FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797-1828)

One of the greatest composers of the nineteenth century, Franz Schubert was a prolific composer whose fame rested mainly on his songs, however his compositions for piano are equally captivating and almost equally numerous. Throughout his short life, he composed many popular and innovative dances for the piano, also waltzes, 1_6ndler, German dances, fantasies, duets, and additionally twenty piano sonatas. Among these keyboard works, his best-known compositions include the familiar Moments Musicaux and the two sets of Impromptus; Fantasy in F Minor for piano duet; the Wanderer-Fantasy; and his last three grand piano sonatas, written in a single month in 1828, only a few weeks before his death. It has taken a long time for his sonatas to be appreciated and become part of the standard repertoire. Undoubtedly, Schubert's most profound works for solo piano are these monumental last three sonatas, and the epic Wanderer-Fantasy, which stands out as one of Schubert's few truly virtuoso compositions for the piano.

Sonata in A Major D. 959
The three last piano sonatas of Schubert were published by Diabelli under the title "Franz Schubert's last Compositions: Three Grand Sonatas" in 1838, ten years after their composition and the composer's death. The magnificent A Major Sonata D. 959 is the middle one of these large masterworks, which are all of elaborate construction, substantial length, scale, vision, and technical difficulty.

It is characterized by its profound, expansive, noble qualities, resourceful lyrical inventiveness, and emotional range. Schubert's expressive demands in the A Major Sonata in addition to the technical aspects of the work include abrupt changes in mood with extreme contrasts ranging from joy, to melancholy, to feverish outbursts.

The first movement Allegro starts with a majestic declaration in a six-bar phrase. In spite of its awe-inspiring character, the opening idea keeps us guessing as to the true musical direction. The development is centered around a pianissimo second subject. The remarkable Andantino movement is based on a sorrowful, dreamlike melody which works itself up to a dramatic episode of volcanic rage with extreme harmonies, wild outbursts of energy, and torrential scales, before returning to the opening melody and serenely fading away. The short and sparkling third movement Scherzo has a lighter texture with a mischievous theme, built around a delightful sequence of playful broken chords, and a relatively calmer accompanying trio. The finale marked Rondo starts with a flowing peaceful theme, one of the two song-like themes of the movement happy, and content. The final statement of the movement is a sequence of gentle contemplative statements based on these two themes, accentuated by separating pauses. The ensuing presto coda leads with great leaps to the chords of the opening statement, and closes the work cyclically with the noble theme with which began the sonata.

Wanderer-Fantasy D. 760
The towering Wanderer-Fantasy was written in 1822, and published in 1823 with the title "Fantaisie pour le Pianoforte". It is visionary in its use of cyclic form. All four movements of the work are thematically connected and are played without a pause.

The brilliant and grandiose opening Allegro is in an energetic clactylic rhythm which propels the work ever forward and reappears in various related forms throughout the piece. This highly technically demanding movement contains virtuoso passages of assorted pianistic techniques: broken and repeated chords, arpeggios, sudden dynamic changes and fast scale passages, some of which are notoriously difficult. The main theme is followed by a secondary subject which is a typically Schubertian melody of great beauty and grace. The second movement ma~kecl Adagio follows without a break. It is a theme and variations based on an eight-bar phrase from Schubert's own song Der Wanderer of 1816 corresponding to the verses

"Here the sun seems so cold,
The blossom faded, life old,
And men's words mere hollow noise:
I am a stranger everywhere."

This theme in fact is seen to supply much of the material of not only the second movement but of the entire piece. The set of variations fits the mood of the lyrics perfectly with its dreamy quality and lovely, if somewhat distant melodic line. The Adagio leads into the Presto, which is in fact a scherzo with two trios. Here Schubert employs the first movement's broken chord figures in ever-changing patterns and includes a fast Viennese waltz with a free flowing melody line accompanied by sustained chords in the left hand. The triumphant last movement starts without a break by the introduction of a forceful fugato subject, which is the basic theme of the first movement extended into an eight-bar phrase. In some sense, this concluding finale marked Allegro, is the natural continuation of the very first movement of the work after an elaborate interposition of two inner movements. Through bravura gestures and propulsive arpeggios, the movement builds up to a furious climax followed by a coda and a appropriately forceful fortissisimo ending.

Zeynep Ucbasaran

Editions
Sonata in A Major D. 959:
Schubert-Klaviersonaten, Band II, Urtext (ed. Paul Mies, G. Henle Verlag 148)
Wanderer-Fantasy D. 760:
Schubert- Fantasie (Wandererfantasie) C-dur, Opus 15, Urtext (ed. Ernst Herttrich, G. Henle Verlag 282)