Situating Schubert: Early Nineteenth-Century Flute Culture

and the “Trockne Blumen” Variations, D. 802

by

Gretchen Rowe Clements

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December 7, 2007

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A dissertation submitted to the

Faculty of the Graduate School of
State University of New York at Buffalo
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in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the

degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

Department of Music
 UMI Number: 3291580

Copyright 2007 by
Clements, Gretchen Rowe

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All rights reserved.

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UMI Microform 3291580

Copyright 2008 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company.
All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against
unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code.

ProQuest Information and Learning Company

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© Copyright by
Gretchen Rowe Clements
2007

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 for Mia

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 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I have many people to thank for helping me through this process. First I would

like to thank my advisors, James Currie and Christopher Gibbs. I thank James Currie for

graciously stepping in as my advisor during the final year of writing, and for setting high

standards that challenged me to make this a better dissertation. Christopher Gibbs has

been an inspiration to me since my years as an undergraduate, and I am deeply grateful

for his belief in my ideas, the encouragement to pursue them, and his guidance through

unfamiliar territory. Martha Hyde and Michael Long have also known me since my years

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as an undergraduate, and I sincerely appreciate their time, insightful comments, and

continued support. IE
I would also like to thank the archivists at the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde,
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Wienbibliothek, and Österreichische Nationalbibliothek in Vienna for their assistance.

I am grateful to the Mark Diamond Research Fund at UB, which provided support for a

second trip to Vienna. When time constraints prevented me from taking a third trip to
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Vienna, Rita Steblin was exceptionally generous with her time and expertise in carrying

out my requests for information and materials, and her suggestions regarding additional

primary sources were invaluable. More locally, I am grateful for the patient assistance of

Nancy Nuzzo at the Music Library of the University at Buffalo, and Jan Lancaster and

Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford for their assistance with obtaining images from the Dayton C.

Miller collection at the Library of Congress. Thanks also to the publishers who allowed

me to reprint portions of copyrighted scores: Bärenreiter, Breitkopf & Härtel, and

Amadeus.

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 Unless otherwise noted, translations are original to this document, and several

people assisted me with these. For providing German translations and checking my own,

I would like to thank Dorothee Schubel and Melanie Siteki. I would also like to thank

Elizabeth Monnac and Erik Anspach and for their translations of French texts, and Ania

Zalewski for her Polish translation. Numerous people took the time to answer questions

in their areas of expertise to clarify various issues for me, including Theodore Albrecht,

John Gingerich, David Montgomery, Robert Bigio, and Alice Hanson. I would also like

to thank Emanuel Pahud and Eric LeSage for the emotionally powerful performance that

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first provoked my curiosity about Schubert’s Variations on Trockne Blumen, and John

Barcellona for the insightful article that inspired me to take that curiosity further.
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On a more personal note, I would like to thank my devoted family for their never-

ending support and encouragement, especially my mother Jeanne. While I was finishing
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this dissertation, my beautiful daughter Mia grew from a baby to a toddler, who walks,

talks and dances, and just hearing her laugh and sharing her warm hugs made every day
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an absolute joy. I wish to thank those who lovingly spent time with Mia when I was

working, in particular my good friend Rachel Noyes. My wonderful husband David not

only supported me in numerous ways, but also spent countless hours with our daughter at

the playground, the swimming pool, playing with her beloved puppets, building block

towers, and reading stories. Last but not least, I would like to thank my Aunt Noreen,

who loaned me my first flute.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Dedication ..................................................................................................................... iii

Acknowledgments..........................................................................................................iv
List of Abbreviations .................................................................................................. viii
Abstract ..........................................................................................................................ix

Introduction.....................................................................................................................1

Chapter 1 – Music in Schubert’s Vienna ......................................................................17

Theater and Opera.............................................................................................20
Public Concerts and Musical Societies .............................................................23
The Private Salon and Music Publishing ..........................................................35
Social Dancing, Sacred Music, and Military Bands .........................................37
Teaching and Vienna’s Conservatory...............................................................40

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Chapter 2 – Viennese Flute Culture..............................................................................46
Ferdinand Bogner..............................................................................................51
Aloys Khayll .....................................................................................................62
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Georg Bayr and Nineteenth-Century Multiphonics..........................................84
Johann Sedlatzek...............................................................................................95
Raphael Dressler .............................................................................................107
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Carl Scholl ......................................................................................................110
Carl Keller.......................................................................................................112
Baron von König.............................................................................................116
Joseph Fahrbach..............................................................................................117
Franz Botgorschek ..........................................................................................126
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Franz Zierer.....................................................................................................129
Other Flutists Encountered .............................................................................132
Women Flutists: A Rarity on the Concert Stage.............................................133
Traveling Virtuosos in Vienna........................................................................136
Joseph Wolfram ..............................................................................................137
Louis Drouet ...................................................................................................140
Theobald Boehm.............................................................................................144
Anton Fürstenau .............................................................................................148
Franz Doppler .................................................................................................150

