Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 09/21/2015, uploaded on 09/21/2015

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Known as the “Little A major Sonata” to differentiate it from its much bigger sibling, Franz Schubert’s Piano Sonata No. 13, D. 664 was originally thought to have been composed in 1825. This year was attached to the sonata when it was published in the late 19^th century as part of the composer’s complete works edition. However, recent scholarship suggests that the sonata was composed some years earlier during the summer of 1819, which Schubert spent at Steyr in Upper Austria. He dedicated the sonata to Josephine von Koller, whom he described as “very pretty” and commended her as a “good pianist.” Indeed, the sonata’s overall blithe and cheerful mood, tinged with moments of anxiety, could quite possibly be a look into the composer’s infatuation. Concerning technical matters, this modest sonata is a rather important work in Schubert’s oeuvre. Schubert struggled with the sonata form that had reached perfection at the hand of his great idol, Beethoven, and his early efforts in it were often laborious or fell back on predictable formulae. However, the first movement of this sonata was Schubert’s breakthrough, as its form flows naturally and unhindered.

Cast in the Classical three-movement design of Mozart and Haydn, the Little A major Sonata begins with a warm and lyrical Allegro moderato. Both of the movement’s themes are rich with substance—the first based on a dotted-rhythm that becomes the subject of imitation in the development, while the second features a charming motif that is unexpectedly used in the bass during a moment of anxiety. Quite unusually, Schubert calls not only for a repeat of the exposition, but also of the development and recapitulation. A brief coda, based on the opening measures of the first theme, closes the movement in a moment of tenderness.

The middle movement, an Andante in D major, is the emotional center of the sonata. It opens with a placid chordal theme, also used in imitation like the first theme of the preceding movement, which is followed by a more emotional melody above a broken chord accompaniment. The finale, however, is full of wit and good humor. In a frolicking compound meter, it maintains a constant forward momentum due to its lavish chromaticism and off-beat accents. Like the first movement, it too concludes affectionately with a final statement of its principal melody.      Joseph DuBose

The Steans Music Institute is the Ravinia Festival's professional studies program for young musicians.