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Matthew Chan

April 25, 2017

MUSIC 415

Professor Earp

Reception History of Schuberts Death and the Maiden Quartet D.810

It was near the end of Franz Schuberts life, when he was overcome with illness and

knew that his death was near, that he composed his String Quartet No. 14 in D minor. The work

is more popularly known as the Death and the Maiden quartet, named after the lied of the same

name which he composed in 1817. The lied, which is set to the text of a poem by German poet

Matthias Claudius, serves as the basis of the quartets second movement, a theme and variations

based on the lied.

Death and the Maiden was composed in 1824, just four years before the composers

death. In its initial reading in the house of colleague and composer Franz Lachner in 1826, the

work was not well received. The first violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh of the performing quartet

even remarked to Schubert, Brother, this is nothing at all, let well alone: stick to your Lieder

(Way). Perhaps this poor initial reception was part of the reason why Schubert did not have the

work published in his life; Death and the Maiden did not see publication until 1831, three years

after Schuberts death. In fact, it was initially designated everywhere as Op posth, indicating its

posthumous publication (Brown, 985). The now-famous quartet in D minor would not become

commonplace on the concert platform until violinist Joseph Hellmesberger and the

Hellmesberger Quartet began to perform it in Vienna during the 1850s and 1860s, as they did

with many of Schuberts other late chamber works (Bashford).

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However, once the work made its way to the concert stage, it quickly established itself as

a well-liked standard in the chamber music concert repertoire. Even as early as 1871, the D

minor quartet found itself programmed alongside other popular quartets such as Mendelssohns

quartet in A minor, where critics delighted in how Schubert introduced themes from his lieder

into his instrumental work, as with the second movement of Death and the Maiden (Anon.,

Monday, 36). These concert reviews of Schuberts Death and the Maiden are prevalent

throughout the late 19th century. In 1882, music critic Ferdinand Praeger laments with great

empathy of how such a great work as Schuberts [D] minor Quartet should have remained

undiscovered so long after his death. The critic was clearly affected by both Schuberts

circumstance in composition when facing his own mortality and the simple majesty of the

variations composed in the second movement (Praeger, 163). In 1889, the Beethoven String

Quartet programmed Death and the Maiden on their final concert of the season, evidencing that

the work was substantial and well-regarded enough to kick off the concert dedicated to works of

Schubert. A New York Times review of this performance referred to the D minor quartet as a

beautiful composition (Anon., Beethoven). Another review of the second movement of the

piece performed by the Kneisel Quartet indicates the additional admiration of the lied-based

movement by the concert-goer of the time, speaking of the beautiful variationsfrom

Schuberts posthumous Quartet in D minor (Anon., Kneisel, 352). Even legendary violinist Dr.

Joseph Joachim programmed the piece in the later years of his life, as he performed it in concert

with a few colleagues in Manchester in 1906 (Anon., Music, 415). With the abundance of

positive concert reviews of the composition in several different periodicals in different parts of

the world, it is clear that Death and the Maiden was perceived as a wonderful composition
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worthy of continued programming and performance in its early inception to the concert

repertoire in the late 19th century and even into the early 20th century.

The position of Death and the Maiden in the standard repertoire persisted unwaveringly

throughout the 20th century and even to today. In 1942, McNaught writes in the The Musical

Times extremely high praise of the work, even praising it as one of the unquestioned

masterpieces:

In case these notes are read by seekers of chamber music who are
still in the inquiring stage: [Schuberts] Quartet [in D minor] is one
of the unquestioned masterpieces; there is nothing abstruse or
difficult about it it all comes at you brilliantly from the surface;
the first and last movements are examples of Schuberts mastery of
classical form; the second movement, which you may like the least
on account of its formality, is a set of variations on a tune adapted
from the song Death and the Maiden; and the third, a Scherzo,
stands up to the rest (McNaught, 336).

At this point, more than a century after it was composed, and more than fifty years after its

entrance to the standard chamber music concert repertoire, Death and the Maiden continued to

be recognized as a stellar composition. Its popularity persists in the current time period as well;

in fact, the piece is so popular that it possibly suffers from being overplayed in the eyes of those

in search of novelty and fresh music. When promoting a CD recording Schuberts other lesser-

known posthumous quartet in G major, Bernard Holland writes, For those whoare a little

tired of the Death and the Maiden Quartet, the G majoris a strong companion piece

(Holland, C22). While the quartet in D minor certainly enjoyed its regular performance in the

first century of its existence, its popularity did not decay by any means to the present day, where

prominent professional quartets still continue to make studio recordings like the Takacs Quartet

as recent as 2006 (Schubert).

