Schubert composed his third symphony in 1815 when he was 16 years old. Although still very much a youth, he was already beginning to develop his own voice. This development doesn’t often happen to artists so young; artists decades older than Schubert can still be finding it. Another remarkable fact: Schubert probably never heard most of his symphonies performed, but composing them moved him towards his goal of becoming a known composer with something to say. Fame did not really happen during his short life, he remained only a local composer, and the third symphony was not performed in public until 1881.
Modeling a work on an accepted masterpiece or some admired work is a common way composers learn to compose. They can study how a musical work is constructed, how to use the instruments of the orchestra, how to manage transitions from one mood or texture to another, and master the composer’s art. Schubert learned to compose this way, and in the third symphony the models are fairly evident: Beethoven in the first movement with its Adagio maestoso introduction reminiscent of the master’s first two symphonies; Mozart in the elegant and precise Allegretto second movement; and Haydn in the energetic Minuet (still called that, but really a scherzo). Schubert’s voice, not yet fully formed, emerges in the Presto finale. Here we hear influences beyond the Viennese classical composers mentioned above, and the beginning of his later tendency to stretch and explore harmonies distant from the main key of the work (D major in this case). He demonstrates a more confident and assured technique while producing a fresh sound. Having consumed the meat and potatoes provided by his masters, he is beginning to grow into a composer who expands and challenges his models. The symphonies that follow this one display the Schubert that has become as famous and well known as the composer forebears he chose as his teachers.