The String Quartet No. 1 ( D 18) in mixed keys was composed by

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wo ...

in 1810 or 1811.

History

A partial autograph of the composer kept in the Vienna City Library has the date 1812 written on the cover. The composition date is however more likely 1810, when the composer was 13 years old.Deutsch 1978, pp. 17–18
/ref> As such it may be Schubert's earliest extant completed multi-movement work for more than one player. The quartet was played in 1812 by the quartet of Schubert's family (his father Franz Theodor, his brothers Ignaz and Ferdinand, and Schubert himself playing viola). The first published edition of the quartet was in 1890, in the complete edition of

Franz Schubert's Works Franz Schubert's Works: Complete and Authoritative Edition (german: Franz Schubert's Werke: Kritisch durchgesehene Gesammtausgabe), also known as the Collected Edition, is a late 19th-century publication of Franz Schubert's compositions.Deutsch 19 ...

issued by

Breitkopf & Härtel Breitkopf & Härtel is the world's oldest music publishing house. The firm was founded in 1719 in Leipzig by Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf. The catalogue currently contains over 1,000 composers, 8,000 works and 15,000 music editions or books on ...

.Barbier (2008), p. 8.

Description

The work has the traditional four movements of a classical string quartet, with the Menuetto preceding the slow movement (Andante). The key signature of the work is undefined as it starts in one key and ends in another.

Key signature

D 18 is the only remaining of a set of three early string quartets "in changing, undefined"

key signature In Western musical notation, a key signature is a set of sharp (), flat (), or rarely, natural () symbols placed on the staff at the beginning of a section of music. The initial key signature in a piece is placed immediately after the clef a ...

s by Schubert. The

Deutsch catalogue ''Schubert: Thematic Catalogue of all his Works in Chronological Order'', also known as the Deutsch catalogue, is a numbered list of all compositions by Franz Schubert compiled by Otto Erich Deutsch. Since its first publication in 1951, Deutsc ...

indicates its key as g/ B.

Movements

# Andante – Presto vivace (G minor) # Menuetto (F major, with Trio in C major) # Andante (B-flat major) # Presto (B-flat major)

References

;Notes ;Sources * Barbier, Pierre E. (210908). CD Booklet notes to ''Franz Schubert:The first string quartets''. Zemlinsky Quartet. Praga Digitals PRD 350 030. *

Otto Erich Deutsch Otto Erich Deutsch (5 September 1883 – 23 November 1967) was an Austrian musicologist. He is known for compiling the first comprehensive catalogue of Franz Schubert's compositions, first published in 1951 in English, with a revised edition pub ...

(and others). '' Schubert Thematic Catalogue'' (several editions), No. 18. * Gibbs, Christopher H. (2000). ''The Life of Schubert.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. *

, Series V: Streichquartette edited by Joseph Hellmesberger and

Eusebius Mandyczewski Eusebius Mandyczewski ( uk, Євсевій Мандичевський, translit=Yevsevii Mandychevskyi, ro, Eusebie Mandicevschi; 18 August 1857, in Molodiia – 13 August 1929, in Vienna) was a Romanian musicologist, composer, conductor, and t ...

, 1890. *

New Schubert Edition Franz Schubert (1797–1828): New Edition of the Complete Works (), commonly known as the New Schubert Edition (NSE), or, in german: Neue Schubert-Ausgabe (NSA), is a complete edition of Franz Schubert's works, which started in 1956 and is schedu ...

Series VI, Volume 3: Streichquartette I
edited by Martin Chusid. Bärenreiter, 1979.

External links

* {{Portalbar, Classical Music String Quartet No. 01 1810s works