‘Unfinished’ Symphony. There are many unfinished syms. (e.g. by Tchaikovsky, Mahler, Elgar, Shostakovich) but this title is generally taken to refer only to Schubert's No.8 in B minor (1822, D759). His 7th in E was also left incomplete. No one knows why the 8th was left unfinished—2 movts. were completed and sketches exist for the scherzo. Romantic solutions have been invented, but the truth seems to be that Schubert either forgot about it or abandoned it because he could not find comparable inspiration for the 3rd and 4th movts. F.p. Vienna, Dec. 1865, cond. Herbeck. Among ‘completions’ of the sym. are those by G. Abraham (1971) and B. Newbould.

Unfinished Symphony informal name for Schubert's Symphony in B Minor (1822).