MUSIC 415 Final Paper
MUSIC 415 Final Paper
MUSIC 415 Final Paper
Matthew Chan
MUSIC 415
Professor Earp
It was near the end of Franz Schuberts life, when he was overcome with illness and
knew that his death was near, that he composed his String Quartet No. 14 in D minor. The work
is more popularly known as the Death and the Maiden quartet, named after the lied of the same
name which he composed in 1817. The lied, which is set to the text of a poem by German poet
Matthias Claudius, serves as the basis of the quartets second movement, a theme and variations
Death and the Maiden was composed in 1824, just four years before the composers
death. In its initial reading in the house of colleague and composer Franz Lachner in 1826, the
work was not well received. The first violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh of the performing quartet
even remarked to Schubert, Brother, this is nothing at all, let well alone: stick to your Lieder
(Way). Perhaps this poor initial reception was part of the reason why Schubert did not have the
work published in his life; Death and the Maiden did not see publication until 1831, three years
after Schuberts death. In fact, it was initially designated everywhere as Op posth, indicating its
posthumous publication (Brown, 985). The now-famous quartet in D minor would not become
commonplace on the concert platform until violinist Joseph Hellmesberger and the
Hellmesberger Quartet began to perform it in Vienna during the 1850s and 1860s, as they did
However, once the work made its way to the concert stage, it quickly established itself as
a well-liked standard in the chamber music concert repertoire. Even as early as 1871, the D
minor quartet found itself programmed alongside other popular quartets such as Mendelssohns
quartet in A minor, where critics delighted in how Schubert introduced themes from his lieder
into his instrumental work, as with the second movement of Death and the Maiden (Anon.,
Monday, 36). These concert reviews of Schuberts Death and the Maiden are prevalent
throughout the late 19th century. In 1882, music critic Ferdinand Praeger laments with great
empathy of how such a great work as Schuberts [D] minor Quartet should have remained
undiscovered so long after his death. The critic was clearly affected by both Schuberts
circumstance in composition when facing his own mortality and the simple majesty of the
variations composed in the second movement (Praeger, 163). In 1889, the Beethoven String
Quartet programmed Death and the Maiden on their final concert of the season, evidencing that
the work was substantial and well-regarded enough to kick off the concert dedicated to works of
Schubert. A New York Times review of this performance referred to the D minor quartet as a
beautiful composition (Anon., Beethoven). Another review of the second movement of the
piece performed by the Kneisel Quartet indicates the additional admiration of the lied-based
Schuberts posthumous Quartet in D minor (Anon., Kneisel, 352). Even legendary violinist Dr.
Joseph Joachim programmed the piece in the later years of his life, as he performed it in concert
with a few colleagues in Manchester in 1906 (Anon., Music, 415). With the abundance of
positive concert reviews of the composition in several different periodicals in different parts of
the world, it is clear that Death and the Maiden was perceived as a wonderful composition
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worthy of continued programming and performance in its early inception to the concert
repertoire in the late 19th century and even into the early 20th century.
The position of Death and the Maiden in the standard repertoire persisted unwaveringly
throughout the 20th century and even to today. In 1942, McNaught writes in the The Musical
Times extremely high praise of the work, even praising it as one of the unquestioned
masterpieces:
In case these notes are read by seekers of chamber music who are
still in the inquiring stage: [Schuberts] Quartet [in D minor] is one
of the unquestioned masterpieces; there is nothing abstruse or
difficult about it it all comes at you brilliantly from the surface;
the first and last movements are examples of Schuberts mastery of
classical form; the second movement, which you may like the least
on account of its formality, is a set of variations on a tune adapted
from the song Death and the Maiden; and the third, a Scherzo,
stands up to the rest (McNaught, 336).
