There have been a few theories about why Schubert's Symphony no. 8 is 'Unfinished'.
The theory popularized by Jack Buchanan in 1935,
Now I know just why Franz Schubert
Didn't finish his unfinished
symphony
He might have written more but the
clock struck four
And everything stops for tea
is woefully under-regarded in academic circles these days.
It had been thought that he died, well, he did but not so soon that he couldn't have completed this symphony. It has been suggested that he was unable to overcome technical compositional problems that he set himself in the third and fourth movements whereas I liked the idea that the first two movements were so bloody good that he didn't want to ruin them by adding any more to them, which is possibly the same thing expressed with less pomp.
The theory that has gained most ground in recent years, though, is that he purloined the fourth movement for the more pressing deadline of the ballet, Rosamunde, and the other bit went with it.
So Mario Venzago has taken it upon himself to reconstruct what might have been.
It will be interesting to see how readily this version is taken up by concert programmes.
Nobody seems to mind that Sussmayer finished Mozart's Requiem for him. I'm not sure that anyone has put the last touches to The Art of Fugue for Bach because, quite possibly, he didn't die having just poignantly signed his name in the abortive start of a final theme but that's where he meant to leave it. I was glad that Gorecki Jnr. completed the Symphony no.4 from his father's notebooks so that we could hear what came after the monumental No.3. But I've never troubled much with Elgar's Symphony no.3 that was finished for him because I don't know much about the first two.
So, I thought the Finished 'Unfinished' was an essential acquisition although it might take longer than some of us have got to ever completely accept it as the real thing.
But it hasn't arrived yet so do come back later to find out what it's like.
