Schubert's last sonatas

The last sonatas are now praised for that mature style, manifested in unique features such as a cyclical formal and tonal design, chamber music textures, and a rare depth of emotional expression.

They also contain specific allusions and similarities to other Schubert compositions, such as his Winterreise song cycle; these connections point to turbulent emotions expressed in the sonatas, often understood as highly personal and autobiographical.

At this stage he moved from the Vienna home of his friend Franz von Schober to his brother Ferdinand's house in the suburbs, following the advice of his doctor; unfortunately, this may have actually worsened his condition.

All three sonatas, most importantly, share a common dramatic arc and make considerable and identical use of cyclic motives and tonal relationships to weave musical-narrative ideas through the work.

However, as often with Schubert, the harmonic scheme of the exposition involves additional, intermediate tonalities, which may be quite remote from the tonic-dominant axis and sometimes imbue certain expository passages with the character of a development section.

A new theme, based on a melodic fragment from the second thematic group of the exposition, is presented in this section over recurrent rhythmic figuration, and then developed, undergoing successive transformations.

Nostalgic in its traditional Classical character (one of the few instrumental Adagios Schubert wrote), the opening theme of this movement is an elegant, touching melody that eventually undergoes remarkable tonal and cadential treatment, undermining the peaceful setting.

This movement is written in 68 and in tarantella style and is characterised by a relentless galloping rhythm calling on demanding pianistic effects with frequent hand-crossing and leaps across registers.

This last passage is characterized by sweeping arpeggios with violent dynamic contrasts – a series of subito fortissimo decaying to piano, following the rise and fall of the melody.

The exposition follows standard classical practice by modulating from tonic (A) to dominant (E) for the second theme, even preparing the latter tonality with its own V – the only first movement to do so in the mature Schubert.

[24] This theme, despite its vastly different character, references the opening bars of the Allegro, an aforementioned source of much of the sonata's material – the Andantino's first measure shares with the fanfare a second-beat bass note 'echo' after the downbeat on A, creating an audible rhythmic affinity; additionally, the quiet close of the A theme features the fanfare's characteristic pattern of stepwise thirds in the middle voices enclosed between tonic octaves.

It commences in C major for a rollicking theme that is abruptly interrupted by a downward-rushing C♯ minor scale without any modulatory preparation,[25] in a striking cyclic reference to the climax of the preceding movement's middle section.

Following this outburst, the B section quietly ends in C♯ minor a grace-note melody identical in contour to a figure from the theme of the Andantino (2–1–7–1–3–1), before modulating back to the movement's tonic.

The ternary form trio in D major uses hand crossing to add melodic accompaniment to the chordal theme, and is rhythmically and harmonically based on the opening of the Allegro.

[26] Charles Fisk has pointed out that this theme would make musical sense as a response subsequent to the questioning leading tone that closes the Allegro's opening fanfare; in this capacity the Rondo's lyricism is the dramatically delayed final goal of the sonata.

[citation needed] The second theme, in ternary form, is written in the traditional key of the dominant, with a central section in D major; it consists of an extended, characteristically Schubertian stepwise melody played over an uninterrupted flow of semiquavers.

[33] The major emendations in the final versions can be summarized as follows: In addition to the differences mentioned above, numerous other, local modifications of the structure, harmony or texture were applied to the original material.

In some cases, however, Schubert quotes a theme or passage from an earlier movement with little alteration, inserting it in structurally significant locations, creating an immediately audible allusion.

[46] Charles Fisk, also a pianist and music scholar, has described another cyclic element in Schubert's last sonatas – a unifying tonal design, which follows a similar, basic dramatic scheme in each of the three works.

The harmonic scheme inherent in each of Schubert's last sonatas, according to Charles Fisk, of a tonal conflict gradually resolved through musical integration, finds its precedent in the Fantasy.

Schubert's frequent use of similar harmonic, textural and cyclical devices in his settings of poems depicting such emotional states, only strengthens the suggestion of these psychological connotations.

[68] It is often suggested that the Last Sonata, in B♭ major, is a farewell work in which Schubert faces his own death (somewhat analogous to the myths surrounding Mozart's Requiem); this is usually ascribed to the relaxed, meditative character which dominates the two opening movements.

[85] In Brahms's works dating from the early 1860s, a clear Schubertian influence can be observed, in features such as closed lyrical themes, distant harmonic relationships, and use of the three-key exposition.

Only around the centennial of Schubert's death did these works begin to receive serious attention and critical acclaim, with the writings of Donald Francis Tovey, and the public performances of Artur Schnabel and Eduard Erdmann.

[87] During the following decades, the sonatas, and especially the final trilogy, received growing attention, and by the end of the century, came to be regarded as essential members of the classical piano repertoire, frequently appearing on concert programs, studio recordings, and musicological writings.

The typical movement length has increased, due to the use of long, lyrical, fully rounded-off, ternary-form themes, the insertion of development-like passages within expositions, and the lengthening of the development section proper.

However, the negative view has changed during the late twentieth century, and today these works are usually praised for their conveying of an idiosyncratic, personal Schubertian style, indeed quite different from Beethoven's, but holding its own virtues.

In this mature style, the Classical perception of harmony and tonality, and the treatment of musical structure, are radically altered, generating a new, distinct type of sonata form.

For most of these issues, no general agreement has been reached; for example, to what extent should the sustain pedal be used, how to combine triplets with dotted rhythms, whether to allow tempo fluctuations within the course of a single movement, and whether to observe each repeat sign meticulously.

The pioneers of the Schubert sonata performance, Artur Schnabel and Eduard Erdmann, are known to have played the entire trilogy in one evening; more recently, so have Alfred Brendel,[105] Maurizio Pollini,[106] Mitsuko Uchida,[107] and Paul Lewis.