Composed: 1822
Premiered: 1865, Vienna
Duration: 25 minutes

Much ink has been spent discussing the origins of Schubert’s Eighth Symphony because he completed only two movements. The work was composed in 1822, and the score was given to a friend in Graz, probably with the intention that he should present it to the musical society there, who had elected Schubert to an honorary membership. But why only two movements? Schubert had an unfortunate habit of leaving compositions incomplete; apparently his inspiration often outran the speed with which he could write down his ideas. Practical considerations apart, it seems possible that he was reluctant to pick up where he left this symphony, because in the meantime he had contracted syphilis, incurable and always fatal in those days. Schubert, by nature previously a cheerful man, was now ill and despondent.

The “Unfinished” Symphony shows us for the first time the mature voice of Schubert as a symphonic composer. Its lyrical, tuneful, yet passionate utterance is uniquely his own. The intense, gloomy first movement (in B Minor, but with a hauntingly lovely second subject in D Major) is followed by a serenely luminous andante con moto in E Major. But that is all. Schubert wrote a few bars of a scherzo, and we are left wondering what it might have led to if he had carried on. Many people feel that nothing should follow such overwhelming beauty; perhaps the composer felt the same way. The score was first released in 1865, and performances took the world by storm. At last Schubert was recognized as an orchestral composer of the first rank.

Program note by the late Dr. C.W. Helleiner.