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When surveying literature that addresses performance study of the work, they all seem to

agree that the piece is symbolic of Schuberts struggle with death and his own mortality, and that

keeping this context in mind when learning and performing the piece is integral to capturing the

mood and style of the quartet. Violinist and teacher Edith Eisler, in examining the piece as a

whole, says that Death and the Maiden represents Schuberts most direct confrontation with

death. (Eisler, 29). Arnold Steinhardt, first violinist of the Guarneri Quartet, elaborates on this

well-accepted theory even further:

Schubert learned only several months before he composed Death

and the Maiden that he had contracted the disease. There is no
longer room for speculation. Death is front and center in every
movement, each in a minor key, each grappling with the forces that
would eventually snuff out his life; the first movements fearful
opening chords announcing its verdict of doom, the dirgelike
second movement in which Death speaks to the young woman, the
manic and menacing scherzo of the third movement, and the fourth
movements tarantella of death (Steinhardt, Death, 71).

The presence of death in the quartet is all but short of Schubert writing a dedication to death

itself in the manuscript, and in a way, the use of his previously composed song as the basis of the

second movement almost serves as a straightforward address to death. Similar to how performers

of the Death and the Maiden quartet almost always consider Schuberts oncoming demise in

their emotional interpretation of the piece, they are also sure to read and apply the poem by

Matthias Claudius that the song was set to:

Das Mdchen: The Maiden:

Vorber! Ach, vorber!
Geh wilder Knochmann!
Ich bin noch ung! Geh, lieber,
Und rhre mich nicht an.
Und rhre mich nicht an.
Der Tod:
Pass me by! Oh, pass me by!
Go, fierce man of bones!
I am still young! Go, rather,
And do not touch me.
And do not touch me.
Death:
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Gib deine Hand, du schn und
zart Gebild
Bin Freund, und komme nicht,
zu strafen
Sei gutes Muts! ich bin nicht wild,
Sollst sanft in meinen Armen schlafen!
Give me your hand, you beautiful
and tender form!
I am a friend, and come not to
punish
Be of good cheer! I am not fierce,
Softly shall you sleep in my arms!

The poem paints the picture of a dialogue between a maiden, whose time seems to have come,

and death, the sweet creature who will grant the maiden its embrace of eternal sleep. From the

tone of the poem alone, the contrast between the characters of maiden and death is striking. The

maiden is frantic and crazed, scared of permanent darkness and pleading for death to pass her by.

Death, perhaps unexpectedly and ironically, is gentle and calm, lightly beckoning the maiden to

accept his coming. Arnold Steinhardt in his reflections of the Guarneri Quartet reveals his

awareness and investigation of both Schuberts illness and the song that the D minor quartet was

based on (Steinhardt, Death, 70-71). But perhaps more compelling is how in his Strad article he

implores students and others who are studying the work to familiarize themselves with the poem

and song:

I suggest that a quartet studying then performing Schuberts Death

and the Maiden Quartet should read the poem by Matthias
Claudius from which Schubert drew inspiration. Call this dated
poetry from a past era, but I find it overwhelmingly powerful,
especially when you connect it to what was going on in Schuberts
life at the time. Look at the poem, listen to the song that Schubert
first composed on this theme, and then perform Death and the
Maiden as if your life depended on it (Steinhardt,
MASTERCLASS, 81).

In addition, Eisler emphasizes the songs importance to the work as a whole, ascertaining that it

was no accident that [Schubert] chose [the] song for the quartets slow movement (Eisler 29).

The fact that the quartets relationship to the song is mentioned in so many concert reviews
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further heightens the significance of the 1817 song when considering the quartet in D minor as a

whole.

The string quartet in D minor would find itself manifested into other art forms as well.

Chilean playwright Ariel Dorfman wrote the play Death and the Maiden in 1990, its premiere

occurring on July 9th, 1991. In the play, the string quartet plays a major role. The main character

of the play, Paulina Salas, was imprisoned and tortured in a time of political strife. Blindfolded,

she was unable to see the doctor who tortured her, but the brutal beatings and rape that occurred

were done to a tape of Schuberts quartet in D minor, from which the play derives its name.