At this point, more than a century after it was composed, and more than fifty years after its
entrance to the standard chamber music concert repertoire, Death and the Maiden continued to
be recognized as a stellar composition. Its popularity persists in the current time period as well;
in fact, the piece is so popular that it possibly suffers from being overplayed in the eyes of those
in search of novelty and fresh music. When promoting a CD recording Schuberts other lesser-
known posthumous quartet in G major, Bernard Holland writes, For those whoare a little
tired of the Death and the Maiden Quartet, the G majoris a strong companion piece
(Holland, C22). While the quartet in D minor certainly enjoyed its regular performance in the
first century of its existence, its popularity did not decay by any means to the present day, where
prominent professional quartets still continue to make studio recordings like the Takacs Quartet
When surveying literature that addresses performance study of the work, they all seem to
agree that the piece is symbolic of Schuberts struggle with death and his own mortality, and that
keeping this context in mind when learning and performing the piece is integral to capturing the
mood and style of the quartet. Violinist and teacher Edith Eisler, in examining the piece as a
whole, says that Death and the Maiden represents Schuberts most direct confrontation with
death. (Eisler, 29). Arnold Steinhardt, first violinist of the Guarneri Quartet, elaborates on this
The presence of death in the quartet is all but short of Schubert writing a dedication to death
itself in the manuscript, and in a way, the use of his previously composed song as the basis of the
second movement almost serves as a straightforward address to death. Similar to how performers
of the Death and the Maiden quartet almost always consider Schuberts oncoming demise in
their emotional interpretation of the piece, they are also sure to read and apply the poem by
Gib deine Hand, du schn und Give me your hand, you beautiful
zart Gebild and tender form!
Bin Freund, und komme nicht, I am a friend, and come not to
zu strafen punish
Sei gutes Muts! ich bin nicht wild, Be of good cheer! I am not fierce,
Sollst sanft in meinen Armen schlafen! Softly shall you sleep in my arms!
The poem paints the picture of a dialogue between a maiden, whose time seems to have come,
and death, the sweet creature who will grant the maiden its embrace of eternal sleep. From the
tone of the poem alone, the contrast between the characters of maiden and death is striking. The
maiden is frantic and crazed, scared of permanent darkness and pleading for death to pass her by.
Death, perhaps unexpectedly and ironically, is gentle and calm, lightly beckoning the maiden to
accept his coming. Arnold Steinhardt in his reflections of the Guarneri Quartet reveals his
awareness and investigation of both Schuberts illness and the song that the D minor quartet was
based on (Steinhardt, Death, 70-71). But perhaps more compelling is how in his Strad article he
implores students and others who are studying the work to familiarize themselves with the poem
and song:
In addition, Eisler emphasizes the songs importance to the work as a whole, ascertaining that it
was no accident that [Schubert] chose [the] song for the quartets slow movement (Eisler 29).
The fact that the quartets relationship to the song is mentioned in so many concert reviews
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further heightens the significance of the 1817 song when considering the quartet in D minor as a
whole.
The string quartet in D minor would find itself manifested into other art forms as well.
Chilean playwright Ariel Dorfman wrote the play Death and the Maiden in 1990, its premiere
occurring on July 9th, 1991. In the play, the string quartet plays a major role. The main character
of the play, Paulina Salas, was imprisoned and tortured in a time of political strife. Blindfolded,
she was unable to see the doctor who tortured her, but the brutal beatings and rape that occurred
were done to a tape of Schuberts quartet in D minor, from which the play derives its name.
Years later after escaping imprisonment, Paulina encounters the man who she believes to be the
doctor who tortured her (though she is unable to prove it due to the fact that she was blindfolded
in imprisonment), and proceeds to give him a personal trial in her own pseudo-court, enforced by
her possession of a firearm. She even plays a cassette of the quartet in this scene, and refers to it
specifically in her interrogation of the man. Rusty Wilson, director of the theatre group Company
of Fools, went as far as to have his actors set up a simulated captive situation where Death and
the Maiden was played, in order to help give the actors a better idea of how intense the scenes
were to be (Cronin). The fact that Dorfman used Schubert and his quartet in this way speaks to
the playwrights belief that knowledge of the composer and his work was widespread enough
that adding this element to his play would resonate well with viewers (Schroeder, 259). The play
was further adapted into a mystery-drama film directed by French-Polish director Roman
Polanski in 1994, where again the quartet is played and used as a key plot point to tie the
relationship between Paulina and her supposed torturer together. Schuberts quartet was certainly
The Death and the Maiden quartet is used more broadly than just in plays or films that
stem their name from Schuberts masterful work. Themes from the quartet are often used to
symbolize an inescapable fate death, of course. Janet Wolff elucidates the use of the quartet in
The quartets ability to symbolize death became more and more common as more works used
themes from the piece in the same way. Another example of the advanced symbolic use of the
quartet is in the film adaptation of the novel Portrait of a Lady, by New Zealand director Jane
Campion. American musicologist Lawrence Kramer analyses the use of the Death and the
Maiden quartet alongside other works of Schubert and their role in portraying the main character
Isabel Archers moral and emotional predicaments throughout the film. The film uses excerpts of
the quartet sparsely but meaningfully in the duration of the film; after explaining the background
behind Death and the Maiden and the poem it comes from, Kramer ties each appearance of the D
minor quartet to an important change or decision made by Isabel, culminating in her husband (in
annihilation: Death to her Maiden. The quartet excerpts that punctuate the scenes from their
marriage convey what happens, what it feels and sounds like, as Isabel gradually realizes that her
subjectivity has become the unwilling but seemingly helpless host for [her husband]s parasitic
voice (Kramer, 40-44). While Isabel does not physically die in this film, the quartet still
symbolizes the intangible death of Isabels individuality and moral autonomy. Death and the
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Maiden undoubtedly left its mark in western culture, as exhibited by its regular appearances in
film.
