I've selected two contrasting Schubert sonatas in the key of a major to reveal different aspects of Schubert's style and his achievement in the piano sonata genre. This first sonata, Deutsche 664 is known as the Little A major sonata and it's a perennial favorite for pianists, partly because of its compact shape, and also its charm and spring like freshness. We've seen in studying Beethoven how often he tends to stop the action and how much he focuses on motivate development. Even in the sonata Opus 110, which is very lyrical and song like as early as major four, he's already got a for Mata. Shubert doesn't focus so single mindedly on motivate development, but rather he manages to mold the entire experience of his sonata out of smoothly rounded, full melodic shapes. Particularly in this sonata, he also chooses rather moderate tempo indications. They occupy the graceful middle ground between extremes. The signature of Schubert's musical style maybe the happy union of song and dance. In this sonata, the 8th notes in the left hand are always going to give a nice sense of propulsion, keeping the music moving. [MUSIC] The combination of beautiful long sung melodic lines and these graceful running accompaniments gives the union of song and dance, which is Schubert signature. [MUSIC] Also characteristic of Schubert is his willingness to take little harmonic detours to strange and foreign places, often with a mysterious pianissimo dynamic. This example here in measure 10 is characteristic. [MUSIC] And I use the moderator pedal which seems to match perfectly this kind of mood. It's interesting to study the coordination of the tonal and the thematic aspects of the sonata. According to the book, the theme two is what happens once you've already modulated. But in this particular sonata, it's pretty clear that theme two is still in the tonic breaks all the rules. But what's going to happen is the theme itself is going to modulate rather than having a modulation before. So again, if you're writing on paper, it's going to look funny, it's not going to look like a normal sonata. But as far as the listener is concerned, it's totally fine. [MUSIC] The closing material of the sonata is clearly related to this rhythmic motive. [MUSIC] This long short motive is very characteristic of Schubert and he actually borrowed it from Beethoven's 7th symphony. I'm going to play it here in the recap version so we can wrap up the sonata movement in the tonic. [MUSIC] The second movement again is not dramatic in character especially but rather songful and lyrical. In this movement, we can recognize especially the composer of vocal music and especially masses. He likes the keyboard texture of closed position chords with the hands together in the middle register. It has a coral sound to it and it sounds really good on a graph. [MUSIC] Now, wait a minute, were you counting? You probably thought this is square and predictable music, eight measure phrase, right? Count it again, it's seven measures. This is also characteristic of Schubert as it was in Haydn. The music is actually much more sophisticated and irregular than you might think on the surface. The finale is composed in a rather simple sonata form. It's also not so dramatic but very graceful and charming and beautifully written for the keyboard. This style of piano writing does not come from Beethoven but rather more like the style of homo who acquired it through study with Mozart, basically lots of finger patterns with scales and arpeggios. [MUSIC] If this theme strikes the ear is rather undramatic, it's because it mostly consists of a series of cadences, but Schubert actually puts them together quite cleverly. He never gives you quite exactly what you're expecting, and each repetition leads to something a little bit different. Let me walk you through this. So here's the idea, [MUSIC] Repeated, [MUSIC] Cadence, [MUSIC] A new tag, [SOUND] repeated [MUSIC] Another scale [MUSIC] Here we go again, [MUSIC] New and different. [MUSIC] Now it goes on, [MUSIC] And again [MUSIC] It goes further [MUSIC] Although the material feels familiar and obvious enough after you've heard it, you're never sure when he's going to come back and repeat and where he's going to go in each repetition. The same goes for the second theme in this movement, which seems on the surface like simple enough pastoral inspired music. But again, if you try to parse the phrase structure, you're going to find it's more complicated than you think, and it's not eight measures either, it's going to end up being nine measures. Why don't you count along this time and figure out where this extra measure is. [MUSIC] The real simplicity in this movement is not in the themes, but rather in the structure. It's a pretty simple sonata form. The development is relatively short, although it's wonderful what happens in it. The recap though is not in the tonic key, but rather in the sub dominant. So, in the recap, the second theme, as usual, will happen up a fifth. So instead of going from one to five, you end up from four to one and you're in the tonic right where you're supposed to be. Schubert didn't invent this procedure, but it became one of his trademarks. [MUSIC] In conclusion, although this sonata seems simple and unpretentious, I want to say that it's more well put together than you might think. And I'd also say for the pianist, it's probably more difficult to play than it sounds. I have a lot of respect for a pianist who can perform it well. [MUSIC]
