The Death and the Maiden Quartet, written in 1824 by Franz Schubert and D. 810 in Otto Erich Deutsch's thematic catalog of Schubert's works, is a string quartet in four movements:

1. Allegro, in D minor and common time
2. Andante con moto, in G minor and divided common (2:2) time
3. Scherzo: Allegro molto, in D minor and 3:4 time
4. Presto, in D minor in 6:8

The opening movement is, along with that of the preceding and next quartet and that of his string quintet, among the most extended and substantial in his chamber music output, if not in his output as a whole. It is a sonata form movement whose exposition encompasses three main key regions, D minor, F major and A minor.

The second movement is a theme — taken from his song Der Tod und Das Mädchen (D 531 in Deutsch's catalog) and five variations, with coda.

The third movement's main theme can also be heard in one of a set of piano dances; its lyrical D major trio varies its 'repeats'.

The relentless finale-tarantella is a sonata-rondo in form — a rondo whose first episode returns as the last, and whose central section contains elements of development. Its coda promises major-mode triumph, and snatches it away.

This is one of the quartet works, along with Beethoven's quartetto serioso that Mahler arranged for use by a string orchestra, mostly by doubling some of the cello parts with double basses.

Appearances in Film

Besides the 1994 film Death and the Maiden (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0109579/), Schubert's quartet has been used in the score of at least the following:

• The 1996 Russian film President i yego zhenshchina (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0117377/)
• The 1983 French film Le Bâtard (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0085283/)

External link

A website with MIDIs of the quartet (http://www.kunstderfuge.com/schubert.htm)