I. Allegro moderato
II. Andante con moto
Let us be thankful that Schubert never finished the work. Possibly the
lost arms of the Venus of Milo might disappoint if they were found and
restored. The few measures of the _scherzo_ that are in the manuscript
furnish but slight hope that here at last Schubert would not, as in so
many of his works of long breath, maintain a steady _decrescendo_ of
interest.
Surely, no one would deny the melancholy beauty of the first movement of
Schubert’s symphony, with its lyricism that is appealingly feminine,
with its melancholy that is without touch of peevishness and without
taint of pessimism; and the second movement has the serenity—that is,
Schubert’s romantic serenity, which is another thing than the classic
serenity of Mozart.
The symphony is eminently Schubertian in its beauty and in its weakness.
In the first movement there are measures of a grandeur that is seldom
found in Schubert’s compositions. In these measures we recognize the
Schubert that conceived the “Doppelgänger,” the “Gruppe aus dem
Tartarus,” and a few other songs in which dramatic force comes before
charming lyricism.
* * *
Two brothers, Anselm and Joseph Hüttenbrenner, were fond of Schubert.
Their home was in Graz, Styria, but they were living at Vienna. Anselm
was a musician; Joseph was in a government office. Anselm took Schubert
to call on Beethoven, and there is a story that the sick man said, “You,
Anselm, have my mind; but Franz has my soul.” Anselm closed the eyes of
Beethoven in death. These brothers were constant in endeavor to make
Schubert known. Anselm went so far as to publish a set of _Erlking
Waltzes_, and assisted in putting Schubert’s opera, _Alfonso and
Estrella_ (1822), in rehearsal at Graz, where it would have been
performed if the score had not been too difficult for the orchestra. In
1822 Schubert was elected an honorary member of musical societies of
Linz and Graz. In return for the compliment from Graz, he began the
Symphony in B minor, No. 8 (October 30, 1822). He finished the _allegro_
and the _andante_, and he wrote nine measures of the _scherzo_. Schubert
visited Graz in 1827, but neither there nor elsewhere did he ever hear
his unfinished work.
Anselm Hüttenbrenner went back to his home about 1820. It was during a
visit to Vienna that he saw Beethoven dying. Joseph remained at Vienna.
In 1860 he wrote from the office of the Minister of the Interior a
singular letter to Johann Herbeck, who then conducted the concerts of
the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde. He begged permission to sing in
concerts as a member of the society, and urged him to look over
symphonies, overtures, songs, quartets, choruses by Anselm. He added
towards the end of the letter, “He [Anselm] has a treasure in Schubert’s
B minor symphony, which we put on a level with the great Symphony in C,
his instrumental swan song, and any one of the symphonies by Beethoven.”
Herbeck was inactive and silent for five years, although he visited Graz
several times. Perhaps he was afraid that if the manuscript came to
light he could not gain possession of it, and the symphony, like the one
in C, would be produced elsewhere than in Vienna. Perhaps he thought the
price of producing one of Anselm Hüttenbrenner’s works in Vienna too
dear. There is reason to believe that Joseph insisted on this
condition.[43]
In 1865 Herbeck was obliged to journey with his sister-in-law, who
sought health. They stopped in Graz. On May 1 he went to Ober-Andritz,
where the old and tired Anselm, in a hidden little one-story cottage,
was awaiting death. Herbeck sat down in a humble inn. He talked with the
landlord, who told him that Anselm was in the habit of breakfasting
there. While they were talking, Anselm appeared. After a few words,
Herbeck said, “I am here to ask permission to produce one of your works
at Vienna.” The old man brightened, he shed his indifference, and after
breakfast took him to his home. The work-room was stuffed with yellow
and dusty papers, all in confusion. Anselm showed his own manuscripts,
and finally Herbeck chose one of the ten overtures for performance. “It
is my purpose,” he said, “to bring forward three contemporaries,
Schubert, Hüttenbrenner, and Lachner, in one concert before the Viennese
public. It would naturally be very appropriate to represent Schubert by
a new work.” “Oh, I have still a lot of things by Schubert,” answered
the old man; and he pulled a mass of papers out of an old-fashioned
chest. Herbeck immediately saw on the cover of a manuscript “_Symphonie
in H moll_,” in Schubert’s handwriting. Herbeck looked the symphony
over. “This would do. Will you let me have it copied immediately at my
cost?” “There is no hurry,” answered Anselm. “Take it with you.”
The symphony was first played at a Gesellschaft concert, Vienna,
December 17, 1865, under Herbeck’s direction. It was played at the
Crystal Palace, Sydenham, in 1867.