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Trout Quintet - Definition and Overview |
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The Trout Quintet is the popular name for the piano quintet in A major by Franz Schubert. In Otto Erich Deutsch's catalogue of Schubert's works, it is D. 667.
The piece is known as the Trout because the fourth movement is a set of variations on Schubert's earlier lied, "Die Forelle" (The Trout). Rather than the usual piano quintet lineup of piano and string quartet, Schubert's piece is written for piano, violin, viola, cello and double bass. Dating from 1819, it is the only piano quintet he wrote.
The work is in five movements:
- Allegro vivace - as is normal in multi-movement works of the time, this is in sonata form.
- Andante
- Scherzo: Presto
- Andantino - Allegretto - the variations on "Die Forelle"
- Allegro giusto
Movements which are a set of variations on a melody from another one of his works are found in several other pieces by Schubert, including the Rosamunde Quartet, the Death and the Maiden Quartet and the Wanderer Fantasy.
The British television sitcom Waiting for God used the opening of the Trout Quintet’s fifth movement as its theme music.
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