Chapter 3 – Viennese Flute Repertoire.......................................................................158

Music in Publication vs. Music in Performance .............................................159
Ignaz Moscheles: Concertino for Flute, Oboe and Orchestra.........................167
Variations........................................................................................................173
Louis Drouet: Variations on God Save the King ............................................175
Aloys Khayll: Variations op. 1 .......................................................................179
Georg Bayr: Variations on Es thuts halt nimmer mehr...................................185
Background and Publication of D. 802...........................................................188

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 Johann Wilhelm Gabrielski and Schubert’s Memorial Concert .....................199
Carl Czerny: Variations op. 80 .......................................................................213
Johann Nepomuk Hummel: Trio op. 78 .........................................................216

Chapter 4 – Franz Schubert’s Variations on Trockne Blumen....................................235

The Song Cycle: Die schöne Müllerin............................................................236
Variations on a Critical Theme .......................................................................242
Narrative Possibilities in D. 802 .....................................................................254

Appendix – Solo and Chamber Performances by Flutists in Vienna, 1815-1835 ......333

Bibliography ...............................................................................................................360

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 ABBREVIATIONS

Allgemeine Musikalischer Anzeiger (AMA)

Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung (AMZ)

Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung mit besonderer Rücksicht auf den Österreichischen

Kaiserstaat (AMZÖ)

Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde (GdMf)

Wiener Theaterzeitung (ThZ)

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 ABSTRACT

Scholars have long believed that Schubert wrote his Introduction and Variations
on Trockne Blumen, D. 802, as a virtuosic showpiece for the flutist Ferdinand Bogner.
One consequence of this supposed association is that the work has been disparaged and
dismissed in the critical literature, at times with the implicit suggestion that Schubert may
have pursued the composition against his better judgment. Some commentators have
found particularly offensive Schubert’s transformation of the expressive E Minor Lied
theme—the emotional climax of his song cycle Die schöne Müllerin, from which the
theme is taken—into a bright march in E Major for the final variation. This dissertation
argues for a reconsideration of these long-held historical assumptions and critical
assessments by examining the cultural context for the piece, and exploring its place
within Schubert’s oeuvre.
Using primary sources, I have reconstructed the milieu of Viennese flutists in the
decades surrounding the 1820s. The numerous flute virtuosos active in Vienna have
largely been forgotten, yet knowledge of them significantly enriches our history of

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flutists, the flute repertoire, and Viennese musical life. In addition to offering much for
contemplation—such as early nineteenth-century multiphonics—this close examination
shows that it is in fact unlikely that Bogner was the impetus behind the Trockne Blumen
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Variations. I propose instead that Schubert’s choice of theme was anything but arbitrary,
and that the resulting composition is actually a personal expression relating directly to his
own struggle with illness. The variations were written in January 1824, just months after
completion of the song cycle. I argue that the musical and psychological progression of
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the variations runs parallel to the narrative in Die schöne Müllerin, conveying Wilhelm
Müller’s poetic cycle in distinct scenes. I offer a detailed discussion of important musical
parallels, and explore the function of the poetic texts that Schubert omitted from the
cycle.
Although Schubert chose not to set Müller’s prologue and epilogue, the
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instrumental work suggests that he did not fully reject Müller’s ironic stance. In the
Trockne Blumen Variations, Schubert creates an illusion of beauty that is violently
contradicted by the mocking character of the theme in the seventh variation. Just as
Müller’s prologue and epilogue function to destroy the illusion of his poetic cycle, the
biting sarcasm in the final march forces the listener to hear the variations from a detached
perspective. The variations also show the growing importance of cyclicism for Schubert,
and his newly awakened penchant for texts expressing death as liberation—qualities that
are both of central importance in two of his most important chamber works (the Octet, D.
803, and the String Quartet in D Minor, D. 810). On an even more personal level,
Schubert’s ironic treatment of the pantheistic text in the seventh variation suggests him
facetiously ‘thumbing his nose’ at his own impending death. The Trockne Blumen
Variations provide an opportunity for insight into Schubert’s compositional process that
is not found elsewhere in his oeuvre.
 INTRODUCTION

