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Schubert’s Ninth: “The Great” Symphony That Almost Disappeared

Franz Schubert died at just 31, having never heard his Ninth Symphony performed publicly. Completed in 1826, the ambitious work would wait more than a decade for its premiere. Today, known as “The Great,” it’s recognized as one of the finest symphonies of the 19th century. So how did such a remarkable work go unheard for so long?

 

A Masterpiece Waiting to be Discovered

Schubert submitted his symphony to Vienna’s Society of the Friends of Music, but the work was considered too long and difficult to perform. After his death in 1828, the manuscript remained with his brother, Ferdinand.

Its fate would change in 1838, when composer Robert Schumann visited Vienna and found the abandoned score. Schumann was captivated by the symphony’s rich orchestration, sweeping melodies, and expansive scale, famously describing its “heavenly length.”

“Who knows how long this symphony would have lain becoming dusty in the darkness had I not come to an understanding with Ferdinand Schubert to send it to Leipzig to the direction of the Gewandhaus Concerts?”
– Robert Schumann

Recognizing its brilliance, he encouraged Ferdinand to forward the score to composer Felix Mendelssohn, then conductor of the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig. Mendelssohn and the Gewandhaus premiered the symphony on March 21, 1839. The work earned the approval of French composer Hector Berlioz, who deemed it “worthy of a place among the loftiest productions of our art.”

 

Hear it Live

Two centuries later, Schubert’s Ninth Symphony continues to delight audiences with its lyrical beauty and driving energy.

Experience “The Great” live, October 23–25, when Music Director Kwamé Ryan leads the Charlotte Symphony in a program also featuring Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder, with soprano Raehann Bryce-Davis, and Carlos Simon’s Fate Now Conquers.

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