Franz Schubert wrote the String Quintet in C Major during a burst of creativity in the late summer/early autumn of 1828, right around the time he composed his last three piano sonatas and parts of Schwanengesang. As he told Leipzig publisher Heinrich Albert Probst six weeks before his death on November 19, 1828, “Among other things, I have…completed a Quintet for 2 violins, 1 viola and 2 violoncellos…[it] will only be tried out in the coming days.” Schubert never heard the quintet live, however, and for decades the piece lingered in oblivion. The first known public performance took place at the Musikverein on November 17, 1850, followed by its publication in 1853. It was then that the “Cello Quintet,” the work’s nickname due to its unusual scoring for two cellos (rather than the more common two violas), became one of Schubert’s most popular chamber works.  

Marked Allegro ma non troppo (energetic, but not too much), the expansive first movement alternates rhapsodic, heartrending melody with episodes of startling drama. The heart of the quintet is the Adagio, a movement so beautiful that it almost seems to stop time. From that touchstone emerges the athletic Scherzo, which a hushed Trio counterbalances. A playful, folk-like quality characterizes the Finale, marked Allegretto, throughout which energetic rhythms and sparkling melodies lead the quintet to a lyrical close.