Complete String Trios for Violin, Viola and Violoncello (Study Score)

Schubert Complete String Trios for Violin, Viola and Violoncello (Study Score)

Schubert, after mastering the art of the string quartet with seeming effortlessness, required several false starts with the string trio.  His first attempt came in 1814 with D 111A, but he abandoned the piece after the first movement, completely crossing out the sketches and using some of the material in his next work, the String Quartet D 112.  This was followed in 1816 by the String Trio D 471, this time resulting in a complete first movement and a fragmentary second.  Finally, in 1817, Schubert produced the four-movement String Trio D 581 and immediately wrote out the parts in his own hand, altering many details in the process.  As a result, we are now confronted with two conflicting sources – the draft score and the parts – and hence two distinct versions, which appear here together for the first time in a set of printed parts.  The second version should be preferred to the first, being not only smoother and more accurate in point of performance practice but also because it contains significant alterations.  All the same, the earlier version merits attention in its own right as a useful alternative or at least as an interesting preliminary stage.  The discrepancies in these two versions are discussed in detail in the preface to the study score of the String Trios (TP 306).

- Urtext of the New Schubert Edition

- Parts (BA5609) and study score format 22.5 x 16.5cm (TP306) available for sale