String Quartet No. 1 (Schubert)

The String Quartet No. 1 (D 18) in mixed keys was composed by Franz Schubert in 1810 or 1811.

History

A partial autograph of the composer kept in the Vienna City Library has the date 1812 written on the cover.^[1] The composition date is however more likely 1810.^[2] As such it may be Schubert's earliest extant completed multi-movement work for more than one player.

Description

The work has the traditional four movements of a classical string quartet, with the Menuetto preceding the slow movement (Andante). The key signature of the work is undefined.

Key signature

D 18 is the only remaining of a set of three early string quartets "in changing, undefined" key signatures by Schubert. The Deutsch catalogue indicates its key as g/B[♭].^[2]

Movements

1. Andante – Presto vivace (C minor – G minor)
2. Menuetto (F major, with Trio in C major)
3. Andante (B-flat major)
4. Presto (B-flat major)

Publication

The work was first published in 1890, in the Franz Schubert's Works complete edition by Breitkopf & Härtel.^[2]

References

1. Manuscript part scores at www.schubert-online.at
2. Deutsch 1978, pp. 17–18

Sources

• Franz Schubert's Works, Series V: Streichquartette edited by Joseph Hellmesberger and Eusebius Mandyczewski. Breitkopf & Härtel, 1890.
• Otto Erich Deutsch (and others). Schubert Thematic Catalogue (several editions), No. 18.
• New Schubert Edition, Series VI, Volume 3: Streichquartette I edited by Martin Chusid. Bärenreiter, 1979.

External links

• String Quartet No. 1: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project