- Schubert composed this quintet for piano and strings in 1829. It was one of his works assigned an opus number: Op.114.
- This piece was commissioned by his friend Sylvester Paumgartner, who was an amateur cellist.
- Paumgartner apparently knew exactly what he wanted from Schubert – he requested the unusual instrumentation of this piece (piano, violin, viola, cello and double bass). He also stipulated that the piece be based on Schubert’s song “Die Forelle.”
- The resulting work comprised five movements, the fourth of which is a theme and variations interpolation of “Die Forelle,” giving the piece as a whole its nickname.
- “Die Forelle,” D. 550, is a song for voice and piano that Schubert composed in several versions, the first in 1817. It is a setting of a poem by Christian Schubart which is about a fisherman pursuing and catching a trout. The poem can be interpreted as an image of loss of innocence, about vulnerable relationships, or about humanity’s destructive relationship with nature.1
- Poem and English translation
Sources
- Maurice J.E. Brown, Eric Sams, and Robert Winter, “Schubert, Franz,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed April 6, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000025109.
Cut IDs
40748 40808 46174 46175 49434 49769 13683 15719 21771