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to the theme and to the ensuing variations, the
middle section has four instead eight bars which
destroys the musical equilibrium. Already in 1958,
in my article “Missing bars and corrupt passages
in classical masterpieces” (published in the Neue
Zeitschrift für Musik 1958, pp.635-42), i was able
to prove that this could not have been intentional.
My reconstruction of the four missing bars (with
the help of the second variation which resembles a
dance) was printed in Henle’s subsequent edition.
in the minor key with many dissonances, the
third variation is dramatic – a lament which peters
out, after a “protestation” into resignation.
After coming to a halt in the lowest register, like a
voice of consolation the pianistic ramifications of
the fourth variation in A flat Major ensue. A brief
interlude of six bars then picks up the last motif of
this variation, as if in a dream, passing by a modulation
to the basic “clear” key of this movement.
it is as if a gate was opening on to a springtime
scene or a mountain forest in summer: the piano
writing suggests horn calls – the symbol of the
open air – and finally evokes a feeling of deep inner
peace, of a mystical union with nature (like
the song Auflösung, D 807). Schubert himself liked
this movement – the only variation movement in
any of his piano sonatas – and during the journey
that he undertook in the summer of 1825 he
wrote: “Particularly pleasing were the variations
of my new Sonata for piano solo which i played
alone with considerable happiness; some people
told me that under my hands the piano keys were
transformed into singing voices. if this is true i am
very content, because i cannot stand that damned
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hammering which is common even among some
excellent pianists and which delights neither the
ear nor the heart…” (from a letter to his father and
mother-in-law of 25 (or 28?) July, 1825, written
while he was in Steyer).
The demonic Scherzo, which abounds in tension,
takes us back at a stroke to the consistently
dark mood of the first movement: it is certainly no
coincidence that the opening motif of the Scherzo
includes the same notes as at the beginning of the
first movement, albeit in a different order A-B-
C-E. However while the first movement gradually
develops from melancholy passivity to quick
march progressing in an irresistable manner, the
rhythmic energy at the beginning of the Scherzo is
released, after two leaps forward in the fourth bar,
with a fortissimo.
The main section is composed in a succinct sonata
form. The motivic work using typical repetition
of the notes of the initial motif is, one might
say, Beethovenian. After the radiant ending in A
major – one of the rare luminous moments in this
Sonata, the few transitional bars leading to the
trio appear to return us with the A-C-A motif to
the sadness of A minor. But to our surprise, instead
of ending in A minor, these notes lead us
into F major, which includes the same notes. What
follows is one of Schubert’s most enchanting pieces,
a bright, airy dance in one of the gentlest vein,
disturbed only in the middle by minor key harmonies
and dissonances; expressing neither sadness
nor joy, the soul is left in “limbo”. After this dream
of peace the return to the first “rending” part of
the Scherzo seems like a sudden schock.