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a narrower one in the Sonata D 568. it is very likely
that this movement became separated from the rest
of the Sonata because it was unfinished. We still do
not know why Schubert did not finish it and we
are reduced to conjecture; but it was certainly not
because he could not manage it; its structure is far
too simple for that. Perhaps it was this very simplicity
which prevented Schubert from finishing it or
from writing a finale. it might in fact be thought
too inoffensive but for us, it is precisely that quality
which soothes the heart and allows the Sonata to
end peacefully. The circle is closed: the final serenity
complements the gaiety of the beginning of the
first movement. On the contrary, to end in the tortured
and rebellious attitude of this minuet-scherzo
would have given an impression of a non-ending.
This Allegretto is moreover not as incomplete as it
might appear: if we were to suppress the fragmentary
section in F minor we would have a complete
movement, too short it is true in comparison with
others. That is why i prefer to end this Sonata simply
with the material of the exposition, taking as a
formal model the finale of the Trout Quintet, another
equally inoffensive and serene movement which
also consists of two practically identical sections.
∆
Sonata no. 3 in E major, D 459
March 1816
The first Sonata which Schubert completed
in all its parts was written when he was nineteen
and it is a masterpiece. it is not only complete but
almost “too complete”, for it includes five movements
instead of the usual three or four. it was this
18
perhaps which led the publisher of the first edition,
which appear-ed posthumously in 1843, to choose
the title “Fünf Klavierstücke” (Five pieces for piano).
Another reason may have been the lack of
interest in the form of the sonata around the middle
of the nineteenth century with the publisher
thinking that a cycle of separate pieces would sell
better than a sonata. Fortunately the autograph
score of the first two movements which bear the
title “Sonata” written in Schubert’s hand, survive.
Otto Erich Deutsch, the great Schubert specialist,
therefore included it in his catalogue of Schubert’s
works under the title “Sonata D 459”. On the other
hand the editors of the new Deutschverzeichnis
wanted to be more particular than Deutsch and
divided the work into two parts, namely a Sonata
in two movements D 459 and three Pieces for piano
D 459a. This does little service to Schubert for
it divides a complete cyclical work into two fragments.
More seriously these fragments are further
separated by being issued in two different volumes
of the new complete edition: this is not the judgement
of Salomon, but a musicological absurdity! in
favour of the thesis that the five movements really
form a coherent sonata is first of all the fact that
not only the first two movements but also the fifth,
which truly has the character of a finale, are composed
in sonata form (exposition-development-recapitulation).
The succession of keys (E-E-C-A-E)
which is carefully thought out, also corresponds
to the cycle of the sonata. it is true that Schubert
later acceded to the fashion for writing series of
shorter pieces, with his Moments musicaux and
Impromptus. But these works are fundamentally