Schubert-Servais - All'Ungaren [Moment Musical No. 3], D. 780, No. 3 (Transcribed for Cello and Quintet/Piano)

Franz Schubert was an early Romantic Austrian composer best known for his extraordinary contributions to German lieder and piano music. His Moments musicaux, a set of six short piano pieces published in 1828, quickly became one of his most beloved collections. The third piece, in F minor, has been especially popular and has been arranged for many combinations of instruments over the last two centuries.

The Belgian cellist-composer François Servais transcribed this third Moment musical for cello and string quintet in G minor under the title All’Ungaren, likely because of the piece’s Hungarian flair. The transcription is direct and effective, with the solo cello carrying the melody throughout while the accompanying strings provide mostly pizzicato support. Around 1910, the German cellist-composer Hugo Becker published his own transcription of the same Schubert piece with the London firm Bosworth. Becker’s version became popular among cellists, but the resemblance between his solo part and Servais’s transcription is too close to seem coincidental. It is possible that Becker had access to a Servais manuscript and adapted a substantial portion of the transcription under his own name.

This edition is based on the autograph of Servais’s quintet version, housed in a private collection. A piano reduction of the transcription has also been created for this edition. This set includes the score, piano reduction, and all parts needed for performance.

Well-suited for recitals, lessons, studio classes, and chamber music programs, this transcription gives cellists an opportunity to explore Schubert’s lyrical style through Servais’s nineteenth-century cello idiom. It offers excellent material for shaping melody, rhythmic character, pizzicato ensemble coordination, expressive timing, and elegant Romantic phrasing.

ASTA level: 3