Schubert: Piano Sonata No.20, D.959

Introduction

Franz Schubert's last three piano sonatas, D 958, 959 and 960, are the composer's last major compositions for the piano. They were written during the last months of his life, between the spring and autumn of 1828, but were not published until about ten years after his death, in 1838–39.

Sonata in A major, D. 959

I. Allegro. The sonata begins with a forte, heavily textured chordal fanfare emphasizing a low A pedal and duple-meter stepwise diatonic ascent in thirds in the middle voices, followed immediately by quiet descending triplet arpeggios punctuated by light chords outlining a chromatic ascent. These highly contrasting phrases provide the motivic material for much of the sonata. The second theme is a lyrical melody written in four-part harmony. The exposition follows standard classical practice by modulating from tonic (A) to dominant (E) for the second theme, even preparing the latter tonality with its own V – the only first movement to do so in the mature Schubert. Despite this traditional approach, both exposition themes are built in an innovative ternary form, and in each resulting 'B' section a highly chromatic development-like section based on the exposition's second phrase modulates through the circle of fourths, only to return to the tonic. This novel structure creates a sense of harmonic movement without actually committing to a thematic modulation, and is one of the techniques Schubert uses to achieve a sense of scale in the movement. The development proper is based on a scalar variation of the second theme heard at the end of the exposition. Here, in contrast to the striking modulatory excursions nested in the exposition, the tonal plan is static, shifting constantly between C major and B major (later B minor). After the development theme is finally stated in the tonic minor, the dramatic retransition has the unconventional role of only shifting to the major mode to prepare the recapitulation, rather than fully preparing the tonic key (which in this case has already been established). The recapitulation is traditional – staying in the tonic, and emphasizing the tonic minor and the flat submediant (F major) as subdominant tonalities. The coda restates the first theme, this time in a much more 'hesitant' manner, pianissimo and with further allusions to subdominant tonalities. The movement ends with serene arpeggios; however, for the penultimate chord, Schubert chose a striking Italian sixth on ♭II, instead of the more usual dominant or diminished seventh chords. This choice is not arbitrary – it is a final statement of the chromatically based ascending minor second motive that pervaded the movement, a motive that will be reversed into a descending minor second in the following movement.

II. Andantino in F-sharp minor, A–B–A form. The A section presents a sparse, lamenting, poignant melody, full of sighing gestures (portrayed by descending seconds). This theme, despite its vastly different character, references the opening bars of the Allegro, an aforementioned source of much of the sonata's material – the Andantino's first measure shares with the fanfare a second-beat bass note 'echo' after the downbeat on A, creating an audible rhythmic affinity; additionally, the quiet close of the A theme features the fanfare's characteristic pattern of stepwise thirds in the middle voices enclosed between tonic octaves. The middle section is of an improvisatory, fantasia-like character, with extremely harsh modulations and sonorities, culminating in C-sharp minor with fortissimo chords. The chromaticism, triplet emphasis, and modulatory patterns of this section are all reminiscent of the developments nested within the Allegro's exposition. After the C-sharp minor climax (according to Fisk, a key of great importance in the cycle due to its relation to Der Wanderer), a recitative section with startling sforzando outbursts emphasizing an ascending minor second leads to a serene phrase in the major mode (C-sharp major), which in turn leads (as the dominant of F-sharp minor) back to the A section, here somewhat transformed, with new accompanimental figuration. The final bars of the movement feature rolled chords that prefigure the opening of the following Scherzo.

III. Scherzo: Allegro vivace – Trio: Un poco più lento. The A section of the scherzo uses a playful leaping rolled chord figure that is rhythmically and harmonically reminiscent of the opening bars of the sonata. The B section is dominated by the juxtaposition of two distant tonal realms. It commences in C-major for a rollicking theme that is abruptly interrupted by a downward-rushing C-sharp minor scale without any modulatory preparation, in a striking cyclic reference to the climax of the preceding movement's middle section. Following this outburst, the B section quietly ends in C-sharp minor a grace-note melody identical in contour to a figure from the theme of the Andantino (2–1–7–1–3–1), before modulating back to the movement's tonic. C major returns in the concluding A section, this time more tonally integrated into its A-major surroundings, by modulatory sequences. The ternary form trio in D major uses hand crossing to add melodic accompaniment to the chordal theme, and is rhythmically and harmonically based on the opening of the Allegro.

IV. Rondo: Allegretto – Presto. This lyrical rondo movement consists of flowing triplet movement and endless songful melody. Its form is a sonata-rondo (A–B–A–development–A–B–A–coda). The Rondo's main and opening theme is taken from the slow movement of the sonata D. 537 of 1817. Charles Fisk has pointed out that this theme would make musical sense as a response subsequent to the questioning leading tone that closes the Allegro's opening fanfare; in this capacity the Rondo's lyricism is the dramatically delayed final goal of the sonata. The second thematic group is written in the traditional dominant key; however, it is very long, modulating through many different subdominant tonalities. The development section, in contrast, culminates in a long passage in C-sharp minor with a climax characterized by a tension-building ambiguity between E major and C-sharp minor and a greatly prolonged evasion of a cadence. This leads to a false recapitulation in F-sharp major, which then modulates to begin again in the home key. In the coda, the main theme returns fragmented, with full bar pauses, which lead each time to unexpected changes of key. This is followed by an agitated presto section, based on the final bars of the main theme, and the sonata concludes with a bold evocation of its very opening measures, with an ascending arpeggio (essentially an inversion of the descending figure from the Allegro's second phrase), followed by a fortissimo full statement of the opening fanfare in retrograde.