Schubert and the Quintessential Piano Sonata’s of His Time

The piano sonata in Deutch 894 in G major has a “gently opening movement far from the traditional with a rigorous sonata opener.” (answer.com) Written in October 1826, this particular piece is one of three sonatas ever published in 1827 as “Fantasie, Andante, Menuetto, and Allegretto Op.78.” This sonata was hailed by Schumann as being Schubert’s most perfect in form and conception. “The opening Molto moderato of the G major Sonata d894, in 12/8 time, shares its tempo marking and spirit of almost timeless contemplation by the first movement of the B Sonata (d960).” (Winter) The concluding Rondo, in which the tone repetitions from the rustic Scherzo return, only appears to be light-hearted; shades of gray come to cloud the music. “After hearing the work at its premiere in the apartment of Josef von Spaun, Franz von Hartmann writes in a diary entry from December 8, 1826: “Then came Schubert and played a wonderful but melancholy composition from his own pen.” 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xX4NH7yHFKI

The first movement of the piano sonata 894 in G major was one of the most profound and astonishing sonata-allegros Schubert ever composed. The refrain of the Rondo is unhurried and the contrasting section of the central episode in C minor is like a dance of a colorful bird. The coda is delightful and sharp, and the last four bars that opened the first movement appears a second time to draw the final cadence.

In relation to the style of Schubert’s compositions, the situation can best be summed up in the words of W.H. Hadow:

            “In clarity of style he was inferior to Mozart; in power of musical construction he was far inferior to Beethoven, but in poetic impulse and suggestion he is unsurpassed. He was the greatest song-writer who ever lived, and almost everything in his hand turned to song….The standpoint from which to judge him is that of a singer who ranged over the whole field of musical composition and everywhere carried with him the artistic form which he loved best”.

Franz Schubert, during his life, lived in the shadows of some of the greatest musical minds in history. Although, Schubert’s piano sonatas seem to have been disregarded because of their long form lacking a style of elegance and un-pianistic form, he did still entice other 19^th century composers to take interest in his work. In Johannes Brahms’s works dating from the early 1860s, a clear Schubertian influence can be observed, in features such as three-key exposition, closed lyrical themes, and outlying harmonic associations.  

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Ironically, the views of Franz Schubert’s works have changed since the opinions of his 20^th century counterparts. The Classical perception of tonality and harmony and the innovative structure that made Schubert’s piano sonatas unique eventually created a divergent type of sonata form that is well regarded in the 21^st century. Musicologists revere Schubert’s last sonatas as being just as innovative as Beethoven’s last sonatas, if not superior in their own right. However, Schubert was never able to free himself entirely from necessity in composing; that is, throughout his life he composed because he strove for a foothold. In most of his earlier compositions he was trying to be more like Beethoven or Mozart instead of letting him be himself in his works.

“There was no time in Schubert’s career that he was considered to be a self-conscious artist, determined to please others; at no time was he even conscious of his own works; he never catalogued or recorded any of his compositions like all of the other composers at the time. And so it was certain that his works were not influenced nor illuminated on intellectual writings of the 19^th century, nor did his works ever find their rightful place amongst musical or scholarly writings.”

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