Beyond the scope of plays and films, Death and the Maiden was influential to composers
that followed Schubert as well. Composer Robert Franz transcribed the work for piano duet in
1878, and most notably, Gustav Mahler among his many arrangements of string quartets for
string orchestra chose to also arrange Schuberts quartet in D minor as well in 1896. While he
never finished the arrangement beyond the second movement of the quartet (the arrangement
was later edited and completed by modern composer David Matthews), Mahlers notion to
embark on the arrangement is an indication of the high esteem and respect he had for Schubert
and his quartet. The arrangement itself however was not spectacularly innovative; Althouse
remarks in a review of a performance of the arrangement that is was simply the addition of
double bass and expressive markings, though the music seemed to still be well received by virtue
Schuberts Death and the Maiden unquestionably left a large imprint on not only the
western classical music world, but on contemporary culture. While it took a couple decades to
get discovered and introduced to the concert stage, from that moment onward the composition
would consistently receive accolades by music critics in many different parts of the world, and
would be programmed by many different professional quartets and famous string players. The
masterpiece has had a presence on the concert stage ever since, and has been recorded many
times when the technology came around. Both live performances and new recordings of the
piece are being made to this day. The quartet in D minor is also commonly accepted as
Schuberts most direct confrontation with the knowledge of his impending death; this, coupled
with the awareness that the second movement of the quartet was based off of his own lied from
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1817 with the grim text of Matthias Claudiuss poem, act as the emotional and situational
background of this arguably programmatic work of death. The quartet was embedded strongly
enough into western culture that it would find itself an eponym of the play Death and the Maiden
by Ariel Dorfman, and then also the film adaptation of the same name by Roman Polanski,
where Schuberts music played an integral part in the plot. The Death and the Maiden quartets
association with strife and death also prevailed in western culture, such as when the piece is used
functionally to anticipate both physical and emotional death in the films Crimes and
Misdemeanors and Portrait of a Lady respectively. Further, the quartet in D minor was admired
enough by composers that followed to warrant multiple arrangements: for piano duet in 1878 by
Robert Franz, and for string orchestra in 1896 by Gustav Mahler (and finished by David
Matthews). Schuberts Death and the Maiden Quartet D.810 has had a long and valued history
throughout the decades, and will without a doubt continue to persist on the concert stage, in
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Anon. The Beethoven Quartet. The New York Times, 15 Mar. 1889.
Anon. The Kneisel String Quartet. The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular, 1 Aug.
Anon. Monday Popular Concerts. The Monthly Musical Record, 1 Mar. 1871, British
Periodicals: 36.
Anon. Music in Manchester. The Musical Times, 1 Jun. 1906, Musical Times Publications Ltd.,
47/760: 415.
Bashford, Christina. Chamber Music. Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/05379.
Brown, Maurice. Schuberts D Minor Quartet: A Footnote. The Musical Times, Oct. 1970,
Cronin, Colleen. TIMELY, POLITICAL, THRILLER; Company of Fools Death and the
Earhart, Will. Review. Music Supervisors Journal, Oct. 1928, Sage Publications Inc., 15/1: 93.
Eisler, Edith. Mastering One of the Most Daunting Quartets in the Literature. Strings, May
Holland, Bernard. Schuberts Flight, Wide Yet Unfinished. The New York Times, 14 Mar.
Kramer, Lawrence. Recognizing Schubert: Musical Subjectivity, Cultural Change, and Jane
Campions The Portrait of a Lady. Critical Inquiry, 2002, The University of Chicago,
28: 25-52.
McNaught, W. Gramophone Notes. The Musical Times, Nov. 1942, Musical Times
Praeger, Ferdinand. Monday Popular Concerts. The Musical Standard, 18 Mar. 1882,
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an Age of Terror, edited by Sophia McClennen and Henry Morello, Purdue University
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64-78.
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http://www.fuguemasters.com/schubert.html.
Wolff, Janet. Death and the Maiden: Does Semiotics Justify Murder? Critical Quarterly, Jun.