Schubert: Viola Concerto in E-flat Major

Joseph Schubert’s Viola Concerto in E-flat Major is an important work from the perspective of both performers and the scholars. It received its debut in Dresden around 1800, and the composer, who was a violist in the Dresden Hofkapelle, is likely to have been the soloist. A fully worked-out composition in the mature Viennese classical style, scored for large orchestra, it is a well-written work with a challenging and engaging solo part. The extant sources contain revisions in various hands, as well as articulations added to the solo part, providing insight into the evolution of the work from conception to performance. These revisions, which display an incipient romantic aesthetic, are an invaluable source of information on notation, composition, and performance practice at the turn of the nineteenth century.

I. Allegro

II. Adagio

III. Rondeau: Allegro