Franz Schubert’s Introduction and Variations on Trockne Blumen for Piano and

Flute, D. 802, based on a song from his song cycle Die schöne Müllerin, has long been

the subject of conflicting views. On one hand, it occupies an important position in the

core of the Romantic repertoire for flutists. On the other hand, scholars generally either

disparage it, or dismiss it as trivial. In order to better understand this often overlooked

composition, careful consideration must be given to Schubert’s potential intentions with

it. This includes a critical examination of previous musicological research, of the work

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itself, and of its proper historical context. In particular, the question of context is where

research is lacking; the milieu of Viennese flutists and their repertoire in the early
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nineteenth century is a subject that scholars quite simply have not addressed, and thus it
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necessitated reconstruction. Though my principal goal is a reevaluation of Schubert’s

Variations on Trockne Blumen, the Viennese flute scene is also pursued as a topic in and

of itself.
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In recent years the question of performance has become an issue in musicology,

and this dissertation actually arises from a performance. Like many others, I was

uninspired by Schubert’s Variations on Trockne Blumen for some time. I recall my flute

professor, Cheryl Gobbetti Hoffman, suggesting I perform the piece for an upcoming

degree recital. I demurred, responding that it had never done much for me. A few

months later, in March of 1998, a phenomenal performance of the work by flutist

Emanuel Pahud and pianist Eric LeSage reversed that perception. The Swiss-French

Pahud was then principal flutist of the Berlin Philharmonic, and only beginning to

emerge as a soloist, but the entire recital was executed with the phenomenal precision and

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unsurpassed musicality for which he is now renowned. What I remember most vividly is

Schubert’s Variations on Trockne Blumen. The emotional power of the piece affected me

in one of those rare, profound moments in music. Specifically, when Pahud began the

fifth variation, my reaction was purely visceral; I was physically stunned by the raw,

passionate anger being expressed. The performance is indelibly etched in my memory. I

turned to musicology seeking an explanation for my reaction to the performance, thinking

there must be something more to the piece than I had previously realized—and I am now

firmly convinced that there is. Thrilled to have found a way to relate a deeper

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musicological issue with a study related to my own instrument, I knew then that I had

found my dissertation.
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Several areas of scholarship are relevant to this study. In addition to the general

biographical literature on Schubert, explorations of his song cycle Die schöne Müllerin
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are particularly important. Beyond Schubert, an acquaintance with the literature on

variation compositions in the Classical and early Romantic eras is necessary. Finally,
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knowledge of flutists and their repertoire in early nineteenth-century Vienna is essential

to placing Schubert’s Variations on Trockne Blumen in context. Given that I discuss

numerous and diverse areas, what follows is an outline of chapter contents, together with

the scholarship appropriate to each area of investigation. First and foremost, though, Otto

Erich Deutsch’s Schubert Reader (translated by Eric Blom), which contains nearly every

existing document relating to Schubert, was essential throughout my dissertation, as it

clarified how specific issues related directly to the composer.1 Likewise, the more

recently published volumes Franz Schubert Dokumente, 1817-1830, Erster Band: Texte

1
Otto Erich Deutsch, The Schubert Reader: A Life of Franz Schubert in Letters
and Documents, trans. Eric Blom (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1947).

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edited by Till Gerrit Waidelich and Franz Schubert Dokumente, 1817-1830, Erster Band:

Kommentar edited by Ernst Hilmar were particularly useful (although the Hilmar volume

has some inaccuracies relating to flutists which I address in Chapter 2).2

Before delving into specifics regarding the flute culture, a somewhat larger

context is needed to enhance the reader’s understanding. To this end, Chapter 1 is an

overview of musical life in Vienna in the early nineteenth century, with a particular focus

on the realities of musicians’ lives. Alice Hanson’s Musical Life in Biedermeier Vienna

provided essential background in this regard.3 Eduard Hanslick’s Geschichte des

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Concertwesens in Wien, Mary Sue Morrow’s Concert Life in Haydn’s Vienna, and Otto

Biba’s article, “Concert Life in Beethoven’s Vienna,” all proved useful as well,
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especially in regard to theaters and concerts.4 Also helpful were Charles Osborne’s

Schubert and His Vienna, and Raymond Erickson’s volume Schubert’s Vienna.5 For
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information on the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde (Society for the Friends of Music), and

in particular the establishment of its conservatory, C. F. Pohl’s volume Die Gesellschaft

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der Musikfreunde des Österreichischen Kaiserstaates und ihr Conservatorium was

