Schubert Symphony No. 8, "Unfinished"

There are many reasons why Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony remains
a mystery to this day -  the literally unfinished form, the
unusual way of the symphony's emergencee into public
consciousness, and probably most importantly, the character of
the music itself, which seems to inhabit a different realm
altogether, whether in its brooding first movement or the
heavenly second movement.  When Schubert’s half-finished
symphony was discovered, it had been sitting in a drawer of the
minor composer Anselm Huttenbrenner for 43 years, unmissed and
unheard by anyone.  The score was discovered by the
conductor Johann von Herbeck.  Herbeck naturally considered
the moment where he first held the score unforgettable, quickly
organized a performance, and 37 years after Schubert’s death, the
Unfinished symphony was heard for the first time.  But, the
truth is that the fact that the symphony is unfinished isn’t
really that special.  Composers started and failed to finish
works all the time, whether they were songs, symphonies, operas,
cantatas, or something else.  Most of those pieces are
either ignored or are regarded as interesting curiosities by none
but the most hardcore classical music lovers.  So why is
this one different?  Why do these two movements rank up
there with Bach’s Art of Fugue, Bruckner’s 9th symphony, Mozart’s
Requiem and C Minor Mass, as pieces that are still performed
today despite their unfinished nature.  Today, we’re going
to find out.  We’ll explore the two existing movements of
the symphony, take a look at the fragment of the third movement
that Schubert started, stopped, and then tore out of the score,
and also the speculative last movement, theorized by some
enterprising musicologists.  But all along, we’ll marvel at
Schubert’s lyricism, his endless creativity, and the powerful
character of this unique symphony. Join us!