Work

Schubert provided an overture and nine numbers for a play called Rosamunde, Queen of Cyprus by Wilhelmine von Chézy. It was a resounding flop, closing in two nights, but the music was well-received. Even so, Schubert did not take advantage of the evident high regard the audience had for it by extracting the music for concert purposes; that service was not performed until 1868, when Grove and Sullivan made their famous discovery of a treasury of forgotten Schubert scores (including the Unfinished Symphony) in Vienna. Schubert's nine numbers are: (1) Entr'acte in B minor; (2) Ballet in B; (3) Entr'acte No. 2 in D major and Romanza; (4) Spirit Chorus; (5) Entr'acte No. 3 in B flat major. (6) Shepherd's Melody; (7) Shepherds' Chorus; (8) Hunters' Chorus; and (9) Ballet No. 2 in G. Schubert re-used the tune of No. (5) in a later Impromptu and in his Quartet, D. 804. The score was composed at great speed and to some extent thrown together from other sources: the overture used (now commonly called the "Rosamunde" Overture) was originally written for an operetta called Die Zauberharfe. Another piece is also designated "Rosamunde" Overture for piano duet, but it was also composed earlier, for the operetta Alfonso und Estrella. Incidentally, Gerald Abraham speculates that the B minor Entr'acte is the missing final movement of the Unfinished Symphony in B minor. Scientific examination of the manuscripts themselves tends counter to this view.

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