Schubert at school

Donald Macleod explores the years around the composition of Schubert’s Tenth String Quartet.

Franz Schubert’s short life spanned a crucial period in music history as the elegant, classical stylings of Mozart and Haydn were giving way to the drama and passion of the romantic era. Schubert came to embody that transformation, in music that was all about personal expression and individual inspiration. This week, Donald Macleod throws the spotlight on Schubert’s chamber music and explores the stories around five key works for small ensembles.

Schubert wrote his tenth string quartet in 1813 while still a teenager, as the introverted schoolboy was growing into a young man with a dream to be a full-time composer. He attended the Choir School of the Imperial Court Chapel in Vienna where he joined the school orchestra and encountered the music of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. His school reports were good and he was singled out for special praise for his exemplary application to the art of music but he quickly outgrew the place and determined to leave so he could pursue his musical ambitions elsewhere.

Pensa, che questo istante, D76
Cecilia Bartoli, mezzo-soprano
Andras Schiff, piano

Symphony No 2 in B flat major, D125 (III. Menuetto & IV. Presto vivace)
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Karl Böhm, conductor

Fantasie in G minor, for four hands, D9
Yaara Tal, piano
Andreas Groethuysen, piano

Kyrie in D minor, K49
Helen Donath, soprano
Lucia Popp, soprano
Brigitte Fassbaender, mezzo
Peter Schreier, tenor
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone
Bavarian Radio Choir and Symphony Orchestra
Wolfgang Sawallisch, conductor

String Quartet No 10 in E flat major, D87
Sorrel Quartet

Produced by Luke Whitlock, for BBC Wales