Quartettsatz, D 703 (Schubert)

The Quartettsatz in C-moll (English: Quartet Movement in C minor), D 703 was composed by Franz Schubert in December 1820. It is the first movement of a string quartet that Schubert never completed. It was listed as his String Quartet no. 12 on publication. In addition to the opening movement, Schubert also composed the first 40 bars of a second movement marked "Andante." The unfinished quartet is regarded as one of the first products of Schubert's mature phase of composition.

Schubert began work on his twelfth string quartet in early December 1820, shortly after a "Schubertiade" held at the home of Ignaz von Sonnleithner on the first of the month. It was his first attempt at writing a string quartet since completing the String Quartet No. 11 in E major, D 353 in 1816.

After completing the allegro assai first movement, Schubert wrote out the 41 bar exposition of the following andante movement before abandoning the work.

As with the later "Unfinished" Symphony, there has been much speculation on why Schubert left the composition incomplete. One view presented by Bernard Shore is that Schubert put it aside to follow up another musical idea and never got back to it. Javier Arrebola speculates that the work (like several others written during the same period) was put aside because it "...did not yet represent the great leap forward he was striving for." It has also been speculated that the work was abandoned because Schubert, having written a powerful first movement, was unable to come up with an effective following movement.

Following Schubert's death the manuscript score eventually found its way into the ownership of Johannes Brahms. The Quartettsatz received its posthumous premiere on 1 March 1867 in Vienna, with publication of the score, edited by Brahms, following in 1870.

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