2
Till Gerrit Waidelich, ed., Franz Schubert Dokumente, 1817-1830, Erster Band:
Texte (Tutzing: Hans Schneider, 1993) and Ernst Hilmar, ed., Franz Schubert
Dokumente, 1817-1830, Erster Band: Kommentar (Tutzing: Hans Schneider, 2003).
3
Alice M. Hanson, Musical Life in Biedermeier Vienna, (Cambridge, London and
New York: Cambridge University Press, 1985).
4
Eduard Hanslick, Geschichte des Concertwesens in Wien (Vienna: Wilhelm
Braumüller, 1869); Mary Sue Morrow, Concert life in Haydn's Vienna: Aspects of a
Developing Musical and Social Institution (Stuyvesant, NY: Pendragon Press, 1989);
Otto Biba, “Concert Life in Beethoven’s Vienna,” in Beethoven Performers and Critics:
The International Beethoven Congress, Detroit, 1977, eds. Robert Winter and Bruce Carr
(Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1980).
5
Charles Osborne, Schubert and His Vienna (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1985).
Raymond Erickson, ed., Schubert’s Vienna, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997).

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essential.6 Although published in 1871, no other source has so thoroughly dealt with this

subject. Also useful for filling in a few gaps in Pohl’s work was Richard von Perger’s

Geschichte der K. K. Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien.7

Chapter 2 sets out the available biographical and performance information on

flutists active in Vienna in the early nineteenth century, while demonstrating possible

links between several of those flutists and Franz Schubert. As noted, there is a relative

paucity of information available on these musicians, with almost no twentieth-century

scholarship on the matter. Further, no nineteenth-century source has a complete list of

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players from the time period; moreover, existing sources are often inconsistent.

Hanslick’s 1869 Geschichte des Concertwesens in Wien, for example, is the only source
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that approaches a collective list, providing information on several local flutists, as well as

traveling virtuosos making appearances in Vienna. However, Ferdinand Bogner, who

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was the first professor of flute at the Conservatory of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde,

and a very well known performer, is absent, even though Hanslick was clearly aware of
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him—his name appears on several of the concert programs Hanslick included in the same

volume. Hanslick even mentions Franz Botgorschek, who was a Bogner student, with

still no reference to Bogner himself.

Without an accurate and complete published source, the archival notebooks of

concert programs at the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna proved essential in

6
C. F. Pohl, Die Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde des Österreichischen
Kaiserstaates und ihr Conservatorium (Wien: Wilhelm Braumüller, 1871).
7
Richard von Perger, Geschichte der K. K. Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in
Wien (Wien: Adolf Holzhausen, 1912).

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establishing a list of contemporary flutists.8 I focused on the period between 1815 and

1835, roughly a decade before and after Schubert wrote Introduction and Variations on

Trockne Blumen. Before this, although certainly flutists participated actively in

orchestral concerts, few players stood out as soloists.9 After 1830, the flute as a solo

instrument somewhat declined in popularity, even though a number of the artists I discuss

in Chapter 2 continued to perform. As a result, when the career of a performer exceeded

the boundaries of the years surveyed, I have included those years in the interest of

providing a full picture.

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After establishing a list of active players (both local and traveling) through

archival research, I gathered biographical information from a variety of sources. First,

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encyclopedias: Gustav Schilling’s Universal-Lexikon der Tonkunst, Hermann Mendel

and August Reissmann’s Musikalisches Conversations-Lexikon, Constant von

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Wurzbach’s Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Österreich, François Fétis’

notoriously unreliable Biographie Universelle des Musiciens, and the more current Die
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Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.10 Second, nineteenth-century books pertaining to

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Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde Archives: Programme, (inkl. Abend-
Unterhaltungen~Arch. (2697/32) Nov. 1792 bis 31. Dez. 1827; Jan. 1828 bis Dez. 1837
[hereafter Concert Register].
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There are a handful of performances on record by flutists during the late
eighteenth century and the first decade of the nineteenth century; the most accessible
source for concert programs from this time period is Mary Sue Morrow, Concert Life in
Haydn’s Vienna.
10
Gustav Schilling, Universal-Lexikon der Tonkunst. Neue Hand-Ausgabe in
einem Bande, ed. F. S. Gassner (Stuttgart: F. Kohler, 1849); Constant von Wurzbach,
Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Österreich, enthaltend die Lebensskizzen der
denkwürdigen Personen, welche seit 1750 in den Österreichischen Kronländern geboren
wurden oder darin gelebt und gewirkt haben (Wien, K. K. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei,
1856-1891); Hermann Mendel and August Reissmann, Musikalisches Conversations-
Lexikon: Eine Encyklopädie der gesammten musikalischen Wissenschaften für Gebildete
aller Stände (Leipzig: List & Francke, 1870-1879); François J. Fétis, Biographie

