How to Listen to Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony

Franz Schubert composed his famous Symphony No. 8 in B Minor in 1822. But for some reason he abandoned the project in mid-stream, leaving only two completed movements. Those two movements, however, comprise nearly 30 minutes of some of the best orchestral music Schubert ever wrote.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Stereo
• Recording of Franz Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 in B Minor D. 759 “Unfinished”
• Drawing pad and pencil (optional)

1. Insert the CD into the stereo and press “Play.” Sit down somewhere comfortable, close your eyes, and allow the music to wash over you.

2. The first movement is a monumental struggle between tragedy and tranquility. The ominous opening bars suggest a distant thunderstorm, with towering black clouds, blurry white flashes of lightning and growls of thunder. I like to think of this storm as a metaphor for something deeply unsettling and flawed within the human condition itself. Let your imagination take this idea and run with it.

3. About a minute and a half into the movement, the music brightens suddenly into a major key, with an elegant, jaunty melody that is sure to stick in your head long after the symphony is done playing. Imagine the sun coming out from behind the storm clouds and shining, tentatively at first but then stronger and brighter.

4. About 4 minutes into the first movement there is a reprise of the ominous opening section, the thunderheads blotting out the sun once again. There are a couple of stormy interjections sprinkled throughout the remainder of the movement too, as if the storm isn’t quite ready to go away. The struggle between light and dark continues until the end of the movement, and surprisingly, the stormy minor key wins out in the end.

5. But the tranquil sunshine gets the last laugh. The “Andante con moto” second movement begins with a tender, pastoral theme, and then transitions into a lilting, energetic dance. Imagine a group of friends having a picnic in the countryside, alternating between placid enjoyment of their idyllic surroundings and boisterous conversation, laughter and games with one another. If you listen carefully, you can almost hear the birds singing in the background.

6. But once again, about 4 minutes into the movement, turmoil butts its head in and interrupts the party. It’s much more superficial than the gloomy tragedy in the first movement, and much briefer. Maybe a couple of the picnickers have gotten into an argument, but it’s quickly resolved and the fun continues as before.

7. The storm makes one final, last-ditch effort to spoil the picnic about 9 minutes into the second movement, but the threat lasts only for a moment, and calmness is soon restored. The sunny, optimistic key of E major wins out in the end.

8. When the music is over, open your eyes. If you wish, use your pencil and sketch pad to draw some of the scenes you imagined while the symphony was playing.