Impromptu in B flat major D935 (Op.142) No.3 [1827]

The most extended and one of the most popular of Schubert’s Impromptus - written as a series of eight pieces in 1827 but divided later into two sets of four each - is the Andante in B flat major, the one example of variation form among them. It is based on a melody Schubert had used twice before, in the B flat Entracte in the Rosamunde incidental music and the Andante of the String Quartet in A minor (though not necessarily in that order). In both of those work it is integrated with other material. Here it inspires a series of variations distinguished by the lilting rhythms of the first, the polonaise allusions of the second, the heroic character of the third in B flat minor, the contrastingly capricious nature of the fourth and the uncharacteristic virtuoso brilliance of the fifth.