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flutists’ biographies: Richard Rockstro’s A Treatise on the Construction, the History and

the Practice of the Flute, Including a Sketch of the Elements of Acoustics and Critical

Notices of Sixty Celebrated Flute Players, William N. James’ A Word or Two on the

Flute, and Adolf Goldberg’s Biographieen zur Porträts-Sammlung hervorragender

Flöten-Virtuosen, Dilettanten und Komponisten.11 Among the flutists known to Vienna,

Rockstro’s treatise features only Georg Bayr and Raphael Dressler, though Rockstro

clearly is aware of Johann Sedlatzek as well (he refers to him as “well-known” in a

discussion on flutes with extended range), and James’ chatty volume contains only

Dressler.12 Both Rockstro and James also feature the Berlin flutist Johann Wilhelm

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Gabrielski, whose music was played at Schubert’s memorial concert and is therefore of
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interest. Strangely, J. W. Gabrielski was not featured in Goldberg’s book, although it

seems impossible that the author—an amateur flutist from Berlin—would not have been
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aware of him.13 The value of this book lies chiefly in its portrait collection; I have

included a number of these in Chapter 2. For the most part, aside from an occasional
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addition or error, the entries in these books repeat the aforementioned encyclopedias

nearly verbatim, although sometimes a brief discussion about available compositions was

Universelle des Musiciens (Paris: Librairie de Firmen Didot Freres, Fils et Cie., 1860-
80); Ludwig Finscher, ed., Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart: allgemeine
Enzyklopädie der Musik, 2nd ed. (New York: Bärenreiter, 1994ff).
11
Richard Rockstro, A Treatise on the Construction, the History and the Practice
of the Flute, Including a Sketch of the Elements of Acoustics and Critical Notices of Sixty
Celebrated Flute Players, 2nd ed. (1890; reprint, London: Musica Rara, 1967); William
N. James, A Word of Two on the Flute (1826; reprint, London: Tony Bingham, 1982);
Adolf Goldberg, Biographieen zur Porträts-Sammlung hervorragender Flöten-Virtuosen,
Dilettanten und Komponisten (Berlin: n.p., 1906).
12
Quotation from Rockstro, A Treatise, 302.
13
Biographies of Johann’s brother Julius and Johann’s son Adolf are featured in
the book, while Goldberg does not mention Johann even peripherally, though he was
easily the most famous of the three.

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added (or, in the case of James, extrapolated with mostly nonsense). Unfortunately,

biographies and portraits of some of the most important flutists in Vienna, including

Ferdinand Bogner, Aloys Khayll, and Johann Sedlatzek, are absent from all of these

books.

Apart from these encyclopedia entries and flutist collections, information is

extremely rare. Doris Barner’s recent thesis “Die Brüder Khayll: Berufsmusiker in Wien

zur Zeit des Biedermeier” is a useful assembly of many primary source materials relating

to the flutist Aloys Khayll and his family.14 Amy Sue Hamilton’s dissertation relating

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nineteenth-century flute construction to orchestral performance practice offers admirable

coverage of her major topic, but the modicum of information on Viennese flutists is not
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always accurate.15 Beyond these studies, I found only three articles from the twentieth

century relating to these essentially forgotten musicians. Johann Sedlatzek’s travels

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outside Vienna prompted two useful articles: Walter Kwasnik’s “Der oberschlesische

Flötist Johann Sedlatzek (1789-1866),” and Maria Zduniak’s “Przyczynek do biografii

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muzyka śląskiego Johanna Sedlatzka.”16 Kwasnik’s article chronicles Sedlatzek’s time

in Vienna and London as well as his concert tours, and it also takes a brief look at some

compositions. Zduniak focuses on his appearances in Breslau in August 1835, an area

mentioned only in passing by Kwasnik, allowing a more in-depth look at a typical stop on

14
Doris Barner, “Die Brüder Khayll: Berufsmusiker in Wien zur Zeit des
Biedermeier” (Diplomarbeit, Universität Wien: 2000).
15
Amy Sue Hamilton, “The Relationship of Flute Construction to the Symphonic
Role of the Flute and Orchestral Performance Practice in the Nineteenth Century”
(D.M.A. dissertation, Northwestern University, 1984).
16
Walter Kwasnik, “Der oberschlesische Flötist Johann Sedlatzek (1789-1866),”
Musik des Ostens 4 (1967), 191-203; Maria Zduniak, “Przyczynek do biografii muzyka
śląskiego Johanna Sedlatzka,” (Contribution to the Biography of the Silesian Musician
Johann Sedlatzek) Muzyka 22, no.1 (1977), 121-23.

