This theme has a multi-faceted past . It is rooted in very old mythological traditions: among the ancient Greeks, the abduction of Persephone (Proserpine among the Romans) by Hades (Pluto), god of Hell, is a clear prefiguration of the clash between Eros and Thanatos. The young goddess gathered flowers in company of carefree nymphs when she saw a pretty narcissus and plucked it. At that moment, the ground opened; Hades came out of the underworld and abducted Persephone.
Niklaus Manuel - “Death and the maiden” (1517) 
George Clark Stanton - Death and the Maiden 
Death and the Maiden (1907 - Etching) - Herbert Cole
This old vision will take a new form at the end of the 15th century and become the theme of Death and the maiden,which will culminate in Germany at the Renaissance. In many dances of Death already figured a representation of Death with a fine lady or with a beautiful virgin. The image of a young woman was also found in the three ages and Death. However in both cases, there was no trace of erotism. But with Death and the maiden theme, something new happened. People discovered a dark bound between sexuality and death. In this type of iconography, the young lady was not involved in a dance anymore, but in a sensual intercourse, which will become always more erotic as time went by. Unlike the dance of death, the Death and the maiden pictures dont have any verses to explain them. Due to that, this new kind of illustration lost somewhat of its dramatic intensity; its didactic role became less impotant. On the other hand, this form of art gained a kinf of intinacy. However in spite of the sensuality of this genre, it still had a moralistic goal; it kept on pointing out the fact that life is short as is the proud beauty of a woman. Her body, her face, her hair and her chest will someday feed the worms. The theme of Death and the maiden has sometimes been used pretexts to represent female nudity.
Alphonse Legros, Death and the Maiden, 1895 
Hans Baldung, Der Tod und das Mädchen, 1517 
Small engraving by Barthel Beham, 1547
The motif was revived during the romantic era in the arts, a notable example being Franz Schubert's song "Der Tod und das Mädchen" (1817), setting a poem by the German poet Matthias Claudius. Part of the piano part was re-used in Schubert's famous String Quartet No. 14, which is therefore also known by this title, in either English or German. The theme of the song forms the basis of the second movement of the quartet. The theme is a death knell that accompanies the song about the terror and comfort of death.
The Maiden:
"Oh! leave me! Prithee, leave me! thou grisly man of bone!
For life is sweet, is pleasant.
Go! leave me now alone!
Go! leave me now alone!"
Death:
"Give me thy hand, oh! maiden fair to see,
For I'm a friend, hath ne'er distress'd thee.
Take courage now, and very soon
Within mine arms shalt softly rest thee!"
But it is not only this theme of the quartet that recalls death. The quote from the song "makes explicit the overriding theme of the work, its bleak vision and almost unremitting foreboding," writes Andrew Clements.From the violent opening unison. the first movement runs a relentless race through terror, pain and resignation, ending with a dying D minor chord. "The struggle with Death is the subject of the first movement, and the andante accordingly dwells on Death's words," writes Cobbett. After a scherzo movement, with a trio that provides the only lyrical respite from the depressing mood of the piece, the quartet ends with a tarantella – the traditional dance to ward off madness and death. "The finale is most definitely in the character of a dance of death; ghastly visions whirl past in the inexorable uniform rhythm of the tarantella," writes Cobbett.
It was composed in 1824, after the composer suffered a serious illness and realized that he was dying. Some interpret it as Schubert's testament to death, and find that the theme of death is palpable in all four movements of the quartet.
So strong is the association of death with the quartet that some analysts consider it to be programmatic, rather than absolute music. "The first movement of Schubert's Death and the Maiden string quartet can be interpreted in a quasi-programmatic fashion, even though it is usually viewed as an abstract work," writes Deborah Kessler. Theologian Frank Ruppert sees the quartet as a musical expression of Judaeo-Christian religious myths. "This quartet, like so many of Schubert's works, is a kind of para-liturgy," he writes. Each movement is about a different episode in the mythic process of death and resurrection.
1823 and 1824 were hard years for Schubert. For much of 1823 he was sick, some scholars believe with an outburst of tertiary stage syphilis, and in May had to be hospitalized. He was also without money.
In a letter to a friend, he wrote:
Think of a man whose health can never be restored, and who from sheer despair makes matters worse instead of better. Think, I say, of a man whose brightest hopes have come to nothing, to whom love and friendship are but torture, and whose enthusiasm for the beautiful is fast vanishing; and ask yourself if such a man is not truly unhappy.
Sources: http://www.lamortdanslart.com ,Wikipedia
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