Years later after escaping imprisonment, Paulina encounters the man who she believes to be the

doctor who tortured her (though she is unable to prove it due to the fact that she was blindfolded

in imprisonment), and proceeds to give him a personal trial in her own pseudo-court, enforced by

her possession of a firearm. She even plays a cassette of the quartet in this scene, and refers to it

specifically in her interrogation of the man. Rusty Wilson, director of the theatre group Company

of Fools, went as far as to have his actors set up a simulated captive situation where Death and

the Maiden was played, in order to help give the actors a better idea of how intense the scenes

were to be (Cronin). The fact that Dorfman used Schubert and his quartet in this way speaks to

the playwrights belief that knowledge of the composer and his work was widespread enough

that adding this element to his play would resonate well with viewers (Schroeder, 259). The play

was further adapted into a mystery-drama film directed by French-Polish director Roman

Polanski in 1994, where again the quartet is played and used as a key plot point to tie the

relationship between Paulina and her supposed torturer together. Schuberts quartet was certainly

well-enough established to be featured so prominently in different mediums of art and drama.

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The Death and the Maiden quartet is used more broadly than just in plays or films that

stem their name from Schuberts masterful work. Themes from the quartet are often used to

symbolize an inescapable fate death, of course. Janet Wolff elucidates the use of the quartet in

Woody Allens film Crimes and Misdemeanors. She writes:

Dolores Paley mentions Schubertwith her lover, Judah

Rosenthal, and that later, as she walks back to her apartment at
night, and to her death (arranged by Judah under pressure of her
blackmail), the soundtrack plays the slow movement (and death
theme) of Schuberts D minor Quartet (Death and the Maiden).
My memory was of the musical coding of her death, in a sequence
which rendered it as inevitable as the logic of Judahs agonized
decision (Wolff, 38).

The quartets ability to symbolize death became more and more common as more works used

themes from the piece in the same way. Another example of the advanced symbolic use of the

quartet is in the film adaptation of the novel Portrait of a Lady, by New Zealand director Jane

Campion. American musicologist Lawrence Kramer analyses the use of the Death and the

Maiden quartet alongside other works of Schubert and their role in portraying the main character

Isabel Archers moral and emotional predicaments throughout the film. The film uses excerpts of

the quartet sparsely but meaningfully in the duration of the film; after explaining the background

behind Death and the Maiden and the poem it comes from, Kramer ties each appearance of the D

minor quartet to an important change or decision made by Isabel, culminating in her husband (in

a failing, manipulative marriage) as the personification of Isabels moral and psychological

annihilation: Death to her Maiden. The quartet excerpts that punctuate the scenes from their

marriage convey what happens, what it feels and sounds like, as Isabel gradually realizes that her

subjectivity has become the unwilling but seemingly helpless host for [her husband]s parasitic

voice (Kramer, 40-44). While Isabel does not physically die in this film, the quartet still

symbolizes the intangible death of Isabels individuality and moral autonomy. Death and the
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Maiden undoubtedly left its mark in western culture, as exhibited by its regular appearances in

film.

Beyond the scope of plays and films, Death and the Maiden was influential to composers

that followed Schubert as well. Composer Robert Franz transcribed the work for piano duet in

1878, and most notably, Gustav Mahler among his many arrangements of string quartets for

string orchestra chose to also arrange Schuberts quartet in D minor as well in 1896. While he

never finished the arrangement beyond the second movement of the quartet (the arrangement

was later edited and completed by modern composer David Matthews), Mahlers notion to

embark on the arrangement is an indication of the high esteem and respect he had for Schubert

and his quartet. The arrangement itself however was not spectacularly innovative; Althouse

remarks in a review of a performance of the arrangement that is was simply the addition of

double bass and expressive markings, though the music seemed to still be well received by virtue

of the solid music of the original quartet (Althouse, 183).

