Schubert, Piano Quintet in A major D. 667 op. 114 'The Trout' [송어]

 

Franz Schubert

(1797~1828)

 

 

   Piano Quintet in A major D. 667 op. 114 'The Trout'

 

 The quintet forms the basis of Christopher Nupen's 1969 film The Trout,

in which Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Jacqueline du Pré, Daniel Barenboim and

Zubin Mehta perform it at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. 

            

 

The Trout Quintet is the popular name for the Piano quintet in A major, D. 667, by Franz Schubert. The work was composed in 1819, when he was 22 years old; it was not published, however, until 1829, a year after his death.

 

Rather than the usual piano quintet lineup of piano and string quartet, Schubert's piece is written for piano, violin, viola, cello and double bass. The composer Johann Nepomuk Hummel had rearranged his own Septet for the same instrumentation, and the Trout was actually written for a group of musicians coming together to play Hummel's work.

 

(1819년, 22세의 슈베르트는 성악가 포글과 함께 북부 오스트리아의 슈타일을 비롯해 린츠 지역으로 연주와 피서를 겸한 여행을 떠났다. 두 사람은 7월 13일부터 9월 중순까지 이곳에 머물렀는데 휴가지에서 만난 질베스터 바움가르트너라는 광산업자로부터 후한 대접을 받았다. 바움가르트너는 관악기와 첼로를 연주할 수 있었던 음악애호가였다. 그의 집은 그 지역 음악의 중심지처럼 여겨지고 있었다. 바움가르트너는 슈베르트에게 자신이 직접 연주에 참여할 수 있도록 작곡을 하나 해달라고 의뢰했다. 곡을 의뢰하면서 자신이 마음에 들어 했던 슈베르트의 가곡 ‘송어’의 주제를 넣어 달라고도 부탁했다. 이렇게 해서 피아노 5중주 ‘송어’가 탄생하게 된 것이다. 이 곡은 실내악 장르에 있어 슈베르트가 작곡한 최초의 걸작으로 평가된다. 편성은 피아노, 바이올린, 비올라, 첼로, 더블베이스로 이루어져 있는데, 이러한 편성은 일반적으로 찾아보기 흔치 않은 비범한 편성이다. )

 

The piece is known as the Trout because the fourth movement is a set of variations on Schubert's earlier Lied "Die Forelle" (The Trout). The quintet was written for Sylvester Paumgartner, of Steyr in Upper Austria, a wealthy music patron and amateur cellist, who also suggested that Schubert include a set of variations on the Lied.  Sets of variations on melodies from his Lieder are found in four other works by Schubert: the Death and the Maiden Quartet, the "Trockne Blumen" Variations for

Flute and Piano (D. 802), the Wanderer Fantasy, and the Fantasia in C major for Violin and Piano (D. 934, on "Sei mir gegrüßt").

 

The rising sextuplet figure from the song's accompaniment is used as a unifying motif throughout

the quintet, and related figures appear in four out of the five movements – all but the Scherzo.

As in the song, the figure is usually introduced by the piano, ascending.

 

 

The quintet consists of five movements:

1. Allegro vivace in sonata form.
2. Andante in F major (the flattened submediant of the work's main key, A major)
3. Scherzo: Presto
4. Andantino – Allegretto in D major (the subdominant of the work's main key)
5. Allegro giusto

Allegro vivace:

고전 소나타 형식. 피아노 연주에 네 대의 현악기가 조용한 선율을 느리게 연주한다. 서주부가 끝나면 바이올린이 제1주제를 연주한다. 첼로가 힘차게 브리지의 역할을 한 뒤에 서정적인 제2주제가 제시된다. 발전부와 재현부에서 교묘한 변화를 보인 뒤에 곡은 코다에서 화려하게 끝난다. 1악장은 특히 풍부하고 색채적인 인상을 주는데, 그것은 슈베르트의 독특한 조옮김의 테크닉 때문일 것이다. 피아노가 선율악기로서 중요한 키를 쥐고 있는 것도 주목할 만하다. 

As commonplace in works of the Classical genre, the exposition shifts from tonic to dominant;

however, Schubert's harmonic language is innovative, incorporating many mediants and submediants. This is evident from almost the beginning of the piece: after stating the tonic for ten bars, the harmony shifts abruptly into F major (the flattened submediant) in the eleventh bar. The development section starts with a similar abrupt shift, from E major (at the end of the exposition) to C major. Harmonic movement is slow at first, but becomes quicker; towards the return of the first theme, the harmony modulates in ascending half tones. The recapitulation begins in the subdominant, making any modulatory changes in the transition to the second theme unnecessary – a frequent phenomenon in early sonata form movements written by Schubert.  It differs from the exposition only in omitting the opening bars and another short section, before the closing theme.

Andante

서정이 풍부하며 꿈을 꾸는 듯한 분위기다. 주요한 선율은 1악장의 주제에 의해 아름답게 만들어진 아리아다. 3개의 선율을 F장조-F＃단조-A단조-F장조의 순서대로 전개하며 만들어진 악장이다. 구조적으로 모차르트, 때로는 바흐의 음악을 연상케 하는 대목이기도 하다.

