Piano Sonata in A major D.664 (1819)

The Sonata in A major D664 is one of the most inspired of all Schubert’s piano works. Ever since early 1815 he had been struggling to come to terms with the piano sonata, abandoning almost as many projects as he completed. But now at last he succeeded in demonstrating that sonata form and his lyrical genius were not incompatible after all.

Written amid what Schubert described as “heavenly “ scenery round Steyr in the summer of 1819, it was intended as a present for the 18-year-old daughter of one his hosts there. If we didn’t know from his own account that Josefine von Koller was “very pretty” and that she played the piano well, we could have guessed as much from the charmingly melodious and beautifully written first theme of the opening Allegro moderato. Working such a song-like main theme into a sonata-form construction might have given Schubert trouble in the past. Here too, as he introduces a scarcely less lyrical second subject by way of just a short run of triplets and without so much as a change of key, he seems to be risking too much of the same kind of material. But the new theme finds its way into its rightful E major before very long and, anyway, a surprisingly emphatic insistence on its salient rhythmic feature changes the situation quite dramatically. The development section is sustained by a similar contrast which is intensified at an early stage by a fierce treatment in octaves of the triplet run that had so innocently preceded the entry of the second subject. So, although serenity is regained by the end of the movement, it is not without a constructive argument.

Short in duration, economic in thematic material and understated in expression though it is, the slow movement is emotionally mixed. It is set in D major but the very first chord is one of B minor and, except in the bright and comparatively animated central episode in G major, melancholy implications persist through the several transformations of its contemplative main theme. They are, however, dispersed by the Allegro finale which cheerfully celebrates the keyboard accomplishment and, in the traps so wittily set in the second subject, tests the timing of the Steyr iron-merchant’s talented daughter.

The Sonata in A major D664 is one of the most inspired of all Schubert’s piano works. It has nothing like the structural breadth of the other Sonata in A major he was to write in nine years later, it is true, but without the breakthrough represented by its comparatively modest predecessor in the same key that monumental work might not have been written. Ever since early 1815 Schubert had been struggling to come to terms with the piano sonata, abandoning almost as many projects as he completed. But now at last he succeeded in demonstrating that sonata form and his lyrical genius were not incompatible after all. The fact that he then left the piano sonata alone for four years suggests that he was aware of what he had achieved here and was confident that whenever he returned to the form he would have no problem in confirming has mastery over it.

One reason for Schubert’s success with the earlier of the two Sonatas in A major could be the happy circumstances of its composition. Written amid what he described as “heavenly “ scenery round Steyr, where he took a holiday in the summer of 1819, it was intended as a present for the 18-year-old daughter of one his hosts there. If we didn’t know from Schubert’s own account that Josefine von Koller was “very pretty” and that she played the piano well, we could have guessed as much from the charmingly melodious and beautifully written first theme of the opening Allegro moderato.

Working such a song-like main theme into a sonata-form construction might have given Schubert trouble in the past. Here too, as he introduces a scarcely less lyrical second subject by way of just a short run of triplets and without so much as a change of key, he seems to be risking too much of the same kind of material. But the new theme finds its way into its rightful E major before very long and, anyway, a surprisingly emphatic insistence on its salient rhythmic feature changes the situation quite dramatically. The development section is sustained by a similar contrast which is intensified at an early stage by a fierce treatment in octaves of the triplet run that had so innocently preceded the entry of the second subject. So, although serenity is regained by the end of the movement, it is not without a constructive argument.

Short in duration, economic in thematic material and understated in expression though it is, the slow movement is emotionally mixed. It is set in D major but the very first chord is one of B minor and, except in the bright and comparatively animated central episode in G major, melancholy implications persist through the several transformations of its contemplative main theme. They are, however, dispersed by the Allegro finale which cheerfully celebrates the keyboard accomplishment and, in the traps so wittily set in the second subject, tests the timing of the Steyr iron-merchant’s talented daughter.