Télécharger le livret - Outhere

different in that none of them adopt sonata form.
Moreover Schubert himself never used the term
“Klavierstück” chosen by the publisher of this
work. Finally the consistent mood and the similarity
of structure, with three movements beginning
in unison, also argue the case for the unity of this
globally serene work. Only the central movement,
the Adagio, written in the darker key of C major,
tales on a more serious mood.
All the main themes of the first movement are
lyrical, in the style of a Lied, written in the harmonious
manner which Schubert had developed
through the two hundred odd songs that he had
written to date. There are hardly any contrasts,
only an increase in emotion, in the course of this
movement. it is tempting to describe the mood
as “heavenly”. it is certainly no coincidence that
Schubert quoted the final motif of this movement,
almost note for note, in his song Elysium, composed
one year later in September 1817: “After the
plaintive groans… on eternal spring, young and
sweet, settles on the fields” (Schiller).
Quite unusual is the use of sonata form for the
second movement, entitled “Scherzo”, which is
peaceful rather than playful. it begins with a mystical
theme, in unison, which barely reveals its key,
E major. it is only really in the ensuing transitional
group, composed in the style of a Viennese waltz,
that we recognize the key. The second subject and
the final idea also have a dance-like character,
while the development is marked exclusively by
harmonic and polyphonic transformations of the
main theme. The preparation for the return of the
main theme in the recapitulation with six bars on
19 English Français Deutsch Italiano
the dominant of B major is a very subtle idea. Thus
the key of the theme only appears again in a veiled
manner, as the beginning of the movement, although
E major is clearly perceived by the listener.
The Adagio which ensues is not only the centre,
the very “heart” of this Sonata, but it “also speaks
to the heart”. Words do not suffice to describe the
serious, melancholy and, even for a good part,
tragic character which appears here – “music too
eloquent for words to express”.
But in the fourth movement, a second Scherzo,
the work’s overall serenity pervades and remains
dominant throughout the rest. This Scherzo has
the character of a joyful Ländler with a poetic, tender
trio that we feel tempted to accompany with
humming.
The final movement is entitled Allegro patetico.
But only the main solemn, orchestral theme is “pathetic“
or “serious’; the second theme breathes a
spirit of exuberant joy. A chromatic march almost
literally anticipates a similar thought in the finale
of the Trout Quintet, another work written three
years later which has five movements with the
same kind of key relationship that we find here.
The recapitulation and coda are developed with a
degree of virtuosity and end the Sonata in a brilliant
manner.
∆
Sonata no. 4 in A minor, opus post. 164, D 537
March 1817
in 1817, Schubert concentrated his attention on
the piano sonata form and in the space of a few
months (between March and June) composed