Performers
- Quatuor Elmire
- David Petrlik I violin
- Yoan Brakha II violin
- Hortense Fourrier viola
- Rémi Carlon cello
- Krystyna Wiśniewska cello
Programme
Franz Schubert String Quintet in C major, D.956 [55’]
I. Allegro ma non troppo
II. Adagio
III. Scherzo: Presto – Trio: Andante sostenuto
IV. Allegretto
Concert description
Although Vienna was one of the most musical cities in Europe in the 19th century, even there not all composers enjoyed only fame and glory. The quality of written works did not always translate into commercial success. Like many of Franz Schubert’s works, his String Quintet in C Major did not live to see either an edition or a public performance during the author’s lifetime. Although, in this case, it may have been partly due to the fact that the composer died only a few months after finishing the work. The publisher, Heinrich Albert Probst, was not interested in the work, directly responding to the author that he would rather get some new songs or piano compositions that were in greater demand. After his death, another publishing house bought the manuscript, but also did not include it in its offer. Was it because the lineup was unusual? After all, instead of an additional viola, it included a second cello. In the end, the Quintet waited a quarter of a century for publication. Schubert’s late works are puzzling – their narrative meanders, the form is hard to grasp, serenity mixes with desperation. Maciej Negrey poetically noted that: “They give us a glimpse of the face of a wanderer who knows that the end of his road is only too near. Yet so used is he to wandering that he cannot stop; instead, he hedges and, forsaking the matters of this world, he finds sanctuary in unknown spaces away from the chiming of clocks.” Shortly after writing the Quintet, Schubert had to say goodbye not only to Vienna, but to the whole temporal world.
– Dominika Micał (pisanezesluchu.pl)