Quartet so sad:
Early this morning I listened to the Alban Berg String Quartett perform the second movement of Franz Schubert’s Quartet #14, titled “Death and the Maiden”.
Schubert died at the age of 31. In his short lifetime, he left us more than 600 songs, instrumental pieces, several symphonies, and a large amount of chamber music.
While Schubert had a lot of friends during his lifetime, he still suffered from loneliness and depression in that he was not able to develop a meaningful relationship with a woman. He died of Syphilis.
In the quartet #14, Franz Schubert used the theme of his song “Death and the Maiden” for the slow movement titled “Andante con Moto” for this quartet.
The Alban Berg Quartett provides an exquisite reading of Schubert’s expressive “Death and the Maiden” String Quartet. The music strikes a foreboding and bleak vision of the composer’s sorrow. Yet the beauty of the dark music made this composition survive to this day.
Here is the Alban Berg Quarrtett performing the opening of the quartet #14 in D-Minor by Franz Schubert:
And next, here is the sad, slow movement that I referred to above:
Tags: Franz Schubert, Quartet #14, “Death and the Maiden”, Alban Bert Quartett