FRANZ SCHUBERT, 1797-1828

by Andrew Marr, OSB

Franz Schubert was very much a product of the Viennese Biedermeier Society of his time. The Biedermeier Society is usually characterized as the tacit agreement between the Emperor and the people to provide a care-free lifestyle for the people (at least for those people who were not destitute) in exchange for total obliviousness of political matters. Few of Schubert's works lack at least one theme that dances with the care-free attitude of the Biedermeier citizenry. Even Schubert's darkest works, such as the "Death and the Maiden" Quartet and the late A Minor Piano Sonatas include such themes. A sound interpretation of any work of Schubert's will include this dancing care-free attitude.

However, Schubert's music also undermines the Biedermeier ethos in a radical way. Even cheerful works such as the "Trout" Quintet have tinges of melancholy. In many works, the melancholy element takes over and a few works are devastating in their darkness. The two most commonly-used techniques for achieving these effects have often been commented on by musicologists. One is the tendency (in a work in the Major Mode) to give prominence to the sub-mediant. The sub-mediant (the sixth degree of the scale), of course, forms the tonic of the relative minor, thus facilitating a dialectic between the brighter major key and the darker minor key. As a result, many mature works offer dramatic light/dark or Yin/Yang contrasts. A cheerful theme easily slips into a more melancholy frame of mind. Many themes come across as cheerful and sad as the same time. Schubert's other technique is the radical key shift. Unlike most composers in the tonal era, Schubert does not modulate from one key to another as often as he simply shifts from one key to another. A celebrated example of this technique is in the opening of the B-flat Major Piano Sonata D.960. A statement of the theme in the tonic is followed by a trill on F-Sharp, thus radically shifting the tonal center. The final movement of this same sonata provides an example of a delayed establishment of the tonic. The movement begins in C Minor, based on the second degree of the scale. This gives the listener a sense of suspension in mid-air until Schubert brings it down to the tonic of B-flat. The combination of these two techniques tends to give the feeling that the bottom is falling out of the Biedermeier universe.

There is much in Schubert's music that expresses discontent with life as it is. This discontent is especially marked in the darkest works such as the Piano Sonata in A Minor, D. 784. There is nothing like the brisk funeral march atmosphere of its main theme that beats like a sledgehammer to cheer one up. Beethoven rarely closed off a Minor-key work with a finale ending in the Minor Tonic key (the F Minor sonata, the "Apassionata" being an exception). Schubert, like Mozart will do just that, with the result that the listener hears no way out of the troubled emotions depicted in the work. In the jaded strains of the last of the Moments Musicaux" a short theme stumbles through a repetitive development that never does reach a resolution.

The discontent in Schubert's music has a more positive side in its yearning quality for a world beyond this one. Indeed, not only is there the yearning for the world beyond, but there are fleeting visions of this world. Perhaps spurred on by the religious text, the great Mass in E-Flat constantly, if gently, pits the yearning for the Light against the intense, dark passages. But Schubert did not need to be writing a Mass to be inspired in this way. The slow movement of the C Major string Quintet is not only surrounded by a haze of twilight, it seems to rest in that light except when it is interrupted by the intense middle section. But then, as I have suggested, in his music, Schubert did not express satisfaction with what can be attained in this life.

One of my favorite Schubert works is the Sonata in G Major, D. 895. In this work, the heavenly, visionary element is predominant although each of the four movements includes significant turbulence. The opening theme of the first movement is among the most sublime Schubert ever created. Its effect comes more from harmony and rhythm than from melodic content. With its subtle shifts in tonality, it conveys the sense of vision with an aching for that which still cannot be seen. The second theme maintains this rarified atmosphere with one of those dance-like themes that comes straight out of the Biedermeier merry-making ethos. (The dance-like themes I mentioned in the opening paragraph are most often subordinate themes in sonata designs.) Not until the development section does this contemplative surface become ruffled, but suddenly the drama is intense. The main theme is transformed into the minor mode and contrasted with the dance-like second theme that retains its Major Mode character until the end of this section when it, too, is engulfed in the turbulence. The recapitulation, of course, returns to the opening meditation one heavenly light. This movement, by the way, offers a particularly instructive example of the importance of taking all the repeats in Schubert's music. This is not just a matter of the often-noted spaciousness of Schubert's designs. (What Schumann famously called the "heavenly length" of Schubert.) If the repeat of the exposition of the first movement of this G Major Sonata is omitted, the turbulent development overshadows the other sections and dominates the movement. When the repeat is taken, it is the contemplative character that predominates, so as to absorb the intensity of the development. In short, whether or not the repeat is taken makes a huge difference in the effect of this movement and of the sonata as a whole.

The second movement of the G Major Sonata alternates another light-filled main subject with a contrasting subject which wanders of with a strong degree of intensity. In contrast, the third movement features an intense subject in B Minor cast in a dance-like rhythm with a gentle middle section that sounds like a music box polished in Heaven. The finale, again, is dominated by a main theme that recaptures the transcendent light of all the themes in the Major Mode in this work. The main contrasting subject seems to get carried away with the same sense of joy but then it suddenly shifts into a more turbulent mood before returning to the bright main subject. The sonata does not end with a blaze of glory but with a quiet repetition of the G Major chord in the rhythm of the main theme.

The discontent in Schubert's music shows itself at its strongest, however, in the more affirmative of his works. Just as Beethoven hardly ever capped a work in a tragic frame of mind, Schubert hardly ever indulged in a triumphal finale. The "Great" C Major Symphony exudes much charm and good cheer. There are moments of serious tension, however, especially in the second movement. The finale sounds like a triumphant finale fitting for a symphony, but there is a slight shadow cast over the gentle secondary theme that makes one think. Moreover, the often-noted troublesome sledgehammer strokes towards the end of the movement, even if they have nothing to do with Fate knocking on the door, keep this finale from sounding unequivocally triumphant. I can't imagine Beethoven doing such a thing in the same context. Indeed, it seems that there is always something in every major work of Schubert's that resists anything that smacks too much of triumph. If sustained contentment is possible at all, it is not in this world that it is to be found. As for the next world, Schubert does not come across to me as absolutely sure, but the hope for that world blossoms throughout his music.