The Unfinished Piano Sonatas of Franz Schubert Javier ... - Ethesis

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major (D349) follows the fifth movement – Allegro patetico – in the incomplete autograph, it could be that Schubert thought of the Allegro patetico as an opening movement of another sonata in which the Adagio (D349) would be the slow movement. As we shall see in the next chapter, there is a missing sonata in the collection of six that Schubert was writing in 1817. Perhaps one or several of these Klavierstücke were originally drafts for that missing sonata of 1817. The publication of the five movements together could have been on the initiative of the editor himself or may have been based 1816 on the existence of a full autograph score, now lost, containing all of the pieces. In any case, and despite the doubts, the musical quality and the musically interesting nature of these pieces ultimately justify their inclusion in this study. The opening Allegro moderato is a traditional sonata-form movement firmly rooted in the classical tradition of Mozart and Haydn. Except for some tonal relationships a third apart, and a recapitulation in the subdominant (not new in Schubert, as we have noticed), the music of this first movement is clearly eighteenthcentury. The harmonic language is rather conventional and the texture of most of the movement is that of a string-quartet, providing the music with a pristine clarity in all of the voices. We also find some musical patterns that Schubert will use in later pieces, such as the accompaniment to bars 33-42, which bears a resemblance to the corresponding passage in the D-flat Sonata (D567) of the following year. The Scherzo that follows is a much more interesting and unusual piece of music. The beginning is almost atonal. The tonal ambiguity of the opening four unharmonized unison bars is only resolved in the next four-bar answer (Ex. 11.). As in the first movement, the texture rather resembles that of string-quartet writing, presenting the antecedent in the violins and the consequent with the whole ensemble. However, heavier pianistic demands come just a few bars later in a passage worthy of a Chopin scherzo: a theme combining single notes with octaves, quick figurations opening up the chordal harmonies in the left hand, broken octaves and rhythmical richness are features of these passages (Ex. 12. and 13.). Harmonically speaking, this is a very adventurous piece: unusual resolutions (bars 98-99); double accidentals due to the unusual key (bars 64 ff.); and striking harmonic progressions (bars 98-103). They are all to be found in this scherzo. In addition to the advanced harmonic progressions and the pianistic virtuosity it displays, the formal ambiguity of the Scherzo is most interesting and worth a closer look. The piece is in ¾, marked Allegro, and the opening bars leave little doubt about its scherzo nature. However, as the music develops, the movement takes on something akin to sonata form. The opening eight-bar phrase is written out twice (without the traditional repeat sign). The second time, Schubert varies and develops it, arriving at the dominant B major and presenting a more pianistic development of the theme (now in the dominant, bars 26 ff.); this would be the traditional second section of a scherzo. However, instead of closing the scherzo, Schubert cadences onto the dominant (bar 50) and launches another full forty-two-bar section built on material 17
I The Beginnings derived from the main theme. After that, we find four transitional bars and a repeat sign. Thus, the original scherzo has become the exposition of a movement in sonata form. What follows reinforces this idea. After the repeat sign, Schubert writes his ‘development.’ Whereas Schubert uses material from the antecedent of the first theme for the second theme of the exposition, for the development he takes a motivic cell from the second consequent (bars 13-15). The recapitulation is almost a copy of the first section. Schubert makes only a small adjustment in order to present the second theme (as expected in a sonata form) in the tonic. 28 If this second-movement sonata form, disguised as a scherzo, was intentional, Schubert might have looked for a model in Beethoven’s String Quartet in C minor, Op. 18 No. 4 (published 1801). There, Beethoven wrote a second movement, headed Scherzo. Andante scherzoso quasi Allegretto, which also turns out to be in sonata form. Moreover, Beethoven’s third movement is a Menuet which could easily be thought of as a scherzo. This is, in practical terms, a sonata with two scherzos, which requires some reconsideration of Schubert’s intentions. 29 Perhaps he meant scherzo not in terms of form, but rather in the movement’s character. 18 Ex. 11. Schubert: Piano Sonata in E major (D459). II. Scherzo. Allegro, bars 1-8. # & # # # 4 ? # # # # 3 4 3 ˙ œ p ˙ œ ˙ œ ˙ œ # œ # œ œ œ ‹ œ ‹ œ n ˙ > œ n ˙ > œ ˙ . π ˙ . Ex. 12. Schubert: Piano Sonata in E major (D459). II. Scherzo, bars 26-33. > ˙ ˙ # & # # # f ? # # # # œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙ . n > ˙ œ n ˙ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙ . œ> œ œœ p œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙ . √ > ˙ œ ˙ œ œ œ ‹ œ œ œ œ > ˙ ˙ œ ˙ . œ œ œ œ œ œ f ˙ . > ˙ . ‹ œ ˙ œ . > > ˙ œ ˙ œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙ . œ œ ˙ # ‹ œ œ œ ‹ œ œ œ # œ œ> n œ œ œ œ œ œ œ # œ œ p ˙ . œ . œ œ . œ . Œ Œ Œ Œ > ˙ œ ˙ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙ .
