
When was the Trout Quintet written?
The Trout Quintet (Forellenquintett) is the popular name for the Piano Quintet in A major, D. 667, by Franz Schubert. The piano quintet was composed in 1819, when he was 22 years old; it was not published, however, until 1829, a year after his death.
What is the purpose of the poem trout by Schubert?
The full poem tells the story of a trout being caught by a fisherman, but in its final stanza reveals its purpose as a moral piece warning young women to guard against young men. When Schubert set the poem to music, he removed the last verse, which contained the moral, changing the song's focus and enabling it to be sung by male or female singers.
Why is the piece known as the trout?
The piece is known as the Trout because the fourth movement is a set of variations on Schubert's earlier Lied "Die Forelle" (The Trout). The quintet was written for Sylvester Paumgartner, of Steyr in Upper Austria, a wealthy music patron and amateur cellist, who also suggested that Schubert include a set of variations on the Lied.
What instruments are in the Trout Quintet?
The piano quintet was composed in 1819, when he was 22 years old; it was not published, however, until 1829, a year after his death. Rather than the usual piano quintet lineup of piano and string quartet, the Trout Quintet is written for piano, violin, viola, cello and double bass.

Who wrote the poem the trout?
Die Forelle, (German: “The Trout”) song setting for voice and piano by Franz Schubert, composed about 1817 (with later revisions), with words by Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart.
Why is it called the trout?
Nickname. The piece is known as the Trout because the fourth movement is a set of variations on Schubert's earlier Lied "Die Forelle" ("The Trout").
Why did Schubert write the trout quintet?
In 1819, Schubert and Vogl visited Vogl's home in Steyr and Schubert started working on his new piano quintet. He intended it for Sylvester Paumgartner, a friend of Vogl who was a local musical amateur. He played the cello and various wind instruments and held musical evenings at his home.
Who wrote the text for Die Forelle?
SchubertSchubert wrote "Die Forelle" in the single key of D-flat major with a varied (or modified) strophic form. The first two verses have the same structure but change for the final verse to give a musical impression of the trout being caught. In the Deutsch catalogue of Schubert's works it is number 550, or D.
What era was the trout?
Biologists believe the brook trout first arrived in the southern Appalachians during the Pleistocene Epoch, which began about 1.8 million years ago and ended about 11,000 years ago.
What is trout music?
Trout Fishing in America is an eclectic folk/rock band who write songs for all ages. As individuals, they are about as different as one can imagine. Together, they blend seamlessly in a way that has captured the imagination (and hearts) of audiences of all ages for over four decades. Meet Keith & Ezra.
Why is it called a piano quintet?
In classical music, a piano quintet is a work of chamber music written for piano and four other instruments, most commonly a string quartet (i.e., two violins, viola, and cello). The term also refers to the group of musicians that plays a piano quintet.
When was the Trout quintet written?
1819Trout Quintet / Composed
Why is Trout Quintet?
The Trout Quintet was composed for wealthy music patron and cellist Sylvester Paumgartner. He was the person who suggested that Schubert compose a work that was based on Die Forelle. Die Forelle was originally a song to warn young women against being 'caught' by 'angling' men.
Did Schubert compose any operas?
Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast oeuvre, including more than 600 secular vocal works (mainly lieder), seven complete symphonies, sacred music, operas, incidental music, and a large body of piano and chamber music. His major works include "Erlkönig" (D. 328), the Piano Quintet in A major, D.
What was Franz Schubert most famous piece?
Franz Schubert is best remembered for his songs—also called lieder—and his chamber music. He also created symphonies, masses, and piano works. His most notable works included Erlkönig, written in 1815 and based on a poem by Goethe; Ave Maria!, written in 1825; and the Symphony No. 9 in C Major, begun in 1825.
What is the trout about?
Presented here at the easy level, this well-known tune from Franz Schubert's song Die Forelle (The Trout) was also used in the 4th movement of his famous "Trout Quintet." It is a tale about a large trout living in a pond and the efforts of a determined fisherman to catch it.
Who wrote the trout quintet?
In 1819 Sylvester Baumgartner —a music patron and amateur cellist in Steyr —commissioned Schubert to write a piece of chamber music based on " Die Forelle "; Schubert then wrote a quintet for piano and strings in which he quoted the song in a set of variations in the fourth movement. The piece later became known as the Trout Quintet (D. 667).
Who was the composer who wrote the Coriolan Overture?
After Schubert completed the song, one of his friends, Johann Leopold Ebner, recounted that Schubert was told that " Die Forelle " unconsciously quoted Beethoven 's Coriolan Overture; on hearing the comparison, Schubert decided to destroy the manuscript, but he was stopped by Ebner and others.
How many autographs did Schubert make?
