Information about Trout Quintet

The Trout Quintet is the popular name for the Piano Quintet in A major by Franz Schubert. In Otto Erich Deutsch's catalogue of Schubert's works, it is D. 667. The work was composed in 1819^[1], when Schubert was only 22 years old; it was not published, however, until 1829, a year after his death^[2].

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^[3], and the Trout was actually written for a group of musicians coming together to play Hummel's work.

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). Apparently, 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^[1]. A set of variations on a melody from one of his Lieder is found in three other works by Schubert: the Death and the Maiden Quartet, the Trockne Blumen Variations for flute and piano and the Wanderer Fantasy.

The rising sextuplet figure from the song's accompaniment is used as a unifying motive 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^[1].

Synopsis

• 1. Allegro vivace in sonata form. As commonplace in works of the Classical genre, the exposition shifts from tonic to dominant; however, Schubert's harmonic language is more colourful and innovative, incorporating many mediants and submediants. This is evident right from the beginning of the piece: after stating the tonic for ten bars, the harmony shifts abrubtly into F major (the flat submediant) in the eleventh bar. The development section starts by a similar abrupt shift, from E major (at the end of the exposition) to C major. Harmonic movement is slow at first, but is fastened thereafter; 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^[1]. It differs from the exposition only in omitting the opening bars, and another short section, before the closing theme.
• 2. Andante in F major (the flat submediant of the work's main key, A major). This movement is composed of two symmetrical sections, one being a transposed version of the other, except for some changes of key, which allow the movement to end in the same key in which it began. Each section contains three themes in a sequence, the second of which is noted for its poignancy. The striking 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. Such a tonal structure is revolutionary to the harmonic concept of Classical composers such as Mozart and Beethoven.
• 3. 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 flat mediant.
• 4. Andantino - Allegretto in D major (the subdominant of the work's main key) - theme and variations on the 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 the first variations, each variation features the main theme played by a different instrument or group. Schubert's innovation and originality lies in the fifth variation, coming after the traditional variation in the minor key. Rather than returning immediately to the tonic major, Schubert begins this variation in the flat submediant (B flat major), and creates a series of modulations within the variation, eventually leading back to the movement's main key, at the beginning of the final sixth variation. Schubert repeated this unique harmonic structure within a variation movement, in three of his 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 highly similar to the original Lied, and shares the same characteristic accompaniment in the piano, based on a musical motif picturing the trout appearing and disappearing in the water (depicted by rising and falling notes, respectively).
• 5. Allegro giusto. The basic structure of the Finale is in two symmetrical sections, similar to the second movement; however, the unusual chromaticism is absent here. Moreover, this time the second section is an exact transpositon of the first, with no alterations whatsoever, expect for some changes of octave register. Since a repeat sign is written for the first section, if one adheres meticulously to the score, the movement consists solely of three lengthy, almost identical repeats of the same musical material - a feature that some performers and listeners may find boring. Therefore, many performers choose to omit the repeat of the first section when playing. Although this movement lacks the shear 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)^[4][5].

  Musical Significance

  As compared to other major chamber works by Schubert, such as the last three string quartets and the string quintet, the Trout Quintet is a more 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, only in a transposed tonality, and with little or no structural reworking aimed at generating an overall unified dramatic design ("mechanical" in Martin Chusid's words^[1]).
  
  The importance of the piece stems mainly from the use of an original and innovative harmonic language, rich in mediants and chromaticism, and from the timbral characteristics of the piece. As regards the latter, the Trout Quintet has a unique sonority among other chamber works for piano and strings. This is due mainly to the piano part, which during substantial lengths of the piece is concentrated on the highest register of the instrument, with both hands playing the same melodic line, an octave apart. Such writing occurs also in other chamber works by Schubert, such as the piano trios, but to a much lesser extent^[3][1]. This writing is characteristic of Schubert's works for piano in four hands^[3], one of his most personal musical genres. Such timbral writing may have influenced the works of Romantic composers such as Chopin, who admired Schubert's music for piano in four hands^[6]

  Depiction in TV Series

  The British television sitcom Waiting for God used the opening of the Trout Quintet’s fifth movement as its theme music.

  Depiction in Literature

  The Trout forms a major part of the plot of the novel An Equal Music written by Vikram Seth. It depicts the beauty of the composition and the challenges in playing it.

  External Links

  • Audio of part of the fourth movement of the Trout Quintet in RealMedia format

  References

  1. ^ Martin Chusid, "Schubert's chamber music: before and after Beethoven". In: Cristopher H. Gibbs [ed.], The Cambridge Companion to Schubert, 1997, Cambridge University Press, pp. 174-192.
  2. ^ Cristopher H. Gibbs, "German reception: Schubert's 'journey to immortality'". In: Cristopher H. Gibbs [ed.], The Cambridge Companion to Schubert, 1997, Cambridge University Press, pp. 241-253.
  3. ^ Margaret Notley, "Schubert's social music: the 'forgotten genres'". In: Cristopher H. Gibbs [ed.], The Cambridge Companion to Schubert, 1997, Cambridge University Press, pp. 138-154.
  4. ^ Charles Rosen, Sonata Forms, revised edition, 1988, W. W. Norton and Co., pp. 359-360.

5. ^ Charles Rosen, The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, expanded edition, 1997, W. W. Norton and Co., pp. 25-27, 384.
6. ^ Charles Rosen, The Romantic Generation, 1995, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, p. 390.