Franz Schubert (1797–1828) routinely gathered with friends to perform his compositions, engaging in lively discussion and dancing, creating a community of music lovers. Today, festivals and small concerts celebrate Schubert’s music. In Bates Recital Hall on Monday, Nov. 3 — a larger venue than Schubert would perform in, but still intimate in nature — the Austin community gathered to hear the works of the influential composer.
“Schubert is, of course, now known as one of the greatest composers,” Anton Nel, pianist and UT professor, said after walking onto the stage. “But, I think his contribution to our art cannot be celebrated enough.”
The program, “Schubertiade: With Anton Nel and Friends,” showcased Schubert’s most well-known pieces, including vocal compositions, “four-hand” piano pieces and the famous Trout Quintet as part of the faculty recital series.
Page Stephens, performer and assistant director for operations at the Butler School of Music, said the School tried to host this performance in Jessen Auditorium, a more intimate setting, last year. However, due to members getting sick and construction they were forced to cancel. This year proved successful, attracting a near-full house to the recital hall.
Nel began the show accompanying mezzo soprano soloist Page Stephens on “An die Musik” and other “lieder” songs, of which Schubert wrote over 600. Fusing poetry and music together for piano and voice, these German songs are typically associated with the Romantic period of music (1820–1910).
“It’s that kind of impossible longing that makes the head reel and the body blaze,” Stephens said, referring to the second piece played. “It’s a kind of deep suffering I think we can all relate to at some point in our lives.”
Wilhelm Manger, ensemble member and assistant professor of viola, said the exchange between the audience and the performers proves a vital part of Schubertiade.
“There’s a big part of it that’s also between the audience (and) the music,” Manger said. “When people care deeply, when people are really enthusiastic and listening very carefully, we can really feel it.”
The last lieder, “Die Forelle,” follows a poem about the poet and a fisherman watching a trout. This motif is continued later in the program with the Trout Quintet, but first, Nel and Artem Kuznetsov, one of Nel’s former students and current teaching assistant in piano, performed the “Rondo in A Major for Piano, Four Hands,” with the musicians’ hands brushing over one another as they played.
“In those days, it was a very sophisticated way of courtship,” Nel said, introducing the piece. “If a lady knew a gentleman who could play the piano rather well, they played duets in the afternoon. For us … it (took) a little bit of (practicing).”
The program concluded with the five-movement Trout Quintet, which captivated with its uncertainty, transitioning from fast and lively to moderately slow movements and back, ending in a striking allegro giusto.
“Professor Nel is … taking the role of what Schubert did,” Andrew Dell’Antonio, professor of Musicology said. “(Schubert) was somebody who gathered these great musicians together for other people to hear. … It’s a way to get a window into how a group of musicians and their friends might have spent an evening 200 years ago.”