After completing his original in 1817, Schubert made six subsequent autographs. These differing versions were not necessarily an attempt to improve a work, with some later versions being written from memory with only minor variations; Newbould considers that Schubert's close replication was a "feat of musicianship ... and a sign that Schubert spoke the language of music with the naturalness of conversation." The differences between the autographs are small: according to Reed, they "are concerned ... with the tempo indication and the prelude – postlude." The first version, marked Mässig, has no introduction, although "the shape of the familiar introduction is already adumbrated in a seven-bar postlude". The draft is undated, although is from 1817 and is kept in the Stadler, Ebner and Schindler collection in Lund. A second copy, written in May or June 1817, was for Franz Sales Kandler's album: this version was marked Nicht zu geschwind (not too fast).
Who wrote the book "What a disaster"?
What a disaster!". The manuscript was held by the Hüttenbrenner family for a number of years and was photographed in 1870, before being lost. Schubert wrote a further version in 1820 for publication in the Wiener Zeitung, and a final copy in October 1821 for publication in the Neue Ausgabe.
Who was Schubert's brother?
Schubert and Anselm Hüttenbrenner, a friend and fellow composer, had finished a few bottles of Hungarian wine when Anselm commented that his brother Josef was an aficionado of Schubert's work. Schubert completed a copy of " Die Forelle " that was "somewhat messy".
Who wrote the poem "Die Forelle"?
The lyrics of the lied are from a poem by Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart. Opinion is divided on his abilities: The Musical Times considers him to be "one of the feeblest poets" whose work was used by Schubert, and comments that he "was content with versifying pretty ideas", while the singer and author Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau considered Schubart to be "a very talented poet, musician and orator". Schubart wrote " Die Forelle " in 1782, while imprisoned in the fortress of Hohenasperg; he was a prisoner there from 1777 to 1787 for insulting the mistress of Charles Eugene, Duke of Württemberg. The poem was published in the Schwäbischer Musenalmanach of 1783, consisting of four stanzas.
Did Schubert set the final stanza?
Schubert did not set this final stanza, however, and instead concentrated on a person's observation of the trout and the reaction to its being caught by a fisherman. Final stanza of " Die Forelle ", omitted by Schubert: original and translation. Die ihr am goldnen Quelle.
Who sang in the 1969 film The Trout?
The quintet forms the basis of Christopher Nupen 's 1969 film The Trout, in which Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Jacqueline du Pré, Daniel Barenboim and Zubin Mehta perform it at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London.
How long was the trout quintet?
1827. ( 1827) Duration. 35-43 minutes. Movements. five. The Trout Quintet ( Forellenquintett) is the popular name for the Piano Quintet in A major, D. 667, by Franz Schubert. The piano quintet was composed in 1819, when he was 22 years old; it was not published, however, until 1829, a year after his death.
Why is the piece "The Trout" called "The Trout"?
The piece is known as the Trout because the fourth movement is a set of variations on Schubert's earlier Lied " Die Forelle " ("The Trout"). The quintet was written for Sylvester Paumgartner, of Steyr in Upper Austria, a wealthy music patron and amateur cellist, who also suggested that Schubert include a set of variations on the Lied.
What is Schubert's harmonic language?
The first movement is in sonata form. As is commonplace in works of the Classical genre, the exposition shifts from tonic to dominant; however, Schubert's harmonic language is innovative, incorporating many mediants and submediants. This is evident from almost the beginning of the piece: after stating the tonic for ten bars, the harmony shifts abruptly into F major (the flatted submediant) in the eleventh bar.
What is trout quintet?
Compared to other major chamber works by Schubert, such as the last three string quartets and the string quintet, the Trout Quintet is a leisurely work, characterized by lower structural coherence, especially in its outer movements and the Andante.
What is the theme music for Waiting for God?
A portion of the Trout Quintet's fifth movement , performed by the Nash Ensemble, is used as the theme music for the BBC television comedy Waiting for God. The third movement performed by the Nash Ensemble is also used in the show.
What key is Schubert's fifth variation in?
In each of the first few variations, the main theme is played by a different instrument or group. In the fifth variation, Schubert begins in the flat submediant (B ♭ major), and creates a series of modulations eventually leading back to the movement's main key, at the beginning of the final sixth variation.
How many songs does Schubert have?
It is among the most familiar of Schubert’s approximately 600 songs, and it is best known as the basis for the theme of the fourth movement of Schubert’s Piano Quintet in A Major, better known as the Trout Quintet.
How does Schubert use the music in Erlkönig?
Here, as he had in “Erlkönig,” Schubert displays his mastery of the genre by using the music to convey the viewer’s emotions—first pleasure in the creature’s freedom and then dismay and anger while empathizing with the dying fish.