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a concert tour for a nineteenth-century virtuoso. The third article concerns the Fahrbach

family. Otto Schneider’s “Die ‘Fahrbachs’: Eine Wiener Musikerfamilie der Strauß-

Zeit,” while useful, largely focuses on Philipp (the best known of the brothers) and his

significant contributions to military and dance music.17 Though all four of the Fahrbach

brothers were flutists, it was Joseph who made it his primary focus.

Chapter 3 deals with repertoire, with the primary goal of providing an appropriate

basis for comparison with Schubert’s Variations on Trockne Blumen. It cannot be

overemphasized that our knowledge of concert life is incomplete, but nonetheless some

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general observations can be made from existing information. By combining archival

records of the flutists’ performances from the Concert Register at the Gesellschaft der
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Musikfreunde with other sources, such as the Chronologisches Verzeichniβ aller auf den

fünf Theatern Wien’s gegebenen Vorstellungen (Complete Chronological Record of

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Performances in the Five Viennese Theaters), I have assembled a list of performances

featuring the flute in solo and chamber music. While individual concert appearances are
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discussed along with biographical information in Chapter 2, in Chapter 3 I consider the

repertoire as a whole. Also, by combining this information with sources such as C. F.

Whistling’s 1828 Handbuch der musikalischen Literatur, and Franz Pazdírek’s

Universal-Handbuch der Musikliteratur aller Zeiten und Völker, I compare music in

publication with what was actually performed in public—and what decidedly was not. 18

17
Otto Schneider, “Die ‘Fahrbachs’: Eine Wiener Musikerfamilie der Strauß-
Zeit,” Österreichische Musikzeitschrift 22, no. 1 (January 1967), 29-32.
18
Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde Archives 2697/32; Chronologisches Verzeichniβ
aller auf den fünf Theatern Wien’s gegebenen Vorstellungen; vom ersten November 1824
bis letzten October 1825. Nebst Angabe aller neuen Vorstellungen, Beneficen und
Debüts auf allen fünf Theatern. Sammt einem Anhange, enthaltend: alle in diesem
Zeitraume gegebenen Akademien, Concerte und musikalischen Unterhaltungen, nebst

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The issue of virtuosity as it relates to the repertoire is also discussed. Due to the

popularity of the variation genre, variations by flutist-composers were frequently played

in concert, and performers were criticized for playing such compositions rather than those

by ‘recognized masters,’ a theme that, in particular, I explore.

Although a more detailed analysis of Schubert’s Variations on Trockne Blumen

appears in Chapter 4, in Chapter 3 I begin exploring some issues that relate to its early

publication and reception. First, did Schubert in fact write the piece for Ferdinand

Bogner? This assumption is based on one statement written by Schubert’s earliest

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biographer, Kreissle von Hellborn, in which he says he is “inclined to think” the

variations were written for Bogner.19 Over the years many have taken to repeating
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Hellborn’s inclination as fact, so that we now find the misinterpretation stated as such in

many program notes, dictionaries of music, and even books by Schubert scholars. I will
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explore the validity of this assertion as well as other possibilities in Chapter 3.

Why is it significant whether or not Schubert wrote the variations for Bogner? At
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the memorial concert given for Schubert on 30 January 1829, Bogner performed a set of

variations by Johann Wilhelm Gabrielski, rather than those presumed to be written for

him by Schubert. If Bogner did for some reason choose a piece by Gabrielski over one

written for him by Schubert, certainly we need to explore the possible reasons.

Considering that the rest of the program consisted of works by Schubert, and one by

vollständiger nahmentlicher Angabe aller dabey mitgewirkt habenden Individuen, Erster

Jahrgang (Wien: J. P. Sollinger, 1826); C. F. Whistling, Handbuch der musikalischen
Literatur (1828; reprint, New York: Georg Olms Verlag, 1975); Franz Pazdírek,
Universal-Handbuch der Musikliteratur aller Zeiten und Völker (Wien: Pazdírek & Co.,
1904-1910).
19
Kreissle von Hellborn, The Life of Franz Schubert, (London: Longmans, Green
and Co., 1869), 2: 9.

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Mozart, this seems a peculiar choice, and some criticism of the Schubert piece finds its

roots here; scholars sometimes assume that Bogner found it lacking in artistic merit. I

offer a critical analysis of selected music by Gabrielski, which I believe will help reverse

this assumption. A second unfounded assumption is that Schubert’s piece may have been

too difficult for Bogner. Both of these issues are explored in Chapter 3. The memorial

concert is an important document in our history of Schubert, and while Bogner’s

performance was only one part of the concert as a whole, having a more complete

account of the event proves valuable. Finally, would Schubert’s variations have been

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more appropriate for the memorial concert? This difficult question is addressed in

Chapter 3 in relationship to other contemporary examples from the flute repertoire.

