There are many reasons why Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony remains a mystery to this day - the literally unfinished form, the unusual way of the symphony's emergencee into public consciousness, and probably most importantly, the character of the music itself, which seems to inhabit a different realm altogether, whether in its brooding first movement or the heavenly second movement. When Schubert’s half-finished symphony was discovered, it had been sitting in a drawer of the minor composer Anselm Huttenbrenner for 43 years, unmissed and unheard by anyone. The score was discovered by the conductor Johann von Herbeck. Herbeck naturally considered the moment where he first held the score unforgettable, quickly organized a performance, and 37 years after Schubert’s death, the Unfinished symphony was heard for the first time. But, the truth is that the fact that the symphony is unfinished isn’t really that special. Composers started and failed to finish works all the time, whether they were songs, symphonies, operas, cantatas, or something else. Most of those pieces are either ignored or are regarded as interesting curiosities by none but the most hardcore classical music lovers. So why is this one different? Why do these two movements rank up there with Bach’s Art of Fugue, Bruckner’s 9th symphony, Mozart’s Requiem and C Minor Mass, as pieces that are still performed today despite their unfinished nature. Today, we’re going to find out. We’ll explore the two existing movements of the symphony, take a look at the fragment of the third movement that Schubert started, stopped, and then tore out of the score, and also the speculative last movement, theorized by some enterprising musicologists. But all along, we’ll marvel at Schubert’s lyricism, his endless creativity, and the powerful character of this unique symphony. Join us!

Schubert Symphony No. 8, "Unfinished"

Sticky Notes: The Classical Music Podcast