String Quartet No. 12 in C Minor

Schubert composed a sequence of string quartets as a precocious teenager but abandoned the form in 1816, after completing his Quartet No. 11. His return to the form four years later—albeit in a work that remained unfinished—was to mark his first maturity as a composer of instrumental music. This “Allegro assai” was finally published more than 40 years after his death and became known as the Quartettsatz (Quartet Movement); only 40 bars of a related “Andante” were sketched. The Quartettsatz’s form is unorthodox, with the opening theme, consisting of ominous tremolando triplets, returning only at the very end of the piece, though its outline underpins much of the movement. In between comes a series of melodies that could only have been conceived by a song-writer of Schubert’s ability, punctuated by impassioned scales that skate across the whole range of the violin over frenzied accompaniments. Schubert may have discarded the quartet but its sole movement is among his most remarkable works.