This movement is composed of two symmetrical sections, the second being a transposed version of the first, except for some differences of modulation which allow the movement to end in the same key in which it began. A feature of this movement is its tonal layout: the tonality changes chromatically, in ascending half tones, according to the following scheme (some intermediate keys of lower structural significance have been omitted): F major – F sharp minor – G major – A flat major – A minor – F major.

Scherzo: Prestissimo

피아노와 현악기 사이에 자유로운 대화식 응답, 즉 메기고 받는 식으로 이루어졌다. 교묘한 수법으로 독특한 효과를 내며, 유쾌한 심상을 불러일으킨다. 불완전하기는 하지만 푸가적 취급이 흥미를 끈다.

This movement also contains mediant tonalities, such as the ending of the first section of the Scherzo proper, which is in C major – the flattened mediant, or the relative major of the parallel minor

(A minor).

Andantino – Allegretto

가곡 ‘송어’의 멜로디를 테마로 해서 6개의 변주곡으로 꾸민 악장이다. 주제와 5개의 변주곡과 주제를 여러 악기로 나누어 연주하는 알레그레토의 코다로 되어 있어 주제의 쾌활한 성격이 전체를 지배하고 있다. 특히 제3변주 시 피아노의 높은 음에 의해 나눠진 음의 모습은 아름답고 독특한 효과를 나타낸다. 

A theme and variations on Schubert's Lied Die Forelle. As typical of some other variation movements by Schubert (in contrast to Beethoven's style), the variations do not transform the original theme into new thematic material; rather, they concentrate on melodic decoration and changes of mood. In each of the first few variations the main theme is played by a different instrument or group. In the fifth variation, Schubert begins in the flat submediant (B flat major), and creates a series of modulations eventually leading back to the movement's main key, at the beginning of the final sixth variation. A similar process is heard in three of Schubert's later compositions: the octet in F major, D. 803 (fourth movement); the piano sonata in A minor, D. 845 (second movement); and the Impromptu in B-flat major, D. 935 No. 3. The concluding variation is similar to the original Lied, sharing the same characteristic accompaniment in the piano.

Allegro giusto

쾌속으로 질주하는 엄격한 악장이다. 현악기가 주제를 연주하면 이를 피아노가 반복하는 식이다. 제2주제는 합주인데, 조바꿈되며, 피아노와 현악기가 교체되며 주제의 특색을 보인다. 튀어 오르는 송어의 비늘처럼 활기차고 생생한 악장이다. 어딘지 모르게 헝가리 음악의 냄새도 난다.

The Finale is in two symmetrical sections, like the second movement. However, the movement differs from the second movement in the absence of unusual chromaticism, and in the second section being an exact transposition of the first (except for some changes of octave register). A repeat sign is written for the first section: if one adheres meticulously to the score, the movement consists of three lengthy, almost identical repeats of the same musical material. Performers sometimes choose to omit the repeat of the first section when playing. Although this movement lacks the chromaticism of the second movement, its own harmonic design is also innovative: the first section ends in D major, the subdominant. This is contradictory to the aesthethics of the Classical musical style, in which the first major harmonic event in a musical piece or movement, is the shift from tonic to dominant (or, more rarely, to mediant or submediant – but never to the subdominant).

 

Sergey Kuznetsov (piano)
Members of the Romantic string quartet
Vladislav Naroditsky (violin)
Andrey Usov (viola)
Sergey Astashonok (cello)
Grigory Krotenko (double bass)
Live at the Small hall of the Moscow conservatory.

                  

 

Musical significance

Compared to other major chamber works by Schubert, such as the last three string quartets and the string quintet, the Trout Quintet is a leisurely work, characterized by lower structural coherence, especially in its outer movements and the Andante. These movements contain unusually long repetitions of previously stated material, sometimes transposed, with little or no structural reworking, aimed at generating an overall unified dramatic design ("mechanical" in Martin Chusid's words.

 

The importance of the piece stems mainly from its use of an original and innovative harmonic language, rich in mediants and chromaticism, and from its timbral characteristics.

The Trout Quintet has a unique sonority among chamber works for piano and strings, due mainly to the piano part, which for substantial sections of the piece concentrates on the highest register of the instrument, with both hands playing the same melodic line an octave apart (having been freed to

do so by the inclusion of both cello and bass in the ensemble). Such writing also occurs in other chamber works by Schubert, such as the piano trios, but to a much lesser extent,  and is characteristic of Schubert's works for piano four-hands,  one of his most personal musical genres. Such timbral

writing may have influenced the works of Romantic composers such as Frédéric Chopin, who admired Schubert's music for piano four-hands.

 

 

 

 

Every year the Borromeo String Quartet, NEC's Quartet in Residence, performs with exceptionally talented NEC students chosen through competition in its annual Guest Artists concert. Here, violinist Nicholas Kitchen, violist Mai Motobuchi, and cellist Yeesun Kim welcome contrabassist Elizabeth Burns (BM '14) and pianist Yannick Rafalimanana (MM '14) for a performance of Schubert's "Trout" Quintet.