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

1819-1823
All of these exceptional achievements in song stand in contrast to Schubert’s
struggle with large-scale instrumental forms, especially with the symphony. From May
until around September 1821, he embarked on two new symphonies, but finished
neither. The first (D708A) consists of piano sketches for the four movements of a
symphony in D major. 20 These sketches represent, as far as we know, Schubert’s second
aborted attempt at producing a symphony since his Sixth of 1818. Although not
orchestrated, the sketches are quite well advanced and it is unclear why he left the work
incomplete. Not long after, he began work on yet another symphony, this time in what
was for him a ‘new’ symphonic key. The Symphony in E major (D729) is a much more
substantial work than its companion, being one of Schubert’s most important fragments.
In it he employs the largest instrumentation so far in his symphonic writing and carries
out structural experiments – especially in the outer movements 21 – which, as we have
also seen in the piano sonatas, were the ones which troubled him the most. Here
Schubert would seem to be achieving a deeper command of the form, possibly applying
some of the compositional techniques he had learned and developed since 1818,
especially in 1820 with works such as Lazarus, Die Zauberharfe or the great songs at
the end of that year. In the words of Wolfram Steinbeck, one of the most remarkable
features of this symphony is that ‘the movements, the construction of themes and the
formal division are essentially related to each other throughout the symphony’ in a new
way. 22 Although neither the Symphony in E major nor the symphonic fragments in D
major can by any means be compared with the two movements of the Symphony in B
minor (Unfinished, D759) of the following year, they bear witness to Schubert’s
continuing interest in – and struggle with – large-scale instrumental forms. One reason
why Schubert left these pieces unfinished might have been that, in spite of their worth,
they did not yet represent the great leap forward he was striving for. Another reason,
especially in the case of the Symphony in E, is that in September 1821 Schubert
embarked on another large operatic project (the biggest to date) that would take much
of his time and energy over the next months: Alfonso und Estrella (D732). It is surely
significant that, as late as (presumably) 1823, after completing six symphonies, making
a serious attempt at four more, and composing a good number of overtures, when he
was asked to submit a work for orchestra, Schubert claimed to have ‘nothing for full
orchestra which I could send out into the world with a clear conscience,’ and apologized
for preferring not to send anything because ‘it would be much to my disadvantage to
appear with a mediocre work.’ 23
The work on Alfonso und Estrella absorbed Schubert from September 1821 till
February 1822. Alfonso und Estrella was Schubert’s first grand Romantic opera; not
written as a Singspiel, but in the then new through-composed style and comprising
three acts with an overture and 35 numbers. After the sensational reception of Weber’s
Der Freischütz (The Marksman or Freeshooter) in Berlin in 1821, the Viennese theatres
– especially the Kärtnertor Theatre, which was facing financial difficulties at that time –
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