Life is always an unfinished business. This is obviously truer for some than others. When people are cut down in their prime, an unanswerable “What if?” always hovers over them.
Like his English contemporary the poet John Keats, Franz Schubert led a brief, impoverished, and unappreciated life of wild creativity. Dying young within a few years of each other (Keats in 1821, Schubert in 1828), they each left an indelible mark on their field and are now considered among the greatest practitioners of their art forms.
German music journals favorably reviewed some of Schubert’s piano pieces and songs during his lifetime. These were much akin, however, to the minor notices that a struggling author receives. They made little impression on the wider musical community. While Schubert did manage to give one public concert of his works during his final year of life, scholars and critics surveying the German musical scene never mentioned him. This obscurity persisted for decades after his death.
Why Is the Eighth Symphony Unfinished?
A prodigy like Mozart, Schubert composed his first five symphonies before the age of 20. The incomplete Symphony No. 8 followed five years later.Why Schubert never finished it has remained a mystery for music scholars and connoisseurs. One possible reason put forth is that he may have realized there was little chance of his work being performed and that he became discouraged. Since Schubert later completed a ninth symphony, however, this explanation seems an unlikely one. Great artists follow their impulse to create, regardless of how the world reacts.
Technically, Schubert had two “other” unfinished symphonies. He never finished orchestrating his Symphony No. 7 in E major, and he began writing a 10th symphony a few weeks before he died. What sets the officially titled “Unfinished” Symphony No. 8 apart is that the first two movements were completed.
Schubert began writing a third movement, a scherzo, but then abandoned it. Since this movement is poorer in quality than the first two, it seems likely that Schubert felt he could not outdo them. Classical music aficionados have speculated that he might have returned to the work if he had lived, as Mendelssohn did when he composed “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in two creative bursts 16 years apart.
What’s So Great About the ‘Unfinished Symphony’?
The “Unfinished Symphony” is larger in scale than Schubert’s earlier works, which reflect Mozart’s influence. The eighth contains, rather, shades of Beethoven. The themes of its two movements are highly memorable because Schubert weaved his symphonies with the melodic style he perfected in his songs.The first movement, Allegro moderato, opens with a soft, haunting introduction in the string section, played by violoncellos and contrabasses. A solo clarinet and oboe then present the opening theme, a lyrical melody that uses woodwinds to sensuous effect in a way that previous composers did not.
The strings then introduce the movement’s second theme, written in the style of an Austrian country dance. The second melody’s gracefulness contrasts with the melancholy longing of the first theme.
The development and the concluding section, rather than focusing on these two themes, return the listener’s attention to the mysterious introduction of the opening measures, gradually swelling to include the full orchestra.
The second movement, Andante con moto, mirrors the first: A major-key first theme and minor-key second contrast with the Allegro’s minor-key first melody and major-key second. A sense of tranquility, with shadows of the ghostly first movement, pervade this slower sequel.
Finishing the ‘Unfinished Symphony’ … Sort Of
Since Schubert’s death, various composers have written movements intended to conclude Symphony No. 8. On the centenary of Schubert’s death in 1928, Frank Merrick won a contest sponsored by the Columbia Gramophone Company with this intent. One can listen to an old recording of Merrick’s attempt today on the Internet Archive. Despite his best efforts, Merrick achieved what Schubert likely feared—that anything following upon the first two movements would savor of anticlimax.
Listening to Mr. Cantor’s two AI-inspired movements, I admit they’re an improvement on Merrick’s attempt. The AI melodies, however, merely recombine several themes from Schubert’s movements, and the grandiose finale is too straightforwardly melodramatic, like the accompaniment to an inspiring but sentimental film. Instead of the intricate mirroring we see between the first and second movements, the third and fourth movements feel like parodies lacking inner drama.
All of these attempts at completion are forgettable and ultimately misguided. The only way anyone will ever know what a “Finished” Symphony No. 8 sounds like is if they meet Schubert in heaven. Since the two movements have a self-contained perfection to them, I’d like to think Schubert would say that the eighth is fine as it is.
