Talk:Rosamunde, D.797 (Schubert, Franz)

I'm not content with the definition of this piece as a symphonic piece with soloists. This definition would fit to Mahler's "Lied von der Erde" or Berlioz' "Romeo et Juliette", although their composers called their works "symphonies". "Rosamunde" is an incidental music like Mendelssohn's "Sommernachtstraum" or Beethoven's "Egmont", although the play is very unimportant and today, I think, lost. --Molinarius 10:57, 15 July 2007 (EDT)

Orchestral parts are actually for the overture D 644

The overture that is frequently associated with the Incidental music for “Rosamunde, Fürstin von Zypern” (D 797) has a complicated history.

Schubert wrote two overtures “in the Italian style” in late 1817 (D 590 in D major, and D 591 in C major) and several years later adapted D 590 into the overture for a melodrama, “Die Zauberharfe” (D 644), changing the key to C minor/major, taking music from the introduction and the vivace conclusion, but not the main allegro.

When he came to write the incidental music for “Rosamunde” he lacked time to compose a new overture, so he substituted the overture (D 759a) to his opera “Alfonso und Estrella” (D 732) for the first performance (it was encored). In a letter to Ignaz von Seyfried (23 November 1826) he referred to this as the “Rosamunde Overture”.

However, when Schubert came to publish a selection of the incidental music the next year as Op. 26, he included the D 644 “Die Zauberharfe” overture, and this is the one which is frequently associated with the incidental music as a result.

Hence, confusion. From memory, when I looked at volume 8 of the complete works, the “Rosamunde Overture” it used the D 759a “Alfonso und Estrella” overture. Most people talking about the “Rosamunde Overture” here seem to be thinking of the D 644 “Die Zauberharfe” overture.

The submissions of the violin parts are an example of this. They are wrongly labelled in the orchestral parts as "Rosamunde/Overture/Franz Schubert/D.797". If anything they should be described as the parts for "Die Zauberharfe/[Rosamunde] Overture/Franz Schubert/D.644". They don’t actually include any of the music from D 797.

Regards, Philip Legge @ © talk 21:05, 23 November 2008 (EST)