One glance at Schubert’s Trio and the troubles of our human existence disappear and all the world is fresh and bright again. – Robert Schumann
At the same time he was composing his bleak song cycle “Die Winterreise” (“A Winter’s Journey”), the gravely ill Schubert was also writing this “lively, buoyant work, with unrivaled lyricism throughout.”
Franz Schubert’s January 31st birthday is inevitably a milestone event here in HeifetzLand, for the last day of January is invariably the application deadline for students wishing to attend our summer program. So we’ll take our cue from the composer of the Unfinished Symphony to offer some Schubertian encouragement to our budding #Heifetz2022 students: A full-length performance by our 2021 students Carlos Rafael Martinez Arroyo, violin; Nicco Mazziotto, cello, and Seth Schultheis, piano. Together they make up the Erda Trio, studying at the Manhattan School of Music, and enrolled last summer in our renowned Chamber Music Seminar.
Here the Erdas perform Schubert’s Piano Trio No. 1 in B-flat, D. 898, a remarkably gregarious work that belies Schubert’s rather gloomy circumstances one year from his death. Schubert the songsmith paraphrases his own song Des Sängers Habe throughout that underpins the mood of the piece: “Shatter all my happiness in pieces, take from me all my worldly wealth, yet leave me only my zither and I shall still be happy and rich!”
And we hope that our aspiring Heifetz students are a little happier and the world a little brighter to know that we are extending our deadline to Feb. 6 for all students who begin their application by 11:59 pm, January 31, 2022. Click on this link to get started! PS – Sorry, we’re not taking zither applications at the present time.