Schubert: Piano Sonata No.16, D.845

Introduction

The Piano Sonata in A minor D. 845 (Op. 42) by Franz Schubert is a sonata for solo piano, composed in May 1825. The first movement was featured in the 2016 film The Age of Shadows.

Movements

I. Moderato

A minor. Sonata form (second theme in C major).

II. Andante poco moto

C major. Theme and variations.

In most printed versions, the first variation is not exact: 4 measures (corresponding to m. 20-23 of the theme) are missing after measure 43. This discrepancy was first pointed out by Paul Badura-Skoda. (Neue Zeitschrift für Musik 119, 1958 p. 635-43)

The Wiener Urtext edition provides an emendation with the note: "Passage in smaller print - editor's suggested insertion - totally missing in [First Edition], probably due to engraver's error when changing to new page. Inconceivable that Schubert would deliberately omit four measures here since there is complete conformity in the other variations." (Schubert: Sämtliche Klaviersonaten Band 2 (Tirimo), p. 241.) The First Edition is the primary source since the autograph itself is lost.

III. Scherzo: Allegro vivace - Trio: Un poco più lento

A minor - A major. Trio in F major.

IV. Rondo: Allegro vivace

A minor. Sonata-rondo (second theme in E minor - E major).

The first movement is in sonata form though with ambiguity over the material in the development and the beginning of the recapitulation.

The second movement is in C major (relative key to A minor) variation form, with somewhat frequent forays into the parallel minor, C minor.

The third movement is a scherzo in compound ternary form, where the main scherzo is essentially in sonata form. The main scherzo opens in A minor and soon switches to the second theme in C major without a transition. The development goes through F minor, A-flat major and A-flat minor, finally arriving on an imperfect cadence in A minor. After the development comes the opening theme in A minor, soon followed by the second theme in A major (also in which the main scherzo ends). The calmer and slower trio section is in F major, the submediant major to A minor (also the subdominant of the relative key to A minor). No extra coda is present after the recapitulated main scherzo.

The fourth movement, in A minor, begins with a melancholic but light melody. This movement is in sonata rondo form with foreshortened recapitulation. The secondary subject in the exposition goes from E minor to E major, while that in the recapitulation goes from A minor to A major. This movement finally closes in A minor.

Daniel Coren has discussed the nature of the recapitulation in the first movement of this sonata. Noted performers of the work in the 19th century included Hans von Bülow, who played the sonata in both Europe and the USA.