Schuberts Death and the Maiden unquestionably left a large imprint on not only the

western classical music world, but on contemporary culture. While it took a couple decades to

get discovered and introduced to the concert stage, from that moment onward the composition

would consistently receive accolades by music critics in many different parts of the world, and

would be programmed by many different professional quartets and famous string players. The

masterpiece has had a presence on the concert stage ever since, and has been recorded many

times when the technology came around. Both live performances and new recordings of the

piece are being made to this day. The quartet in D minor is also commonly accepted as

Schuberts most direct confrontation with the knowledge of his impending death; this, coupled

with the awareness that the second movement of the quartet was based off of his own lied from
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1817 with the grim text of Matthias Claudiuss poem, act as the emotional and situational

background of this arguably programmatic work of death. The quartet was embedded strongly

enough into western culture that it would find itself an eponym of the play Death and the Maiden

by Ariel Dorfman, and then also the film adaptation of the same name by Roman Polanski,

where Schuberts music played an integral part in the plot. The Death and the Maiden quartets

association with strife and death also prevailed in western culture, such as when the piece is used

functionally to anticipate both physical and emotional death in the films Crimes and

Misdemeanors and Portrait of a Lady respectively. Further, the quartet in D minor was admired

enough by composers that followed to warrant multiple arrangements: for piano duet in 1878 by

Robert Franz, and for string orchestra in 1896 by Gustav Mahler (and finished by David

Matthews). Schuberts Death and the Maiden Quartet D.810 has had a long and valued history

throughout the decades, and will without a doubt continue to persist on the concert stage, in

recordings, and in the greater western culture in the years to come.

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Works Cited

Althouse. Schubert: Quartet 14. American Record Guide, Nov. 2006, Music Periodicals

Database, 69/6: 183.

Anon. The Beethoven Quartet. The New York Times, 15 Mar. 1889.

Anon. The Kneisel String Quartet. The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular, 1 Aug.

1896, Musical Times Publications Ltd., 37/642: 532.

Anon. Monday Popular Concerts. The Monthly Musical Record, 1 Mar. 1871, British

Periodicals: 36.

Anon. Music in Manchester. The Musical Times, 1 Jun. 1906, Musical Times Publications Ltd.,

47/760: 415.

Bashford, Christina. Chamber Music. Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford

University Press, accessed 25 April 2017,

http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/05379.

Brown, Maurice. Schuberts D Minor Quartet: A Footnote. The Musical Times, Oct. 1970,

Musical Times Publications Ltd., 111/1532: 985-987.

Cronin, Colleen. TIMELY, POLITICAL, THRILLER; Company of Fools Death and the

Maiden. Boise Weekly, 16 Mar. 2004, 12/36: 15.

Earhart, Will. Review. Music Supervisors Journal, Oct. 1928, Sage Publications Inc., 15/1: 93.

Eisler, Edith. Mastering One of the Most Daunting Quartets in the Literature. Strings, May

2012, Music Periodicals Database, 26/10: 29.

Holland, Bernard. Schuberts Flight, Wide Yet Unfinished. The New York Times, 14 Mar.

1997, ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times: C22.

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Kramer, Lawrence. Recognizing Schubert: Musical Subjectivity, Cultural Change, and Jane

Campions The Portrait of a Lady. Critical Inquiry, 2002, The University of Chicago,

28: 25-52.

McNaught, W. Gramophone Notes. The Musical Times, Nov. 1942, Musical Times

Publications Ltd., 83/1197: 336.

Praeger, Ferdinand. Monday Popular Concerts. The Musical Standard, 18 Mar. 1882,

ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times: 163.

Schroeder, David. Dorfman, Schubert, and Death and the Maiden. Representing Humanity in

an Age of Terror, edited by Sophia McClennen and Henry Morello, Purdue University

Press, 2010: 252-261.

Schubert, Franz. String Quartets Nos. 13 & 14- Death and the Maiden. Takacs Quartet,

Hyperoion, 14 Nov. 2006.

Steinhardt, Arnold. Death and the Maiden. The Yale Review, Oct. 1998, Yale University, 86/4:

64-78.

Steinhardt, Arnold. MASTERCLASS: Schuberts String Quartet in D minor D810 Death and

the Maiden. The Strad, Aug. 2012, 78-81.

Way, Joseph. String Quartet in D Minor, D.810 Death and the Maiden (1824). Sierra

Chamber Music Society Program Notes, accessed 25 April 2017,

http://www.fuguemasters.com/schubert.html.

Wolff, Janet. Death and the Maiden: Does Semiotics Justify Murder? Critical Quarterly, Jun.

1993, Wiley Online Library, 35/2: 38-44.