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In addition to Gabrielski’s variations, I also discuss works by Viennese flutists,

including Aloys Khayll and Georg Bayr, as well as one published in Vienna by the
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extremely popular traveling virtuoso Louis Drouet. The flutist-composer trend was at its

high point during the early nineteenth century, and relatively few compositions by such
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composers remained in the repertoire for long. To offer some contrast to the works by

flutist-composers, I offer a brief look at Carl Czerny’s Introduction, Variations and Finale

for Piano and Flute, op. 80, followed by a closer look at Johann Nepomuk Hummel’s

Adagio, Variations and Rondo on Schöne Minka for Flute, Cello and Piano, op. 78—a

work by a respected composer who had considerable influence on Schubert, and that

enjoyed several performances during the decades studied. While still in publication and

occasionally performed today, this work, too, deserves further consideration. In addition

to variations, I discuss the Concertino for Flute, Oboe and Orchestra by Ignaz Moscheles,

which was composed for Aloys Khayll and his brother Joseph.

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 Chapter 4 focuses in on Schubert’s Variations on Trockne Blumen, which is

unique among his compositions for several reasons.20 First, the song cycle Die schöne

Müllerin was written in 1823, and the Variations on Trockne Blumen were written shortly

afterwards, in January of 1824, while the rest of Schubert’s song variations followed

several years after their respective Lieder. Also, although several other variation sets are

based on Schubert’s own songs, only the Variations on Trockne Blumen take their theme

from a song cycle. These facts alone provide a narrative possibility not to be found

elsewhere among his works—a possibility that, as I demonstrate, Schubert exploits.

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Although musicological interest in Schubert has increased dramatically over the

past few decades, scholarly research about his variations is still scarce. Certainly this
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problem is not unique to Schubert scholarship; as Elaine Sisman notes, “variation is the

victim of a curious paradox: while variation technique is extolled as one of the most
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basic, natural, and essential principles underlying all music, indeed as a powerful

stimulus to human creativity, variation form is routinely denigrated from nearly every
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perspective, whether historical, social, aesthetic, structural, or technical.”21 As regards

Schubert specifically, Maurice Brown’s Schubert’s Variations (1954), while

comprehensive in that it includes all of the composer’s variation settings, is now outdated

in methodology, more opinionated than objective, and, as Jeffrey Perry notes, Brown

often judges Schubert through the critical lens of Beethoven.22

20
Although the proper spelling of this word is actually trockene, or its
contraction, trock’ne, for consistency with the many publications to which I refer, I use
trockne throughout the dissertation.
21
Elaine Sisman, Haydn and the Classical Variation (Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, 1993), 1.
22
Maurice J. E. Brown, Schubert’s Variations (London: MacMillan and Co. Ltd.,
1954); Jeffrey Perry, “The Wanderer’s Many Returns: Schubert’s Variations

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 Scholars have long been fascinated in the relationship between Schubert’s songs

and his instrumental music, and recent publications have helped this topic continue to

mature. Michael Raab’s dissertation Franz Schubert: Instrumentale Bearbeitungen

eigener Lieder offers the most comprehensive study to date. Raab discusses each

example systematically in great detail, but because of what he describes as the “almost

universal rejection” of the Variations on Trockne Blumen, he discusses this piece even

more thoroughly than most others.23 Beyond Raab’s work, two separate studies have

proven useful: Uwe Mertins’ “Réflexion et ironie dans Variations D. 802 du lied Trockne

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Blumen,” and Lawrence Zbikowski’s “The Blossoms of ‘Trockne Blumen’: Music and

Text in the Early Nineteenth Century.”24 Each of these three scholars offers valuable
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insights, and while their approaches differ from one another’s and from mine, they all

agree that this work deserves better critical treatment than it has yet received. A rich
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study offering an in-depth look at another critically neglected piece is theorist Patrick

McCreless’ article, “A Candidate for the Canon? A New Look at Schubert’s Fantasie in
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C Major for Violin and Piano.”25 McCreless’ analysis of the Violin Fantasie suggests

that despite its problems, this neglected work nonetheless provides us with important

information about Schubert’s compositional methods; I believe D. 802 does the same.

Reconsidered,” in The Journal of Musicology 19, no. 2 (Spring 2002), 376.

