Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 in B Minor: The “Unfinished”
Mystery surrounds the two movements of Franz Schubert’s unfinished Eighth Symphony. Why, after nearly completing a piano score for a succeeding scherzo in the autumn of 1822, did he stop? Although the 25-year-old Schubert lived six more years, in the words of musicologist Michael Steinberg, “he seemed not to give it another thought,” choosing instead to move on to other large-scale works such as the “Great” C Major Symphony. Perhaps the onset …