of symphonic movements. In 1822, he completed two symphonic movements, which were only discovered in 1865, known today as the “Unfinished” symphony. We know from some of his letters that he began working on another symphony in the summer of 1825, when he sojourned at the Austrian towns of Gmunden and Bad Gastein. On the autograph that Ferdinand showed Schumann was written “March 1828”. For many years it was thought that the "Great" symphony was written in the composer’s last year, and that the 1825 symphony was lost. However, it is now accepted that the work that Schubert started composing in the summer of 1825 is no other than the "Great" symphony. Schubert gave the score to the Society of Friends of Music in Vienna. The Society’s orchestra read it in a rehearsal, but never performed it publicly in the composer’s lifetime. Schubert was probably trying to sell it to another publisher, writing “March 1828” on the autograph in order to make it look as if it is a brand new work. Whatever its year of composition may be, the "Great" symphony is indeed worthy of its name. Not only is it great in duration and orchestration, it is also great in its quality, beauty and originality. No wonder that it is the most performed among Schubert’s symphonies. It is impossible to define Schubert as either a “Classical” or “Romantic” composer. In this symphony he succeeds in keeping all of the conventions of the Classical symphony while expanding the orchestration, the duration and the form, without ever losing beauty, elegance and taste. In one unforgettable moment in the second movement, Schubert reaches beyond the standards of the style, and shows himself as a mature, original, groundbreaking artist. It is a common saying that Schubert’s melodies are broad and beautiful; however, in my opinion, his music excels mainly in the development of musical materials. Those are usually simple, almost naïve, as the horn theme that opens the work. During the introduction to the first movement this theme is played in various variations, increasing in orchestration, dynamics and textures. The episodes between the variations keep getting more and more intense, until we feel as if the slow tempo cannot hold them, and then the Allegro section begins. The Allegro, as well as the entire fourth movement, is written in sonata form: an exposition section moves from the home key to other tonal areas and display the different themes, which are developed while modulating to remote keys in the development sections, and restated in the home key in the recapitulation section. The first theme in the first movement is played in dotted-rhythm calls in the strings, trumpets and timpani, alternating with triplets in the winds. Both triplets and dotted rhythms were played in the slow introduction, thus they feel as a natural continuation of it, rather than foreign elements. The second theme is played by the winds, accompanied by a continous motion in the strings. At a point in which any other composer would have finished the exposition section, Schubert displays what sounds like a new theme in the three trombones. This theme is based on a few bars of no other than the horn theme that opened the movement, accompanied by motives from the second theme in the other sections of the orchestra. The movement ends with a long coda, which brings the introduction theme to an apotheosis in large, full orchestration. On first hearing the opening of the second movement, no one can guess where Schubert will take us. Basses play a processional line, to which the oboe joins in its march theme. While the movement unfolds, new, sweet themes are introduced, balancing the march character. Many commenters point to
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