The Trout Quintet (German: Forellenquintett) is the popular name for the Piano Quintet in A major, D. 667, by Franz Schubert. The piano quintet was composed in 1819, when he was 22 years old; it was not published, however, until 1829, a year after his death. Rather than the usual piano quintet ensemble of piano and string quartet, the Trout Quintet is written for piano, violin, viola, cello and double bass.
It is the music that was used in The Great Schubert's Guessing Game and Silly Sock Saves the Circus.
Summary[]
In Season 2[]
In The Great Schubert's Guessing Game, the Trout Quintet was used as the main music clues to guess Great Schubert's Favorite Ride.
In Silly Sock Saves the Circus, the Trout Quintet was used to sing the Silly Sock Song. It is also used at the Silly Clothes Circus.
Structure[]
The piano quintet contains five movements.
Piano Quintet in A major, D. 667 - Trout Quintet[]
- Allegro Vivace (A major)
- Andante (F major)
- Scherzo: Presto (A major)
- Andantino: Theme and Variations (D major)
- Allegro Giusto (A major)
Episode Appearances[]
Season 2[]
Songs adapted from the Trout Quintet[]
The Great Schubert's Guessing Game[]
Silly Sock Saves the Circus[]
Trivia[]
- The original Lied, Die Forelle (English: The Trout), became popular with contemporary audiences, which led to Schubert being commissioned to write a piece of chamber music based on the song, that eventually became the Trout Quintet.
- The Trout Quintet was also written for Sylvester Paumgartner, a wealthy music patron and amateur cellist from Steyr, Upper Austria, who also suggested that Schubert include a set of variations on the Lied, Die Forelle.
- The Trout Quintet is named as such because the fourth movement is a set of variations on Schubert's earlier Lied, Die Forelle (English: The Trout).
- The importance of the piece stems mainly from its use of an original and innovative harmonic language, rich in mediants and chromaticism, and from its timbral characteristics.
- The Trout Quintet has a unique sonority among chamber works for piano and strings, due mainly to the piano part, which for substantial sections of the piece concentrates on the highest register of the instrument, with both hands playing the same melodic line an octave apart (having been freed to do so by the inclusion of both cello and bass in the ensemble).
- Such writing also occurs in other chamber works by Schubert, such as the piano trios, but to a much lesser extent, and is characteristic of Schubert's works for piano four-hands, one of his most personal musical genres.
- Such timbral writing may have influenced the works of Romantic composers such as Frédéric Chopin, who admired Schubert's music for piano four-hands.
- The quintet forms the basis of Christopher Nupen's 1969 film The Trout, in which Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Jacqueline du Pré, Daniel Barenboim and Zubin Mehta perform it at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London.
In popular culture[]
- Samsung washing machines and clothes dryers play an arrangement of the first portion of the fourth movement upon finishing a spin cycle.
- A portion of the Trout Quintet's fifth movement, performed by the Nash Ensemble, is used as the theme music for the BBC television comedy Waiting for God. The third movement performed by the Nash Ensemble is also used in the show.
Audio Gallery[]
