This essay explores the relationship between structure and design in the first movement of Schubert's Octet in F Major, D. 803, which contains a number of unusual features: a highly chromatic slow introduction that returns at the end of the development; a three-key exposition with a I–vi–V key scheme; a development section constructed in parallel blocks within which formal and prolongational spans are out of sync; and a recapitulation where only the first part of the main theme is restated in tonic. The rest of the recapitulation is a literal transposition of analogous passages in the exposition, such that I–vi–V is answered by IV–ii–I.

Schubert composed the octet in 1824, the year in which he abandoned his efforts to establish himself as an opera composer and instead sought to make his reputation by composing in serious instrumental genres. By the end of March, he had completed the octet and the string quartets in A minor (D. 804, “Rosamunde”) and D minor (D. 810, “Death and the Maiden”). As Schubert remarked in a letter to his friend Leopold Kupelwieser, he saw these works as means to pave his way toward a grand symphony. He hoped that his efforts in large-scale instrumental composition could lead to a concert in Vienna similar to one that Beethoven was about to give, which would include a performance of the Ninth Symphony.

That Beethoven was both a paragon and a competitor for Schubert is evident in the compositional design of the octet, which is closely modeled on Beethoven's Septet, op. 20. The two works have similar instrumentations and the same number of movements, each of which is nearly identical in formal type, tempo, meter, and tonal scheme. Since several commentators have investigated the derivation of the octet from Beethoven's septet, I do not intend to pursue the issue here. Instead, I focus specifically on Schubert's treatment of sonata form in the octet's first movement, which clearly differs from the characteristic practice of Beethoven. I begin with some general remarks on the viable voice-leading paradigms for the movement's unusual tonal design at the level of fundamental structure.