The first public performance of Schubert’s 6th Symphony was only heard on 14 December 1828, a few weeks after the composer’s death. The Society of the Friends of Music in Vienna had originally intended to perform Schubert’s 9th Symphony, the “Great C major.” Since that work prooved to be too difficult, they settled on the Symphony No. 6, the “Little C major.”
The performance was conducted by Johann Baptist Schmiedel, and a critic wrote, “New symphony in C Major by Franz Schubert (posthumous): a fine, diligently crafted work whose most appealing movements are the Scherzo and the Finale. One could perhaps criticize it for its overly opulent wind section, which makes the strings seem subordinate much of the time.”
It is probably worth remembering that not a single Schubert symphony was publically performed or published during his lifetime. In fact, the Sixth Symphony had to wait until the 1880s for its publication.
Here is a spirited performance of this work by Schubert;
