6 Moments musicaux

During Schubert’s short lifetime, pianos became increasingly sophisticated and a popular focal point in the living rooms of the burgeoning middle classes. This inspired a demand for musical miniatures that were neither too taxing to play nor too emotionally complex to take in at first hearing. In response, Schubert composed a series of short pieces between 1823 and 1828 that were published in July 1828, just four months before his death, originally under the ungrammatical French title Momens musicals. Each one is a microcosmic gem in which Schubert’s intensely private world of musical metaphors, unexpected harmonic twists and restlessly shifting modulations combine to create a profound sense of unease shadowing even the most carefree of gestures. The first “Moment” in C major, for example, opens innocently enough, but within no time Schubert turns inward with a C minor echo and then more despairingly moves to A minor. The most popular, No. 3, skips along with a dapper, carefree gait, yet the melody is cast in a decidedly gloomy F minor. This is music in which nothing is ever quite as it seems.