everal measures later, the relationships of the open strings and their resulting harmonics produce some interesting differences between the G minor and A minor arrangements.

Figure 4. A comparison of the A minor and G minor versions. In G minor, the D and G harmonics are often used (m. 22 beats 1 and 2) for what in the A minor version is a not particularly challenging shift. The technical crutch of the high D harmonic is undeniably useful in the G minor version and corresponds well with the E harmonic one octave above the top string on the arpeggione. However, the open top string on the double bass (m. 24) preceding the high D often produces musically unsatisfactory results in the form of accents and jarring timber. In the A minor version, the corresponding note may be played as the more pleasant sounding harmonic on the third string to facilitate the large leap.

The following passage shows Schubert writing for the high E string on the arpeggione. On the double bass, this passage is admittedly more difficult to perform in A minor, but it is by no means unplayable. Note that the final A, for which the use of the top string harmonic on the cello and double bass has become de rigueur, would have been a closed note on the arpeggione.

Figure 5. Although intended to be played on the high E string of the arpeggione, this passage is still playable on the double bass without natural harmonics.

The following passage is one that often brings unhappy results when performed on the double bass.

Figure 6. A difficult passage to perform in G-minor editions.

Looking at the passage in the original key alongside a reminder of the arpeggione tuning shows the cleverness of Schubert's writing and sheds some light on the cross-string possibilities of the arpeggione, and the way in which this and similar passages may have been executed on that instrument.

Figure 7. A suggestion of which strings might have been used to play the phrase on the arpeggione.

This passage, and others like it, poses the greatest challenge because of the idiomatic use of the two additional strings on the arpeggione. What Schubert intended as a facile cross-string passage becomes more of an exercise in virtuosity on a four-stringed instrument when it is "telescoped" up and down the top string.

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