String Quintet D. 956 (Op. posth. 163)

No language has the words to describe the essence of Schubert’s deepest musical outpourings. Probably the greatest tribute is paid to music of this quality not by talking about it, but by listening to it. Listening, not once, but many times; not with half an ear, but not too analytically either: listening in astonishment and with an open mind. Even so, a bit of commentary can sometimes be helpful, if only to place a work in its context. The environment, in the form of time and space, is always the breeding ground for every work of art. If we say “a tree is known by its fruit”, it is interesting to take a closer look at the tree.
What tree produced a fruit like Schubert?
In the early nineteenth century, when Schubert was growing up and living in Vienna, the personal emotions of a poet (or composer, writer, painter) were of growing importance. At the same time as it was moving towards individual expression, art was still clearly leaning on its strong ‘classical’ foundations, the achievements of the late eighteenth century – but the borders had been shifted, towards monumental stature and towards small-scale intimacy (compare Beethoven’s development of the symphony and the string quartet to the many jewels of art songs written by his contemporaries, with Schubert leading the way). In short, from the waves of this renewal arose what we now know as romantic art, with its diverse range of emotions, now intensified, now held back…