Schubert - Symphony No. 8 Unfinished - Movement 1 with Ballet

Schubert - Symphony No. 8 Unfinished - Movement 1 with Ballet

Franz Schubert (January 31, 1797 -- November 19, 1828) wrote the first two movements and a fragment of the third movement of his 8th symphony in 1822. Six years later at the young age of 31, he died due to an illness. While different stories are told about what happened to the manuscript, it was discovered in 1865 and the first public performance of the symphony took place that year, 37 years after his death!

Although musical scholars and historians debate about the mystery of why Schubert stopped after completing only two movements of this symphony, the "Unfinished" has proved to be his most popular and best loved work. According to Antonin Dvorak, "His 'unfinished Symphony' and the great one in C are unique contributions to musical literature, absolutely new and original, Schubert in every bar. What is perhaps most characteristic about them is the song-like melody pervading them. He introduced the song into the symphony..."

Indeed, the song-like melodies in this symphony are memorable. While these gorgeous melodies make us sway with a blissful feeling, Schubert also interrupts our serenity with passages in which parts of the same melodies are tossed around with violence. While we hear some passages with bright mood, we also hear passages filled with darkness. In this video, I have included dances from the ballet Coppelia and La Bayadere to go with the tender melodies and modern dances to show the contrasting moods.

The movement begins with a brief introductory dark theme on the bases while the light Theme-1 appears at 00:25; then at 01:25, we hear the somber Theme-2. The dark introductory theme again appears at the start of the development at 03:36. We hear Theme-1 and Theme-2 again during recapitulation at 06:44 and 07:50.

Franz Schubert - Symphony No.8 in B minor ('Unfinished') - Allegro moderato
Performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra
Leopold Stokowski, Conductor

I had uploaded another version of this video, but the Royal Ballet blocked it. I replaced their content with new scenes in this upload.

Video Scenes from:

1. Ballet & Dance Black & White
Netherlands Dance Theatre
Choreography Jiri Kylian
2. Giselle by Paris Opera Ballet
Performed by M-A Gillot, Emilie Cozette, Laura Hecquet
3. Coppelia by The Bolshoi Ballet
4. Nikiya's Variation from La Bayadere by Victoria Paige Guinta