Overview
"Die Forelle" (German for "The Trout"), Op. 32, D 550. is a lied, or song, composed in early 1817 for solo voice and piano with music by the Austrian composer Franz Schubert (1797–1828). Schubert chose to set the text of a poem by Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart, first published in the Schwäbischer Musenalmanach in 1783. The full poem tells the story of a trout being caught b…
Context
The lyrics of the lied are from a poem by Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart. Opinion is divided on his abilities: The Musical Times considers him to be "one of the feeblest poets" whose work was used by Schubert, and comments that he "was content with versifying pretty ideas", while the singer and author Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau considered Schubart to be "a very talented poet, musician and …
Creation
In 1815 Schubert wrote a series of twenty songs based on the works of Ludwig Gotthard Kosegarten (1758–1818). Among them was "Die Erscheinung" (D 229), written in July that year; John Reed sees the song as a forerunner to "Die Forelle", observing that "Die Erscheinung" and other similar songs, "convey an intensity of feeling that belies their small scale". From the following year to 18…
Composition
"Die Forelle" is written for solo voice and piano in the key of D♭ major. The song is written with a varied (or modified) strophic structure, meaning the "verse music" is generally the same, with one different verse. According to the American historian Mark Ringer, Schubert used a "musical structure that reflects both the life cycle of the earth and the progress from innocence to experience". Schubert directed the piece to be played "Etwas lebhaft", or at a "somewhat lively" p…
Variations
After completing his original in 1817, Schubert made six subsequent autographs. These differing versions were not necessarily an attempt to improve a work, with some later versions being written from memory with only minor variations; Newbould considers that Schubert's close replication was a "feat of musicianship ... and a sign that Schubert spoke the language of music with the naturalness of conversation." The differences between the autographs are small: accor…
Reception
Information regarding the contemporary reception to "Die Forelle" is scant. Reed relates that the song had "immediate popularity", and that Schubert composing the Trout Quintet was evidence that "Die Forelle" "was already widely known" by 1819. Newbould agrees, pointing out that the quintet was "acknowledging the song's meteoric rise up early nineteenth-century Vienna's equivalent to the charts". Fischer-Dieskau takes a longer-term view of the song's popularity, writi…
Bibliography
• Arnold, Ben (2002). The Liszt Companion. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-313-30689-1.
• Campbell, Frank C. (August 1949). "Schubert Song Autographs in the Whittall Collection". Quarterly Journal of Current Acquisitions. Library of Congress. 6 (4): 3–8. JSTOR 29780551. "Music Score: Die Forelle". Library of Congress. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
External links
• Die Forelle, D.550: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
• Full text and translation, from Harper's Magazine
• "Die Forelle" at Internet Archive
• Full score and MIDI file at Mutopia
Overview
The Trout Quintet (Forellenquintett) is the popular name for the Piano Quintet in A major, D. 667, by Franz Schubert. The piano quintet was composed in 1819, when he was 22 years old; it was not published, however, until 1829, a year after his death.
Rather than the usual piano quintet lineup of piano and string quartet, the Trout …
Nickname
The piece is known as the Trout because the fourth movement is a set of variations on Schubert's earlier Lied "Die Forelle" ("The Trout"). The quintet was written for Sylvester Paumgartner, a wealthy music patron and amateur cellist from Steyr, Upper Austria, who also suggested that Schubert include a set of variations on the Lied. Sets of variations on melodies from his Lieder are found in four other works by Schubert: the Death and the Maiden Quartet, the "Trockne Blumen" (dried flo…
Analysis
The quintet consists of five movements:
1. Allegro vivace (A major)
2. Andante (F major)
3. Scherzo: Presto (A major)
4. Andantino – Allegretto (D major)
Musical significance
Compared to other major chamber works by Schubert, such as the last three string quartets and the string quintet, the Trout Quintet is a leisurely work, characterized by lower structural coherence, especially in its outer movements and the Andante. These movements contain unusually long repetitions of previously stated material, sometimes transposed, with little or no structural reworking, aimed at generating an overall unified dramatic design ("mechanical" in Martin Chusi…
Other uses
A portion of the Trout Quintet's fifth movement, performed by the Nash Ensemble, is used as the theme music for the BBC television comedy Waiting for God. The third movement performed by the Nash Ensemble is also used in the show. It is also played and commented upon by Sophie Scholl in the 2005 feature film Sophie Scholl – Die letzten Tage (Sophie Scholl – The Final Days).
Further reading
• Weiss, Piero (Autumn 1979). "Dating the 'Trout' Quintet". Journal of the American Musicological Society. 32 (3): 539–548. doi:10.2307/831254.
External links
• Trout Quintet: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
• Recording of full quintet by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in MP3 format
• Lecture and performance on YouTube, at Gresham College, 2013; Christopher Hogwood, performers from the Royal Academy of Music