Symphony No. 5 (Schubert)

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The Symphony No. 5 in B flat major, D.485, written in 1816 by Franz Schubert is a work in four movements:

1. Allegro in B flat, in divided common (2:2) time.
2. Andante con moto in E flat, in 6:8 time.
3. Menuetto. Allegro molto in G minor, in 3:4 time, with a Trio in G major.
4. Allegro vivace in B flat, in 2:4 time.

The instrumentation is light, clarinets, trumpets and timpani not being called for. The first movement is a slightly unusual sonata form since the recapitulation begins, as in the first movement of Mozart’s sonata facile, in the subdominant, not in the main key of the piece as is more usual.

The slow movement opens with a theme in two repeated stanzas, slightly reminiscent perhaps of the A flat refrain of the slow movement of Mozart’s 39^th symphony. Without pause there is a modulation into C flat that is very characteristic of Schubert, even at age 19. The return to the main theme is strait, passing through G minor on the way; there is a repetition of the distant modulation afterwards, though to F‐sharp this time and with a more immediate return.

The menuetto has the chromaticism though not the polyphony of the menuetto of Mozart’s 40^th symphony. The progression used mid-way through the movement to modulate is borrowed almost directly from the 40th - using the same approach (a gradual layering of instruments) to a dominant 7th chord. (It might be interesting to compare the Schubert to other minor‐mode symphonic minuets of the time, however.) The trio is quiet throughout, and only gradually accumulates instruments, beginning with only bassoon and strings, and with a subtle suggestion of a pastoral mood over held lower string notes.

The finale is a sonata whose main theme has a repeated section, and in which winds often repeat themes introduced by the strings slightly varied, or vice versa in the recapitulation; in tone lighter and somewhat operatic. There is no coda.