Franz Peter Schubert (1797 – 1828) was an Austrian
composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras.
Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a vast
oeuvre, including more than 600 secular vocal works
(mainly lieder), seven complete symphonies, sacred
music, operas, incidental music, and a large body of
piano and chamber music. His major works include the
art song "Erlkönig", the Piano Trout Quintet in A
major, the unfinished Symphony No. 8 in B minor, the
"Great" Symphony No. 9 in ...(+)
Franz Peter Schubert (1797 – 1828) was an Austrian
composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras.
Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a vast
oeuvre, including more than 600 secular vocal works
(mainly lieder), seven complete symphonies, sacred
music, operas, incidental music, and a large body of
piano and chamber music. His major works include the
art song "Erlkönig", the Piano Trout Quintet in A
major, the unfinished Symphony No. 8 in B minor, the
"Great" Symphony No. 9 in C major, a String Quintet,
the three last piano sonatas, the opera Fierrabras, the
incidental music to the play Rosamunde, and the song
cycles Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise. He was
remarkably prolific, writing over 1,500 works in his
short career. His compositional style progressed
rapidly throughout his short life. The largest number
of his compositions are songs for solo voice and piano
(roughly 630). Schubert also composed a considerable
number of secular works for two or more voices, namely
part songs, choruses and cantatas. He completed eight
orchestral overtures and seven complete symphonies, in
addition to fragments of six others. While he composed
no concertos, he did write three concertante works for
violin and orchestra. Schubert wrote a large body of
music for solo piano, including eleven incontrovertibly
completed sonatas and at least eleven more in varying
states of completion, numerous miscellaneous works and
many short dances, in addition to producing a large set
of works for piano four hands. He also wrote over fifty
chamber works, including some fragmentary works.
Schubert's sacred output includes seven masses, one
oratorio and one requiem, among other mass movements
and numerous smaller compositions. He completed only
eleven of his twenty stage works.
The Three Marches Militaires, Op. 51, D. 733, are
pieces in march form written for piano four-hands by
Franz Schubert. The first of the three is far more
famous than the others. It is one of Schubert's most
famous compositions, and it is often simply referred to
as "Schubert's Marche militaire". It is not certain
when the Marches militaires were written: many scholars
favour 1818 but some prefer alternative dates such as
1822 or 1824. It is known that they were written during
Schubert's stay at Count Johann Karl Esterházy's
summer home in Zseliz in Hungary. (This is now
Želiezovce in Slovakia.) He had accepted a job there
as music teacher to the Count's daughters, and these
and similar works were written for instructional
purposes. The Marches militaires were published in
Vienna on 7 August 1826, as Op. 51, by Anton Diabelli.
They are all in ternary form, with a central trio
leading to a reprise of the main march.
The first Military March is marked Allegro vivace and
is cast in the key of D major. An unharmonized fanfare
begins the affair, paving the way for a lively, pompous
main theme. The trio, like the trios of the other two
marches in the Opus, moves to the subdominant (here, G
major). By far the best-known of the three marches,
this piece contains one of Schubert's most widely
performed and quoted themes. Liszt, who transcribed
much of Schubert's music, wrote a masterful paraphrase
of it (Grand paraphrase de concert, S.426a). There have
also been numerous band and other arrangements of this
march; perhaps less flattering to its original
conception is its appearance in Igor Stravinsky's
Circus Polka -- a George Ballanchine "ballet for
elephants." Allegro molto moderato is the indication at
the head of Op. 51, No. 2. In G major, it opens with a
robust, full-blooded harmonic bombast, but makes room
for some gentleness foreign to the previous march as it
unfolds. The most characteristically march-like of the
three is probably the Military March No. 3 in E flat
major. There are some colorful harmonic twists at the
end of the march-proper, and a humorous bounce to the
step of the trio.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Marches_Militaires
_(Schubert))
Although originally composed for Piano (4 Hands), I
created this Interpretation of March No. 1 in D Major
from Three Marches Militaires (D.733 Op. 51 No. 1) for
Winds (Flute, Oboe, French Horn & Bassoon) & Strings (2
Violins, Viola & Cello).
