Franz Schubert's 'Death & the Maiden' D.810, 1st Movement being performed at a concert in C. D. Deshmukh Auditorium, India International Centre, Delhi.<br /><br />The Hungarian Information and Cultural Centre, the Delhi Music Society in cooperation with the India International Centre presented this concert.<br /><br />Schubert 'Death & the Maiden' D.810:<br /><br />The String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, known as Death and the Maiden, by Franz Schubert, is one of the pillars of the chamber music repertoire. Composed in 1824, after the composer suffered through a serious illness and realized that he was dying, it is Schubert's testament to death. The quartet is named for the theme of the second movement, which Schubert took from a song he wrote in 1817 of the same title; but the theme of death is palpable in all four movements of the quartet.<br /><br />The quartet was first played in 1826 in a private home, and was not published until 1831, three years after Schubert's death. Yet, passed over in his lifetime, the quartet has become a staple of the quartet repertoire. It is D. 810 in Otto Erich Deutsch's thematic catalog of Schubert's works.<br /><br />First movement: Allegro<br /><br />In the 14-measure introduction, Schubert establishes the elements that will carry through the entire movement. The quartet begins with a unison D, played fortissimo, and a triplet figure, that establishes the triplet motif. Three and a half measures of fortissimo break off into a sudden, pianissimo chorale, the first of the many violent shifts of mood that occur throughout. <br /><br />After the introduction, Schubert presents the first theme: a continuation of the chorale motif, but with the triplets motif rippling through the lower voices, in a restless, unremitting stream. <br /><br />The triplet motif is transmuted into a connecting theme of its own, leading to the second theme in F major. <br /><br />The second theme is repeated, with an accompaniment of sixteenth notes. <br /><br />The sixteenth note passage modulates through a range of keys, finally settling on A major, where it continues as an accompaniment to a restatement of the second theme in the second violin. The exposition ends with a transformation of the second theme, this time wrenched into a violent outburst in A minor. <br /><br />The development concentrates on the two forms of the second theme: the lilting, quiet version, and the violent inverted form. The section fluctuates between a fading relaxation and fortissimo. Toward the end of the development, Schubert reintroduces the triplet motif of the first theme, leading to the recapitulation. <br /><br />Here the opening themes return, with variants. The music moves to D major, for a relaxed recapitulation of the second theme, then returns to D minor. A chorale reminiscent of the introduction leads to the coda. But even in the chorale, the tension does not relax, with a sudden forte-piano interrupting the quiet. The opening theme returns, played at a rushed tempo, like a sudden resurgence of life, growing to a climax that suddenly breaks off and the triplet motif, played at the original slower tempo, dies away to the end of the movement.<br /><br />Source : Wikipedia<br /><br />This footage is part of the professionally-shot broadcast stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of HD imagery from South Asia. The Wilderness Films India collection comprises of tens of thousands of hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on HDCAM / SR 1080i High Definition, Alexa, SR, HDV and XDCAM. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We are happy to be commissioned to film for you or else provide you with broadcast crewing and production solutions across South Asia. We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world... Reach us at rupindang @ gmail . com and admin@wildfilmsindia.com.
