Confusion arose quite early over the numbering of Schubert's symphonies, in particular the Great C major Symphony. George Grove, who rediscovered many of Schubert's symphonies, assigned the following numbering after his 1867 visit to Vienna:
Breitkopf & Härtel, when preparing the 1897 complete works publication, originally planned to publish only complete works, with "fragments", including the Unfinished and the D 729 sketch, receiving no number at all. When Johannes Brahms became general editor of that project, he assigned the following numbers:
no number: E major, D 729
No. 7: C major, D 944 Great C major
No. 8: B minor, D 759 Unfinished
Some of the disagreement continued into the 20th century. George Grove in his 1908 Dictionary of Music and Musicians, assigned the Great C major as No. 10, and the Unfinished as No. 9. The 1978 revision to the Deutsch catalogue leaves the order as follows:
no number: E major, D 729
No. 7: B minor, D 759 Unfinished
No. 8: C major, D 944 Great C major
As a consequence, generally available scores for the later symphonies may be published using conflicting numbers. Grove and Sullivan also suggested that there may have been a "lost" symphony. Immediately before Schubert's death, his friend Eduard von Bauernfeld recorded the existence of an additional symphony, dated 1828 named the "Letzte" or "Last" symphony. Brian Newbould believes that the "Last" symphony refers to a sketch in D major, identified by Ernst Hilmar in 1977, and which was realised by Newbould as the Tenth Symphony. The fragment was bound with other symphony fragments. In conclusion, the resulting and most current order followed by the English-speaking world is:
No. 7: E major, D 729
No. 8: B minor, D 759 Unfinished
No. 9: C major, D 944 Great C major
No. 10: D major, D 936A
Numbering of symphonies
The following citations illustrate the confusion around the numbering of Schubert's late symphonies. The B minor Unfinished Symphony is variously published as No. 7 and No. 8, in both German and English. All of these editions appeared to be in print in 2008.
German-language publication of the Unfinished Symphony score as No. 7.
English-language publication of the Unfinished Symphony score as No. 7.
English-language publication of the Unfinished Symphony score as No. 8.
