|
|
Symphony No.5 in B Flat Major
Franz Schubert lived in the shadow of Beethoven, especially concerning instrumental music. In his first four symphonies, for example, he self-consciously imitated Beethoven’s manner. The Fourth Symphony in C minor was particularly manneristic, and Schubert even nicknamed it "Tragic." The Fifth Symphony, on the other hand, written in September and October of 1816, is sweet and cheerful, signifying Schubert’s determination to break with the Beethoven model and find his own path to Romanticism.
There is also much in the Fifth Symphony that is Classical with a particular salute in the direction of Mozart. This is Schubert’s shortest symphony, truly of Classical dimensions. The instrumentation is that of a small Classical orchestra, the exact instiumentafion of Mozart’s famous G minor Symphony (the first version without clarinets).
Rhythmic elements from the opening theme pervade most of the first movement. The transition follows the theme’s rhythmic outline. The second theme encloses its characteristic dotted rhythm and the concluding theme modifies it. The codetta exploits the rhythm in a stamping unison and then modifies the whole first motive to wind up the exposition. This modified form provides Schubert with a fresh catylist for the development section, which explores the motive thoroughly, often in remote key areas. The recapitulation, standard in most respects, is unorthodox in harmony, since the first theme appears in other than the tonic key. (Here is another concealed Mozartism, going back to the famous C Major Piano Sonata "for beginners," K. 545.)
Some listeners may find the main theme of the Andante a bit too sweet, anticipating some of Mendelssohn’s ideas. Here, however, is Schubert, the pastoral tone-poet of song. In the central section, Schubert the dramatist emerges with sudden, remote key shifts and harmonic color that anticipate the composer’s later music.
Alfred Einstein perceptively wrote that "the Minuet is so Mozartian that it would fall into place quite naturally in the G Minor Symphony." Schubert’s conception is simpler than Mozart’s however, and his Trio section is a demure modal folk dance: a Ländler.
The master of Classical symphonic finales was, of course, Haydn rather than Mozart, but Schubert’s finale emulates both Haydn’s spirited themes and Mozart’s forms. With a broad variety of rhythm and characteristic harmonic colors, Schubert places his personal stamp on the movement to conclude a Symphony that Donald Tovey termed, "a pearl of great price."
Back To Romantic Composers Index
