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Death and the Maiden Quartet (Schubert)

 

 
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Death and the Maiden Quartet (Schubert)
 
 
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The String Quartet in D minor was written in 1824 by Franz Schubert
Franz Schubert

Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer. He wrote some 600 lieder, nine symphonies , liturgy music, operas, and a large body of chamber music and solo piano music....
, just after the composer became aware of his ruined health. It is popularly known as the Death and the Maiden Quartet because the second movement is adapted from the piano accompaniment to Schubert's 1817 song (or lied
Lied

, is a German language word, meaning literally "song"; among English speakers, however, the word is used primarily as a term for European European classical music songs, also known as art songs....
), Death and the Maiden
Death and the Maiden (song)

Der Tod und das M?dchen , Death and the Maiden in English language, is a lied composed by Franz Schubert.The lyrics, which are Germany, are derived from a poem written by Matthias Claudius....
. In the numerical order of his quartets it is his String Quartet No. 14, and is D. 810 in Otto Erich Deutsch
Otto Erich Deutsch

Otto Erich Deutsch was an Austrians musicology. He is best known for compiling the first comprehensive catalogue of the works of Franz Schubert, first published in 1951 in English, new edition in 1978 in German....
's thematic catalog of Schubert's works.






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The String Quartet in D minor was written in 1824 by Franz Schubert
Franz Schubert

Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer. He wrote some 600 lieder, nine symphonies , liturgy music, operas, and a large body of chamber music and solo piano music....
, just after the composer became aware of his ruined health. It is popularly known as the Death and the Maiden Quartet because the second movement is adapted from the piano accompaniment to Schubert's 1817 song (or lied
Lied

, is a German language word, meaning literally "song"; among English speakers, however, the word is used primarily as a term for European European classical music songs, also known as art songs....
), Death and the Maiden
Death and the Maiden (song)

Der Tod und das M?dchen , Death and the Maiden in English language, is a lied composed by Franz Schubert.The lyrics, which are Germany, are derived from a poem written by Matthias Claudius....
. In the numerical order of his quartets it is his String Quartet No. 14, and is D. 810 in Otto Erich Deutsch
Otto Erich Deutsch

Otto Erich Deutsch was an Austrians musicology. He is best known for compiling the first comprehensive catalogue of the works of Franz Schubert, first published in 1951 in English, new edition in 1978 in German....
's thematic catalog of Schubert's works. The work is a string quartet
String quartet

A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string instruments — usually two violins, a viola and cello — or a piece written to be performed by such a group....
 in four movements:

  1. Allegro, in D minor and common time
  2. Andante con moto, in G minor and divided common (2/2) time
  3. Scherzo
    Scherzo

    A scherzo is a piece of music or a movement, in a certain style, that forms part of a larger piece such as a symphony. The word "scherzo" means "joke" in Italian language....
    : Allegro molto, in D minor and 3/4 time
  4. Presto
    Presto

    Presto is a word from the Italian language, meaning 'soon', 'early', or 'quickly'. In English, it may have the following meanings:...
    , in D minor in 6/8


The opening movement is, along with that of the preceding and next quartet and that of his string quintet
String Quintet (Schubert)

The String Quintet in C major, Otto Erich Deutsch 956, Opus number posth. 163, is a piece of chamber music written by Franz Schubert. It was composed during the summer of 1828, two months before his death, and is Schubert's final instrumental work....
, among the most extended and substantial in his chamber music output, if not in his output as a whole. It is a sonata form
Sonata form

Sonata form is a musical form that has been used widely since the early Classical music era. While it is typically used in the first Movement of multimovement pieces, it is sometimes employed in subsequent movements as well....
 movement whose exposition encompasses three main key regions, D minor, F major and A minor.

The second movement is a theme — taken from his macabre song Der Tod und Das Mädchen
Death and the Maiden (song)

Der Tod und das M?dchen , Death and the Maiden in English language, is a lied composed by Franz Schubert.The lyrics, which are Germany, are derived from a poem written by Matthias Claudius....
 (D 531 in Deutsch's catalog) — and five variations, with coda
Coda (music)

Coda is a term used in music in a number of different senses, primarily to designate a passage which brings a piece to a conclusion....
.

The third movement's main theme can also be heard in one of a set of piano dances; its lyrical D major trio varies its 'repeats'.

The relentless finale-tarantella
Tarantella

The Tarantella is a South Italy dance, its name coming from the town of Taranto, where it originated. It is among the most recognized of traditional Italian music....
 is a sonata-rondo in form — a rondo whose first episode returns as the last, and whose central section contains elements of development. Its coda promises major-mode triumph, and snatches it away.

Arrangements

In 1878, Robert Franz
Robert Franz

Robert Franz was a German composer, mainly of lieder.He was born Robert Knauth, the son of Christoph Franz Knauth. In 1847, Christoph Knauth adopted his middle name Franz as his new surname, and his son followed suit....
 transcribed the quartet for piano duet.

