Schubert ahoy

[calimac]

So the Menlo Festival's program plan this year is to plow through Schubert, notionally in chronological order. On assignment, I took B. to the first concert, which covered early Schubert, from the ages of 14 (yes, 14) to 22, and I reviewed it thus. B. liked it because it included "Erlkönig" and "Gretchen am Spinnrade", two of Schubert's most famous songs. It also included "Die Forelle", which is only famous for its re-use as the theme of the variations movement of the "Trout" Quintet (and since "Forelle" means "Trout", that's how the Quintet got its name). It's got a cute tune, but no real drama or development, and the verse is by a far lesser poet than Goethe, who wrote the other two. It ends with an expostulation against the angler who catches the trout, which the singer gave bite to by giving a small vexed pout, earning an audience chuckle.

The Overture in C Minor was not worth preserving except as a curiosity item (well, he was only 14), but the "Trout" Quintet sure is.

Also in the music journalism field, the Redwood Symphony urged me into a feature article on their anniversary. This was not the time to re-air my own querulous feelings about Mahler, but I could honestly praise their performances. Now they want me to attend the upcoming Stravinsky-Orff concert (much of a muchness), but - ha ha - I shall not go, as I have other things on my plate. Schubert still beckons.

Comments

[irontongue.livejournal.com]

Die Forelle is widely recorded and well known apart from how Schubert incorporated it into the piano quintet.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

I should have said "because of its re-use" in the quintet rather than "for" it. Yes, it's sung on its own. It's sung often because it's well-known. It's well-known because it's also in the quintet. Otherwise, there'd be nothing to distinguish it from the mass of fine Schubert songs.