Franz Schubert transformed five song melodies from his rich output of Lieder into instrumental music. The song “The Trout” from 1817 served as a theme for the variations in his Quintet D. 667 for piano, violin, viola, violoncello and double bass, one of chamber music’s most popular works. The piece’s sunny mood – it sounds much more cheerful than Schubert’s other chamber music – comes across like an echo of the felicitous summer months of 1819. The then twenty-two-year-old Schubert passed these in convivial company at Steyr in Upper Austria, and subsequently set to work composing. The present Urtext edition largely follows the Viennese first edition, which likely reproduces theoriginal version of the now lost autograph. In addition, it takes into account the only manuscript source of this work, a copy by Schubert’s friend Albert Stadler. Musicians everywhere will appreciate the optimally-placed page turns in the individual parts!
