舒伯特 F大调八重奏 D 803

Franz Schubert

Octet in F major D 803 for Clarinet (B flat/C), Bassoon, Horn (F/C), 2 Violins, Viola, Violoncello, Double Bass

Editor: Peter Jost

Urtext Edition, Parts, paperbound

Pages: 152 (VII, 28, 21, 21, 19, 16, 16, 12, 12), Size 23,5 x 31,0 cm

Order no. HN 562 · ISMN 979-0-2018-0562-7

The model for this composition was Beethoven’s Septet op. 20, whose Divertimento character and six-part layout were adopted by Schubert, although he merely expanded the instrumentation by adding a second violin. In a letter he numbered his octet amongst the chamber music works with which he desired to blaze a “path to the great symphony”. It can no longer be ascertained whether the composition was commissioned by Count Ferdinand Troyer, who had a musical salon in Vienna and played the clarinet. We only know that Schubert composed the work at the beginning of 1824, taking only a few weeks to do so and that it was shortly performed at Troyer’s afterwards. Today it is one of the most popular larger chamber music works.