only by the addition of a second violin.

Background

In response to a reported request by Troyer for a work similar to Beethoven's Septet, Op. 20, Schubert composed the Octet in early 1824. The work was first performed at the home of Troyer's employer, the Archduke Rudolf (to whom Beethoven's Archduke Trio is dedicated) and included many of the musicians who premiered the Septet.

Analysis

The basic structure of the movements is similar to those of the Septet, as are many of the key relationships between the movements and principal key (E-flat for the Septet, F major of the Octet). The theme of the first movement is derived from Schubert's song " Der Wanderer". The fourth movement variations are based on a theme from Schubert's Singspiel '' Die Freunde von Salamanka''.

Recordings

The Pascal Quartet with Jacques Dumont, violin I, Maurice Crut, violin II, Léon Pascal, viola and Robert Salles, cello, recorded the Octet in the early 1950's for the label ( Musical Masterpiece Society MMS-2219). The Melos Ensemble was founded to perform works such as the Octet for wind instruments and strings. The Octet was recorded in 1967 with Gervase de Peyer (

), William Waterhouse (

Neill Sanders Neill Joseph Sanders (24 November 1923 – 19 April 1992) was a British horn player, principal horn of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and for 29 years a member of the Melos Ensemble. He was a professor at West ...

(

), Emanuel Hurwitz and Ivor McMahon ( violin), Cecil Aronowitz ( viola), Terence Weil ( cello) and Adrian Beers ( double bass). A recording of the chamber ensemble of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields with Iona Brown (violin I) and Timothy Brown (horn) won a Grand Prix du Disque. The Camerata Freden recorded it in 2003 with

Adrian Adlam Adrian Adlam (born 24 December 1963) is a British violinist, conductor and music educator. He was educated at Westminster Abbey, Winchester College, Conservatoire Royale de Musique of Brussels and the Hochschule fur Musik, Hanover. Adlam has ...

(violin I), Cristiano Gualco (violin II), Michael Hesselink (clarinet), Marjolein Dispa (viola), Michel Dispa (cello), Ilka Emmert (double-bass), Letizia Viola (bassoon) and Ron Schaaper (horn). Janine Jansen (violin I) along with Gregory Ahss (violin II), Nimrod Guez (viola),

Nicolas Altstaedt Nicolas Altstaedt (born 1982) is a German classical cellist. Biography and career Altstaedt was born in Heidelberg, Germany. As a soloist, conductor, and artistic director, he performs repertoire spanning from early music to the contemporar ...

(cello), Rick Stotijn (double bass),

Andreas Ottensamer Andreas Ottensamer (born 4 April 1989) is an Austrian clarinettist and is one of the solo clarinettists of the Berlin Philharmonic. Life Born in Vienna, Ottensamer commenced his musical studies in 1999 at the University of Music and Performing ...

(clarinet), Fredrik Ekdahl (bassoon) and Radek Baborák (horn) performed, and (video) recorded, the piece at the International Chamber Music Festival 2015 in Utrecht.

Notes

References

External links

*
Performance of the Octet on modern instruments
by the Musicians from Marlboro from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in MP3 format {{Authority control Chamber music by Franz Schubert 1824 compositions Compositions for octet Compositions in F major