Many Schubert’s greatest works belong to his last year, which saw the creation of the “Great” C major Symphony, the String Quintet, D. 956, the piano trios D. 929 and D. 898, the Mass in E flat, D. 950, and the Fantasy in F minor for piano duet, D. 940.
As Claudio Arrau once remarked, “this is a work written in the proximity of death…one feels it from the very first theme…the breaking off, and the silence after a long, mysterious trill in the bass.”
Here is the music:
