Carnegie Hall

Franz Schubert (1797–1828) completed his Second Symphony in 1815 at age 18. During the three-and-a-half months that he worked on the piece, Schubert wrote more than two-dozen other works, including numerous songs, several piano pieces, and a mass. This marked an extremely creative period for him—especially since he was not a full-time composer, but rather a full-time teacher who composed in his spare time. Consider for a moment that Schubert—who died in 1828 at age 31—had, by age 18, already lived more than half his life. His lifetime output consists of some 1,500 compositions, including more than 600 songs, nine symphonies, six masses, stage works, string quartets, piano sonatas, and more—with universally recognized masterpieces in nearly every genre. As biographer Robert Winter notes, Schubert wrote, on average, 65 measures of new music every day over the course of his life. By comparison, Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)—generally considered among the most prolific of composers—penned around 1,200 compositions before age 65.

Schubert’s Second Symphony remained virtually forgotten for more than 60 years and was not published until 1884. In fact, when Schubert died, the majority of his music—including all of his symphonies, most of his chamber music, many piano works, and songs—remained unpublished. Little of his music had even been performed publicly outside of small social gatherings and private concerts. Schubert most likely heard his Second Symphony only once, played by a small orchestra made up of family and friends; his sublime Ninth Symphony was not performed until 11 years after his death. For much of the 19th century, Schubert’s reputation as a master rested mostly on his remarkable songs.

The first performance at Carnegie Hall of Schubert’s Symphony No. 2 took place on November 22, 1936, with the New York Philharmonic conducted by John Barbirolli. Records indicate this was probably the New York premiere, possibly even the US premiere. “Mr. Barbirolli is to be thanked for bringing [the Second Symphony] to the attention of this public,” remarked The New York Times critic Olin Downes. “It is a jewel, full of Schubertian inspiration.”

Schubert’s remaining symphonies received their Carnegie Hall premieres as follows:

• Symphony No. 9, “Great,” with the New York Symphony Orchestra conducted by Walter Damrosch: December 4, 1891
• Symphony No. 8, “Unfinished,” with Elliott Schenck conducting members of the New York Symphony Orchestra: November 24, 1894
• Symphony No. 5 with the Volpe Symphony Society of New York conducted by Anthony Volpe: February 12, 1911
• Symphony No. 7 (New York premiere of completed version by John Francis Barnett) with The Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Nikolai Sokoloff: December 4, 1928
• Symphony No. 3 with the New York Philharmonic conducted by Erich Kleiber: November 6, 1930
• Symphony No. 4, “Tragic,” with the New York Philharmonic conducted by Werner Janssen: February 7, 1935
• Symphony No. 6 with the Symphony of the Air conducted by Thomas Beecham: January 27, 1957
• Symphony No. 1 with the American Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sergiu Comissiona: June 13, 1978