In 1824 Franz Schubert wrote the remarkable, radical String Quartet in D minor, D.810, Der Tod und das Mädchen(Death and the Maiden). By this time Schubert had contracted – and was seriously ill with – syphilis. He believed he was dying. You can hear this in the emotionally uncompromising rawness of the music throughout the work.
The quartet is based on Schubert’s earlier song Der Tod und das Mädchen (1817), a setting of a poem by Matthias Claudius. A terrified young woman begs Death to leave her alone. Death replies:
“Give me your hand, you fair and tender form…
I am friend and come not to punish.”
Here, Death is not violent but – as in Terry Pratchett’s characterisation – inevitable, calm, almost consoling.
The first movement, in D minor – the key of the quartet – has an almost symphonic character: the mood is stormy and urgent. The opening rhythm suggests fate knocking at the door, recalling Beethoven’s famous “fate” motif which opens the titanic Fifth Symphony.
The third movement Scherzo has a frenzied dance energy. The music borders on hysteria: there is no joy, no laughter.
The closing Presto is a tarantella; a dance historically linked with madness or – in the case of the male tarantula spider trying his luck with the much larger female – death.
But the emotional core of the work is the second movement, Andante con moto.
Schubert lifts the theme almost note-for-note from his 1817 song Der Tod und das Mädchen. But it is not the voice of the Maiden we hear: it is Death’s theme – quiet, ominous reassurance. The key is G minor, a choice which darkens rather than relaxes the tonal space. It moves with a slow, tread-like rhythm, reminiscent of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony Allegretto – steady, almost processional. Harmonically, it barely seems to want to move: static, resigned, like breath slowing.
Then the variations sing.
The first variation offers undisturbed decoration, the first violin weaving a web of inevitability around the theme. In variation II the texture becomes more animated, the mood restless; anxiety is in the air.
The pizzicato third variation is skeletal and driving – hollow, like the rattling of bones – marking a sharp contrast with the more lyrical writing that precedes it. By contrast, the fourth variation suggests an almost operatic quality, with lyrical, legato singing above. But the accompaniment remains tethered to the original tread. Death is not letting go.
The fifth variation is defined by instability as the theme is remembered rather than heard – fragmented. When the original theme makes its final appearance in the closing coda it signals resignation: there is no ornamentation, no struggle, no protest. The song is over.
Or is it?
Composer James Else invited four composers – Jenny Jackson, Ben Gaunt, James Cave, Hayley Jenkins – to resurrect Death and the Maiden by composing responses to this iconic movement. The question is: whose side are they on – the Maiden’s, or Death’s?
All will be revealed at the opening York Late Music concert, performed by the Obert String Quartet (Saturday 7th March at 7.30pm) – where Schubert’s negotiation with death is taken up once more.
For full programme details please visit York Late Music.