The Unfinished Piano Sonatas of Franz Schubert Javier ... - Ethesis

IV Of Changes and Operatic Hopes
70
The most important work of the autumn is the mysterious and unfinished
opera Adrast (D137, libretto by Johann Mayrhofer), which appears to have been an
intensely personal project for Schubert. There is no mention or reference to it in any
contemporary documents, possibly because its plot has homosexual (and perhaps also
personal) connotations; something which, to say the very least, was considered
inappropriate in Schubert’s time. Sadly incomplete, and comprising an hour or so of
music, it contains some of Schubert’s most audacious writing to date. 14
In terms of social exposure, the year 1819 brought more public performances
and Schubert’s music was now heard with fair regularity in Vienna. His reputation and
fame continued to grow steadily throughout this year and into the next. With the
exception of the unfinished Quartettsatz in December, 1820 would not see the creation
of any major instrumental work. However, Schubert’s achievements in other genres
during the year are of the greatest importance and well deserve a place in this study.
During the first weeks of 1820, Schubert set Adrast aside and began work on
something astonishing: the scenic oratorio Lazarus oder: Die Feier der Auferstehung
(Lazarus or The Celebration of Resurrection, D689). Not as well-known as it deserves
(probably due to its unfinished state), Lazarus is a masterpiece and surely one of
Schubert’s most fascinating and revolutionary creations.
The plot of Schubert’s oratorio follows the biblical story from the Gospel of St.
John in which Jesus brings Lazarus of Bethany back from the dead. In musical terms,
Lazarus is a durchkomponiert work, in contrast to Adrast, which was structured with
discrete numbers. This is an important turning point in Schubert’s stage works because
it looks ahead to the grand Romantic operas Alfonso und Estrella (1821-2) and
Fierabras (1823). In this sense, Lazarus represents an early example of the integration
of Schubert’s marvellous melodic gift into larger structures in a way that is so
characteristic of his late instrumental works, including the sonatas for piano. It is in
pieces such as Lazarus that we can begin to see the processes of integration which
would prove decisive for the tonal and formal expansion of Schubert’s later works in
sonata form. This oratorio is also noteworthy for the subtle continuity between melodic
and ‘recitativo’ passages; as well as for harmonic audacities that one might rather
expect from composers half a century later. The seams between the sections are so
smoothly and fluidly connected that we would have to wait several decades to see
something similar in Wagner’s ariosos. 15 Another significant characteristic of this work
is its metaphysical and spiritual connotations. Originally, Lazarus was supposed to be
structured in three ‘acts’ corresponding to the title-character’s death, burial and
resurrection. Schubert only set the first two, although the end of the second part has
since been lost. Intriguingly, while the first two scenes deal with Lazarus’ death, the
third is concerned with his resurrection. The fact that Schubert did not set this third
part leads to speculate on his personal sense of spirituality and on what kind of afterdeath
beliefs he held at that time: probably not those traditionally held in the Roman