This is one of the quartet works, along with Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. He was a crucial figure in the transitional period between the Classical music era and Romantic music eras in classical music, and remains one of the most acclaimed and influential composers of all time....
's String Quartet No. 11 in F minor ("Quartetto serioso")
String Quartet No. 11 (Beethoven)

Ludwig van Beethoven's Opus number 95, his String Quartet No. 11 in F minor, is his last before his exalted late string quartets. It is commonly referred to as the "Serioso," stemming from his title "Quartett[o] Serioso" at the beginning and the tempo designation for the third movement....
, that Mahler
Gustav Mahler

Gustav Mahler was a Bohemian-born Austrian composer and conducting. He was best known during his own lifetime as one of the leading orchestral and operatic conductors of the day....
 arranged for use by a string orchestra, mostly by doubling some of the cello parts with double bass
Double bass

The double bass or contrabass is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow string instrument used in the modern orchestra. It is a standard member of the string section of the orchestra and smaller string musical ensembles in European classical music....
es.

In 1930 the British composer John Foulds
John Foulds

John Herbert Foulds , was a United Kingdom composer of classical music from England.A successful composer of light music and theatre scores, his principal creative energies went into more ambitious and exploratory works that were particularly influenced by Music of India....
 made a version "as a symphony
Symphony

A symphony is a musical composition, often extended and usually for orchestra. "Symphony" does not imply a specific form. Many symphonies are tonality works in four movement with the first in sonata form, and this is often described by music theorists as the structure of a "Classical period " symphony, although even some symphonies by the ac...
" for full (classical) orchestra.

In the 1990's the American composer Andy Stein
Andy Stein

Andy Stein is a saxophone and violin player in the United States best known for his appearances with the country rock band Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen....
 made a version "Symphony in D minor, 'Death and the Maiden'" for full orchestra. This version has been performed by the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic and others.

Appearances in film and television

Ariel Dorfman
Ariel Dorfman

File:DorfmanA1.jpgAriel Dorfman is a Chilean-United States novelist, playwright, essayist, academic, and human rights activist. A citizen of the United States since 2004, he has been a professor of literature and Latin American Studies at Duke University, in Durham, North Carolina since 1985....
's 1991 play Death and the Maiden
Death and the Maiden (play)

Death and the Maiden is a 1991 play by Chilean playwright Ariel Dorfman. The world premiere was staged at the Royal Court Theatre in London on 9 July 1991, directed by Lindsay Posner....
 and its 1994 film adaptation
Death and the Maiden (film)

Death and the Maiden is a drama film directed by Roman Polanski, based on the Death and the Maiden by Ariel Dorfman, a Chilean exile who escaped the regime of Augusto Pinochet....
 (directed by Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski

Roman Raymond Polanski is an Academy Award-winning and four-time nominated Poland-France film director, writer, actor and film producer.Polanski began his career in Poland, and later became a celebrated director of both art house and commercial films, making such films as Rosemary's Baby and Chinatown ....
) take their names from the quartet.

Additionally, Schubert's quartet has been used in the score of at least the following:
  • The 1996
    1996 in film

    The year '1996 in film' involved some significant events. Major releases this year included Fargo , Trainspotting , The English Patient , Independence Day , Twister , Scream, Jerry Maguire and Madonna 's Evita ....
     Jane Campion
    Jane Campion

    Jane Campion is an Academy Awards-winning film maker and screenplay writer. She is one of the most internationally successful New Zealand directors, although most of her work has been made in or financed by other countries, principally Australia ? where she now lives ? and the U.S....
     film The Portrait of a Lady
    The Portrait of a Lady (film)

    The Portrait of a Lady is a 1996 film adaptation of Henry James's novel The Portrait of a Lady directed by Jane Campion.The film stars Nicole Kidman, Barbara Hershey, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker, Martin Donovan, Shelley Duvall, Richard E....
    .
  • The 1972
    1972 in film

    The year 1972 in film involved some significant events....
     Roman Polanski
    Roman Polanski

    Roman Raymond Polanski is an Academy Award-winning and four-time nominated Poland-France film director, writer, actor and film producer.Polanski began his career in Poland, and later became a celebrated director of both art house and commercial films, making such films as Rosemary's Baby and Chinatown ....
     film What?
  • The BBC TV production of Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking
    Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking

    Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking is a United Kingdom television movie originally broadcast on BBC One in the UK on December 26 2004....
    .


External links

  • from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
    Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

    The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum or Fenway Court is a museum in the Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, Massachusetts located within walking distance of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and near the Back Bay Fens....
     in MP3
    MP3

    MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a digital audio Encoder format using a form of lossy data compression. It is a common audio format for consumer audio storage, as well as a de facto standard encoding for the transfer and playback of music on digital audio players....
     format