"Schubert" Flute Quartet - wrong composer?

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aldona
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"Schubert" Flute Quartet - wrong composer?

Post by aldona »

Is there a Schubertologist in the house?

From the latest batch of Sibley scores, a quartet for flute and strings has made its way onto IMSLP, allegedly by Franz Schubert, Op.4.

Having had a look at it, I am doubtful that it is by the well-known Franz Schubert (1797-1828) and believe it may be by one of the two "Dresden" Franz Schuberts - Franz Anton Schubert the Elder (1768-1824), or his son François Schubert (Franz Anton Schubert the Younger) (1808-1878).

Having spent a long time trawling through work lists and Deutsch-catalogs, and being a flute player and Schubert fan myself, I had never heard of a flute quartet by the master before.
Franz Schubert's (1797-1828) Opus 4 was actually a group of three songs (Der Wanderer, Morgenlied and Wanderers Nachtlied I.)

Does anybody have more information/

AJ
“all great composers wrote music that could be described as ‘heavenly’; but others have to take you there. In Schubert’s music you hear the very first notes, and you know that you’re there already.” - Steven Isserlis
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Re: "Schubert" Flute Quartet - wrong composer?

Post by pml »

Probably F.A. Schubert the elder, just judging by the hand-written parts and the late classical style of the piece. I see someone other than me has come to the same conclusion!

However, the title page does have “François Schubert”, which poses the question: were both Schuberts known by this French version of their name, or just the son?

Cheers, Philip
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Re: "Schubert" Flute Quartet - wrong composer?

Post by Carolus »

The Kühnel (an early imprint of the firm that ultimately was known as C.F. Peters) parts have a plate number in the 500s which along with the somewhat primitive engraving style places it around the time that François Schubert was born (1808). There was evidently a whole family of musical Schuberts active in Dresden in that era, but Franz Anton the elder (the father of François) seemed the most likely suspect. I'm delighted to see our two resident Schubertologisti taking a similar view.
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Re: "Schubert" Flute Quartet - wrong composer?

Post by Melodia »

There IS a "flute quartet" in Schubert's name, for Flute, Viola, Cello, and Guitar. The piece was actually original for Flute, Viola, and Guitar and by someone by Wenzel Thomas Matiegka. Schubert basically added the cello part, as well as composed a second trio for the minuet.

Obviously this isn't the piece in question, though, as Schubert's Op. 4 is a pair of songs.
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Re: "Schubert" Flute Quartet - wrong composer?

Post by kalliwoda »

The main catalog at Sibley ascribes this to Schubert, Franz Anton, 1768-1827. Only the digitized entry got ascribed to the wrong Schubert
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Re: "Schubert" Flute Quartet - wrong composer?

Post by aldona »

Melodia said:
There IS a "flute quartet" in Schubert's name, for Flute, Viola, Cello, and Guitar.
Thank you! It always annoys me when D.96 is referred to as the "Guitar Quartet."

AJ
“all great composers wrote music that could be described as ‘heavenly’; but others have to take you there. In Schubert’s music you hear the very first notes, and you know that you’re there already.” - Steven Isserlis
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Re: "Schubert" Flute Quartet - wrong composer?

Post by jfarrington »

kalliwoda wrote:The main catalog at Sibley ascribes this to Schubert, Franz Anton, 1768-1827. Only the digitized entry got ascribed to the wrong Schubert
Sorry. Our student uploader picked the wrong Schubert from the list. It's been corrected.
Jim
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