Trout Quintet

Piano Quintet in A major
Trout Quintet
byFranz Schubert
1821 drawing of Franz Schubert byJoseph Kupelwieser
Key	A major
Catalogue	D.667
Occasion	Commissioned by Sylvester Paumgartner
Composed	1819(1819)
Published	1829(1829)
Duration	35–43 minutes
Movements	five

TheTrout Quintet(Forellenquintett) is the popular name for thePiano QuintetinA major,D.667, byFranz Schubert.Thepiano quintetwas 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 ensemble ofpianoandstring quartet,theTrout Quintetis written forpiano,violin,viola,celloanddouble bass.

According to Schubert's friend Albert Stadler, it was modelled on the quintet version ofJohann Nepomuk Hummel's Septet in D Minor for Flute, Oboe, Horn, Viola, Cello, Bass and Piano, Op. 74.It may also have been influenced by Hummel's Quintet in E flat Op. 87.

Nickname

The piece is known as theTroutbecause the fourth movement is a set ofvariationson Schubert's earlierLied"Die Forelle"(" The Trout "). The quintet was written for Sylvester Paumgartner, a wealthy music patron and amateur cellist fromSteyr,Upper Austria, 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: theDeath and the Maiden Quartet,the "Trockne Blumen" (dried flowers) Variations for Flute and Piano (D. 802), theWanderer Fantasy,and theFantasia for Violin and Pianoin C major (D. 934, on "Sei mir gegrüßt" ).

Analysis

The quintet consists of fivemovements:

1. Allegrovivace(A major)
2. Andante(F major)
3. Scherzo:Presto (A major)
4. Andantino–Allegretto(D major)
5. Allegrogiusto(A major)

The risingsextupletfigure from the song'saccompanimentis used as a unifyingmotifthroughout the quintet, and related figures appear in four out of the five movements – all but theScherzo.As in the song, the figure is usually introduced by the piano, ascending.

I. Allegro vivace

The first movement is insonata form.As is commonplace in works of theClassicalgenre, theexpositionshifts fromtonictodominant;however, Schubert's harmonic language is innovative, incorporating manymediantsandsubmediants.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 flatted submediant) in the eleventh bar.

Thedevelopmentsection 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.

Therecapitulationbegins in thesubdominant,making anymodulatorychanges in the transition to the secondthemeunnecessary, 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.

II. Andante

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. Tonal layout (with some intermediate keys of lower structural significance omitted) as follows:

F major – F♯minor – D major – G major – G minor – G major; A♭major – A minor – F major – F minor – F major

III. Scherzo: Presto

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 therelative majorof theparallel minor(A minor).

IV. Andantino – Allegretto

The fourth movement is atheme and variationson Schubert'sLied"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♭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: theOctet in F major, D. 803(fourth movement); thePiano Sonata in A minor, D. 845(second movement); and theImpromptu in B♭major, D. 935 No. 3.The concluding variation is similar to the original Lied, sharing the same characteristic accompaniment in the piano.

V. Allegro giusto

The Finale is in two symmetrical sections, like the second movement. However, the movement differs from the second movement in the absence of unusualchromaticism,and in the second section being an exacttranspositionof 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 inD major,the subdominant. This is contradictory to the aesthetics 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).

Musical significance

Compared to other major chamber works by Schubert, such as the last threestring quartetsand thestring quintet,theTrout Quintetis a leisurely work, characterized by lowerstructuralcoherence, 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 inmediantsandchromaticism,and from itstimbralcharacteristics. TheTrout Quintethas 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 forpiano four-hands,one of his most personal musical genres. Such timbral writing may have influenced the works ofRomanticcomposers such asFrédéric Chopin,who admired Schubert's music for piano four-hands.

The quintet forms the basis ofChristopher Nupen's 1969 filmThe Trout,in whichItzhak Perlman,Pinchas Zukerman,Jacqueline du Pré,Daniel BarenboimandZubin Mehtaperform it atQueen Elizabeth Hallin London.

Other uses

A portion of theTrout Quintet's fifth movement, performed by theNash Ensemble,is used as the theme music for the BBC television comedyWaiting for God.The third movement performed by theNash Ensembleis also used in the show.

Samsungwashing machinesandclothes dryersplay an arrangement of the first portion of the fourth movement upon finishing a spin cycle.

References

Sources

• Chusid, Martin. "Schubert's chamber music: before and after Beethoven". InGibbs (1997).
• Gibbs, Christopher H. (April 1997). "German reception: Schubert's 'journey to immortality'".In Christopher H. Gibbs (ed.).The Cambridge Companion to Schubert.Cambridge Companions to Music.United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0-521-48424-4.
• Notley, Margaret. "Schubert's social music: the 'forgotten genres'". InGibbs (1997).

Further reading

• Weiss, Piero(Autumn 1979). "Dating the 'Trout' Quintet".Journal of the American Musicological Society.32(3): 539–548.doi:10.2307/831254.JSTOR831254.

External links

• Trout Quintet:Scores at theInternational Music Score Library Project
• Recording of full quintetby theChamber Music Society of Lincoln Centerfrom theIsabella Stewart Gardner MuseuminMP3format
• Lecture and performanceonYouTube,atGresham College,2013;Christopher Hogwood,performers from theRoyal Academy of Music