23
Michael Raab, Franz Schubert: Instrumentale Bearbeitungen eigener Lieder
(München: Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 1997), 186.
24
Uwe Mertins, Réflexion et ironie dans Variations D. 802 du lied Trockne
Blumen” in Ostinato Rigore (11/12 1998), 169; Lawrence Zbikowski, “The Blossoms of
‘Trockne Blumen’: Music and Text in the Early Nineteenth Century,” Music Analysis 18,
no. 3 (1999), 307.
25
Patrick McCreless, “A Candidate for the Canon? A New Look at
Schubert’s Fantasie in C Major for Violin and Piano,” 19th-Century Music 20, no.
3 (1997), 205-230.

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 A few flutists have also written articles about the Variations on Trockne Blumen.

Konrad Hünteler’s article deals with issues of inaccuracies in various published editions

as compared to Schubert’s original manuscript; while Barthold Kuijken’s, although not

without insight, is largely a performance guide.26 Gustav Scheck’s discussion of D. 802

in his volume Die Flöte und ihre Musik is the most comprehensive of those by flutists,

combining an analytical discussion of the piece with useful suggestions for performers.27

An article by flutist John Barcellona from 1991 has been particularly helpful by

providing the basis for my interpretation. He explores the concept of the variations

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reflecting the narrative of the song cycle Die schöne Müllerin, stating, “Müller’s

poems…are actually the program of Schubert’s Variations.”28 Barcellona’s aim is to

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demonstrate that the general sense of the cycle’s plot resounds with the sequence of the

variations in the instrumental work. Although this article is primarily intended as a

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performance guide for flutists, to whom Barcellona wishes to introduce to the deeper

significance of the piece, I base my discussion on the foundation he provides.

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Building upon the concept set forth in Barcellona’s article, my analysis delves

more deeply into the complicated emotional world of the Die schöne Müllerin’s young

26
Konrad Hünteler, “Werkgetreu am Urtext? Beobachtungen am Autograph von
Franz Schubert’s ‘Introduktion und Variationen über Trockne Blumen’ D 902 [sic],”
Flöte Aktuell 2 (1993), 14-18; Barthold Kuijken, “Das Lied als Instrumental-Thema bei
Franz Schubert dargestellt an Introduktion und Variationen über Trockne Blumen D 802,”
in Provokation und Tradition: Erfahrungen mit der Alten Musik, ed. Linde, Hans-Martin
and Regula Rapp, (Stuttgart: J. B. Metzler, 2000), 329-345.
27
Gustav Scheck, Die Flöte und ihre Musik (Mainz: B. Schott’s Söhne, 1975),
216-227. Scheck’s analysis includes a comparison between D. 802 and Baroque dance
forms.
28
John Barcellona, “Schubert’s Theme and Variations on Trockne Blumen,” in
Woodwind Anthology: A Compendium of Woodwind Articles from The Instrumentalist,
Volume 1 (Northfield, Illinois: The Instrumentalist Publishing Company, 1992), 608.
Barcellona actually credits the idea to his late professor, the composer Ingolf Dahl.

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miller, including the poetic texts not set by Schubert. The foremost scholar on the song

cycle Die schöne Müllerin is Susan Youens, who has written two monographs on the

subject. Her 1992 volume, Schubert: “Die schöne Müllerin,” deals with both the poetic

cycle and the music in a thorough and insightful manner. 29 With her subsequent volume

Schubert, Müller, and “Die schöne Müllerin,” Youens probes further into specific issues

surrounding the cycle, including various misperceptions. She refers to the poetic text as

“a horrifying exploration of erotic obsession not to be prettified or more than lightly

veiled by the rustic guises Müller adopts.”30 In particular, Youens’ discussion of the

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poems Schubert omitted and their effect on the cycle as a whole offers commentary

essential to my discussion of the Variations on Trockne Blumen.

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Chapter 4 also continues to explore the questions about D. 802 raised in Chapter

3. If Schubert did not in fact write the piece for Bogner, why did he write it? While I
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present various possibilities, ultimately I suggest that the work was written not for any

particular flutist, but for Schubert’s own purposes. I also consider issues related to
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Schubert’s physical health and state of mind, which at this point in his life seem

particularly relevant. Only after this analysis can we fully answer the common criticisms

offered by Schubert scholars. Why are the Variations on Trockne Blumen so often

critically attacked? First and foremost, there is a vehement objection to Schubert’s

transformation of the theme (initially in E Minor just as the original song) into a

triumphant march in E Major for the final variation. Is Schubert deserving of this

criticism? Admittedly, it is easy to cringe when one hears it—easy to wish for a more

29
Susan Youens, Schubert: “Die schöne Müllerin” (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1992).
30
Susan Youens, Schubert, Müller, and “Die schöne Müllerin” (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1997), 161.

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