After Beethoven

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Franz Schubert. Today, how Schubert faced the challenge of following in the footsteps of Beethoven.

Schubert and Beethoven died within 20 months of each other, but Schubert was a whole generation younger. By the year of Schubert’s birth, 1797, Beethoven had already taken Vienna by storm as the most exciting pianist around, and had begun to make his mark as a composer. By the time Schubert hit his stride as a composer, Beethoven was already a living legend. “Who can do anything after Beethoven?”, the teenage Schubert is said to have said. He spent the rest of his short life demonstrating that he was the answer to that question.

Beethoven
‘Der Zufriedene’, Op 75 No 6
Nicolai Gedda, tenor
Jan Eyron, piano

Schubert
‘Der Zufriedene’, D320
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone
Gerald Moore, piano

Symphony No 4 in C minor (‘Tragic’), D417 (1st mvt, Adagio molto—Allegro vivace)
Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra
Roger Norrington conductor

String Quartet in A minor, D804 (‘Rosamunde’) (2nd mvt, Andante)
Juilliard Quartet

‘Abschied’, D957 No 7
Werner Güra, tenor
Christoph Berner, piano

‘Der Atlas’, D 957 No 8
Werner Güra, tenor
Christoph Berner, piano

Octet in F for clarinet, horn, bassoon, string quartet and double bass, D803 (2nd mvt, Adagio)
Vienna Octet

‘Auf dem Strom’, D943
Michael Schade, tenor
David Pyatt, horn
Graham Johnson, piano

Produced by Chris Barstow