What do you think about Schubert's 9th symphony?

Not long ago, i didn't know Schubert can write orchestral music, one day, i accidentally listened to his 9th symphony, and I was very impressed by it, he was Heavily influenced by Beethoven, anyone knows this symphony? Did any of you pay any attention to his final movement, I think he quoted Beethoven's Ode to Joy there, starting bar 390.

...He only finished the 1st and 2nd movements, so I presume you are talking about the 2nd movement?

The piece is decent, but I've never really loved it. I think the music has been romanticised because of his early death and made to be more significant then it is. As for the Ode to Joy quote, I never caught it, but I'll take a look.

you are mistaken, you are thinking about the 8th symphony "unfinished", I am talking about the 9th symphony in C major "great", all four movements completed, the manuscript was found after Schubert's death

Ohhhh... Sorry about that. I never even know a 9th symphony existed! NOW I am very very interested.

How did he not finish his 8th but finished his 9th? Was his 9th really his 8th and they were just mistaken? Are there audio samples of this 9th symphony? If so, where? I want to hear them!!!! :(

Numbers are always rather iffy. They're usually in order of publication, and the 9th was not discovered until after Schubert's death.

Also, no one really knows whether or not Schubert's 8th was really unfinished. There is some evidence (possibly questionable, though) that Schubert did not intend to write any more movements.

Mendelssohn's symphonies, incidentally, are even more out of order: the order of composition of the five was 1, 5, 4, 2, 3.

But there really is no convention... Dvorak's symphonies were renumbered in chronological order of composition after his death. Initially Dvorak gave the number 1 to the one that we now know as his 6th.

Ohhhh... Sorry about that. I never even know a 9th symphony existed! NOW I am very very interested.

How did he not finish his 8th but finished his 9th? Was his 9th really his 8th and they were just mistaken? Are there audio samples of this 9th symphony? If so, where? I want to hear them!!!! smile.gif

I believe Robert Schuman discovered the ninth symphony after Schuberts death.

EDIT: Oh, didn't see caltech's post. :(

Amazing symphony,

discovered? I know the vienna philharmonic dismissed the piece as being too difficult, back when he was still alive and kick'n.

sample of his 9th symphony, i am sorry that i can only provide it in Midi format:

FS9th1.mid

FS9th2.mid

FS9th3.mid

FS9th4.mid

Amazing symphony,

discovered? I know the vienna philharmonic dismissed the piece as being too difficult, back when he was still alive and kick'n.

Sure... but at the time, orchestral scores were rarely published before a first performance.

It's amazing how much the standard of instrumental playing has risen over the centuries. Of course virtuosi were virtuosi, but a lot of pieces that are now in the standard repertoire were once dismissed by even professional musicians as being too difficult. The violin concerti of Beethoven and Tchaikovsky were both called "impossible" at one point; Mendelssohn's 5th ("Reformation") symphony was rejected by two orchestras as being too difficult and only published posthumously, and Mozart's piano quartets, which are quite easily playable by average college musicians today, were never performed in his lifetime because they were said to be too difficult.

Maybe it is from the idealogy of the movie Amadeus.

"Just toooo many notes"

"A man can only hear soo many notes in a lifetime"(which by the way life expectancy has increased and with all this junk food/music(ha ha) it is bound to go down)

hmm... I really don't think I am fully appreciating his genius, because I've never heard a symphony of his that I truly enjoyed beyond the, "It's nice" stage. Thank you for posting the MIDIs though - I can't believe that I've never heard of this piece!