Page 1 and 2: Javier Arrebola The Unfi nished Pia
Page 3 and 4: ISBN 978-952-5959-34-5 (Paperback)
Page 6: Contents Acknowledgements vii Prelu
Page 9 and 10: viii Caminante, no hay camino, se h
Page 11 and 12: me a greater awareness of what musi
Page 13 and 14: xii An immense amount of Schubert
Page 15 and 16: I The Beginnings own first symphoni
Page 17 and 18: I The Beginnings The Piano Sonata i
Page 19 and 20: I The Beginnings 6 The second movem
Page 21 and 22: I The Beginnings another mass (D167
Page 23 and 24: I The Beginnings 10 Schubert’s fa
Page 25 and 26: I The Beginnings 12 As in the first
Page 27 and 28: I The Beginnings The large number o
Page 29: I The Beginnings piano. The fact th
Page 33 and 34: I The Beginnings Ex. 14. Schubert:
Page 35 and 36: I The Beginnings Another interestin
Page 37 and 38: I The Beginnings register (left han
Page 39 and 40: I The Beginnings time. In 1816, his
Page 41 and 42: II The Sonata Year sonatas for the
Page 43 and 44: II The Sonata Year symbolic meaning
Page 45 and 46: II The Sonata Year But now let us r
Page 47 and 48: II The Sonata Year It is surprising
Page 49 and 50: II The Sonata Year 36 Ex. 3. Mozart
Page 51 and 52: II The Sonata Year I think there ar
Page 53 and 54: II The Sonata Year popularity calle
Page 55 and 56: II The Sonata Year The opening Alle
Page 57 and 58: II The Sonata Year Compared with th
Page 59 and 60: II The Sonata Year Ex. 14. Schubert
Page 61 and 62: II The Sonata Year Ex. 16. Schubert
Page 64 and 65: III New Paths 1818 The only way out
Page 66 and 67: 1818 presents us with a composer of
Page 68 and 69: 1818 The Finale is an Allegretto th
Page 70 and 71: physical and intellectual, of resid
Page 72 and 73: the end of the summer. A surviving
Page 74 and 75: # & # # # ? # # # # # & # # # 33 Ex
Page 76 and 77: IV Of Changes and Operatic Hopes 18
Page 78 and 79: 1819-1823 of Schubert’s music in
Page 80 and 81:
1819-1823 spiritual pantheism of Fr
Page 82 and 83:
# & # # # ? # # # # # & # # # 58 #
Page 84 and 85:
1819-1823 Catholic Church concernin
Page 86 and 87:
1819-1823 All of these exceptional
Page 88 and 89:
1819-1823 The year 1823 would conti
Page 90 and 91:
10 # ˙ . & ˙ . ? # # & ˙ f ? #
Page 92:
1819-1823 companion throughout. The
Page 95 and 96:
V Auf dem Weg zur großen Sinfonie
Page 97 and 98:
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Page 103 and 104:
Page 105 and 106:
Page 108 and 109:
Postlude As we have seen, to a grea
Page 110:
Chronological Tables of Schubert’
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101
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103
Page 118 and 119:
105
Page 120 and 121:
Notes: I The Beginnings: 1815-1816
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26 Newbould, Schubert: The Music an
Page 124 and 125:
V Auf dem Weg zur großen Sinfonie:
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The Unfinished Piano Sonatas of Franz Schubert Javier ... - Ethesis

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