Piano Sonata in A minor, D 784 (Schubert)

Music#

The sonata has three movements:

I. Allegro giusto#

This movement, in the tonic key of A minor, employs a new, sparse piano texture not found in Schubert’s previous works: indeed, over one-fifth of the movement is in bare octaves. Additionally, Schubert also offers a new method of temporal organization to the movement (its tempo and rhythm), and he very unusually does not use much modulation. The proliferation of this motive means that rhythm is of key importance for a pianist to maintain coherence throughout the movement. The calm, hymn-like second subject then follows, is thematically related to the first subject in rhythm and melody. It contains the same downbeat accentuation, although the abrupt breaking off on a short note is not encountered until the subject begins to break into distinct registers at b.75 (it is nevertheless suggested throughout by the portato indication), allowing sudden fortissimo intrusions in the minor and firmly reestablishing the sigh rhythm. The second subject area is shorter than normal for Schubert movements, which Brian Newbould speculates as being due to its creating “such an illusion of space in its scarcely-varied somnambulistic tread”. The development section (b.104ff) is based on various incarnations of the first subject, the second subject, and the dotted rhythm that first appeared at b.27. The key oscillates between the submediant (F major, the key of the Andante), and the subdominant (D minor, which has previously appeared at b.34ff). The recapitulation (b.166ff) is a varied repeat of the exposition, but forgoes the dramatic transition passage that appears at b.47ff at the exposition in favour of a pianissimo resolution of E (D) and C as part of a fully harmonized augmented sixth to the tonic of A major: Robert S. Hatten notes that, in comparison to the “heroic” and “willful” transition in the exposition, the recapitulation’s transition (b.213ff) is “miraculous”, and it ties into the even calmer mood of the second subject this time. The calmness of the second subject is further ensured by the triplets that only now appear to lessen the impact of the downbeat accent, and the fortissimo intrusions are now followed by diminuendos that suggest that the tragic weight of the sonata is being resolved in this passage. A coda concludes the movement at b.260ff, based on the “heroic” transition in the exposition, therefore restoring what was initially excluded from the recapitulation. The long-short rhythm then reappears on a tonic pedal in contrasting high and low registers from b.278ff, suggesting once again the calmness of the second theme; but the rude interruption by the descending third in fortissimo at b.286–9 (albeit now C–A) suggest that this calmness may prove to be only temporary.

II. Andante (in F major)#

Pianist Stephen Hough wrote about this movement: “The second movement is strangely unsettling for three reasons: because of the almost enforced normality of its theme after the bittersweet bleakness of the first movement; because this theme is doubled in the tenor voice, a claustrophobic companion seeming to drag it down; and because of the constant, murmuring interjections (ppp) between the theme’s statements. " Leo Black has commented that Schubert made use of the same rhythm of the 1818 song “An den Mond, in einer Herbstnacht” in this sonata’s slow movement.

III. Allegro vivace#

In contrast to the slower preceding movements, the final movement contains some of Schubert’s most ferocious writing for the piano.

Available recordings#

• Radu Lupu, 1970 (Decca)
• Alfred Brendel, 1987 (Philips)
• Maria João Pires, 1989 (Deutsche Grammophon)
• Andras Schiff, 1992 (Decca)
• Evgeny Kissin, 1995 (Sony Classical)
• Stephen Hough, 1999 (Hyperion)
• Mitsuko Uchida, 1999 (Philips)
• Imogen Cooper, 2009 (Avie)
• Paul Lewis, 2012 (Harmonia Mundi)
• Daniel Barenboim, 2014 (Deutsche Grammophon)
• Lucas Debargue, 2017 (Sony Classical)
• Eric Lu, 2022 (Warner Classics)
• Elisabeth Leonskaja, 2022 (Warner Classics)

References#

• Tirimo, Martino. Schubert: The Complete Piano Sonatas. Vienna: Wiener Urtext Edition, 1997.

External links#

• Piano Sonata D. 784 played by pianist Maria Perrotta on Classical Connect
• Free downloadable recording by Aviram Reichert (archived on the Wayback Machine)