Schubert and the Quintessential Piano Sonata’s of His Time

Schubert, unlike Mozart and Beethoven, neglected writing concertos like his counterparts however; he did compose the “Wanderer Fantasy”-later transformed into a quasi concerto by Lizst-which calls for a very high standard of performing technique. While Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven each wrote a series of sonatas, and few other kinds of piano works apart from sets of variations and rondos, Schubert’s series of twenty-one sonatas is accompanied by a large collection of smaller works in other forms: impromptus, Moments musicaux, separate movements without titles a few sets of variations and over thirty groups of dances. So why are the sonatas of Schubert ignored by pianists? Schubert’s critics have raised this question but, for great admirers like myself, his piano sonata’s are some of the most delicately, classical pieces I have ever heard. 

          Although the last works of Schubert’s piano sonata series are revered as being the most significant of his lifetime, there are also pieces that round off his collection in a way that sets his genius apart from musicians that ruled the 19^th and 20ths century. Among his many esteemed works there lies  sonata’s that have earned him the name “song-writer”, those being the piano sonata Deutch 784 in A minor, piano sonata  Deutch No. 15 in C Major 840 named “Reliquie”, and finally piano sonata  Deutch 894 in G major, known as “Fantasie”.

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Piano sonata Deutch 784 in a minor was initially written in 1823 and published as Op. 43. It was not published until 11 years after his death. Four years had passed since he last wrote a piano sonata of this kind yet, every facet of his existence and composition had changed significantly during that period. Schubert was fine-tuning his own genius and compositional style, trying to separate his own technique from the masters of the time. The piano sonata Deutch 784 in A minor was a part of a grouping of 9 sonatas that formed the most “distinguished group and showed more clearly what he was to achieve in his maturity”.