12 German Dances, D.420

Dance

Franz Schubert 1797–1828
Dance
Form
Score
First page of 12 German Dances, D.420

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Themes & character
Social dance music·Written for friends·Schubertiade repertoire·Composed 1816

At a glance

Form
Dance

About the piece

Twelve German dances from 1816, part of the enormous quantity of dance music Schubert produced for the gatherings of friends that became known as Schubertiades. He would improvise at the piano for hours while the company danced, writing down afterwards whatever seemed worth keeping. Hundreds of such pieces survive, and they represent the ordinary social function music served in his life, as distinct from the sonatas and song cycles.

The composer

Franz Schubert
Franz Schubert
1797–1828

Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. He was immensely prolific despite living a short life, leaving behind a vast oeuvre of more than 1,000 compositions, including over 600 Lieder and other vocal works, seven complete symphonies, sacred music, operas, incidental music, and a large body of piano and chamber music. Among these are the songs "Gretchen am Spinnrade", "Erlkönig" and "Ave Maria"; the Trout Quintet; the Symphony No. 8 in B minor (Unfinished); the Symphony No. 9 in C major ; the String Quartet No. 14 in D minor ; the String Quintet in C major; the Impromptus for solo piano; the last three piano sonatas; the Fantasia in F minor for piano four hands; the incidental music to the play Rosamunde; the song cycles Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise; and the song collection Schwanengesang.

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