Six moments musicaux (Schubert)

Background#

It has been said that Schubert was deeply influenced in writing these pieces by the Impromptus, Op. 7, of Jan Václav Voříšek (1822). They were published by Leidesdorf in Vienna in 1828, under the title “Six Momens sic musicals sic “. The standard French forms are now usually used – moments (instead of momens), and musicaux (instead of musicals). Because the title is not Schubert’s own, it has been argued that we “might reasonably conclude that these are not really ‘moments’ of music at all, as some of the six pieces last more than five or six minutes.” The sixth number was published in 1824 in a Christmas album under the title Les plaintes d’un troubadour.

Structure#

The movements are as follows:

Performances#

The entire D. 780 set has been recorded by Edwin Fischer, András Schiff (for Decca), as well as and not limited to Claudio Arrau, Alfred Brendel, Imogen Cooper, Emil Gilels, Paul Lewis, Radu Lupu, Artur Schnabel, Mitsuko Uchida, Maria João Pires, Alexandre Tharaud, Jenő Jandó, David Fray, and Martin Helmchen. Individual pieces from the set have been recorded by Sviatoslav Richter, Stanislav Ioudenitch, Daniel Barenboim, and Vladimir Horowitz. The set was recorded on fortepianos by András Schiff (for ECM), Melvyn Tan, Lambert Orkis, Peter Katin, Jan Vermeulen, Trudelies Leonhardt, Olga Tverskaya and Ghislain Potvlieghe. Nos. 2 and 3 were recorded live by Malcolm Bilson on an 1830 André Stein piano in the Brahms-Saal of the Musikverein in Vienna.

In Dance#

Isadora Duncan choreographed a dance to No. 3 in F Minor (Allegro moderato) around 1908.

External links#

• *Performance of the Six moments musicaux by Charlie Albright from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in MP3 format