Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...
's Piano Sonata in A-flat major 557 was composed in May
1817
Events
January–March
* January 1 – Sailing through the Sandwich Islands, Otto von Kotzebue discovers New Year Island.
* January 19 – An army of 5,423 soldiers, led by General José de San Martín, starts crossing the ...
.
Movements
The work is relatively short and a performance takes somewhat between 10 and 15 minutes. The sonata is cheerful and uncomplicated, and carries remembrances of Mozart and the Baroque era.
[David Doughty in album notes of Brilliant Classics Nr. 99678/4 (2001)]
;I. Allegro moderato : A-flat major
:The beginning resembles the opening of the menuetto, D. 380, Nr. 3.
[Deutsch 1978, pp 323-324]
;II. Andante : E-flat major
;III. Allegro : E-flat major
:This movement has a dance-like character.
The fact that the last movement is in the key of E-flat major rather than the tonic key of A-flat major is evidence in favor of Schubert possibly intending to add a fourth movement, although the extant third movement has much of the character of a finale. At the time this was written it was quite unusual to end a composition in another key than its tonic, however Schubert did do this in some of his early works, e.g.
D. 553 ("Auf der Donau", beginning in E-flat major and ending in F-sharp minor).
[Badura-Skoda 1997, p VII]
Score
The sonata was first published in 1888, in the
Breitkopf & Härtel complete edition.
;Manuscripts
The autograph of the sonata, dated May 1817, is incomplete — it stops at the 28th measure of the third movement, but there is a contemporary complete manuscript.
;First publication —
Alte Gesammtausgabe (AGA)
D. 557 was first published in 1888 as No. 3 of the Piano Sonatas volume (Series X) of the ''Kritisch durchgesehene Gesammtausgabe''.
;Urtext Editions
Both
Paul Badura-Skoda (
Henle Henle can refer to:
* Friedrich Gustav Jakob Henle, a German physician, pathologist and anatomist (1809–1885)
** Loop of Henle in the kidney, named after Henle
*Fritz Henle, a photographer, known as "Mr. Rollei" for his use of the 2.25" square for ...
) and
Martino Tirimo
Martino Tirimo (born 19 December 1942) is a Cypriot classical pianist.
Born into a musical family in Larnaca, he began piano and violin lessons with his father, a distinguished conductor and violinist. He gave his first concert at the age of six, ...
(Wiener Urtext) published an
Urtext edition in 1997.
[Tirimo 1997]
;Neue Schubert-Ausgabe (NSA)
In the
New Schubert Edition
Franz Schubert (1797–1828): New Edition of the Complete Works (), commonly known as the New Schubert Edition (NSE), or, in german: Neue Schubert-Ausgabe (NSA), is a complete edition of Franz Schubert's works, which started in 1956 and is schedu ...
D. 557 is given in VII/2/1.
[Litschauer 2000]
References
Sources
*
Franz Schubert's Werke: Kritisch durchgesehene Gesammtausgabe (AGA): Leipzig,
Breitkopf & Härtel:
**
Julius Epstein (ed.)
''Serie 10: Sonaten für Pianoforte'' — No. 3 (1888).
*
Urtext editions:
**
Paul Badura-Skoda (ed.
''Franz Schubert: Piano Sonatas'' — Volume III (Early and Unfinished Sonatas) G. Henle Verlag
G. Henle Verlag is a German music publishing house specialising in Urtext editions of classical music. The catalogue includes works by composers from different epochs periods, in particular composers from the Baroque to the early twentieth cent ...
(1997).
**
Martino Tirimo
Martino Tirimo (born 19 December 1942) is a Cypriot classical pianist.
Born into a musical family in Larnaca, he began piano and violin lessons with his father, a distinguished conductor and violinist. He gave his first concert at the age of six, ...
(ed.
''Schubert: The Complete Piano Sonatas'' — Volume 1Vienna: Wiener Urtext Edition (1997). ISMN 979-0-50057-223-7
*
Franz Schubert: Neue Ausgabe sämtlicher Werke (NSA): Kassel,
Bärenreiter
Bärenreiter (Bärenreiter-Verlag) is a German classical music publishing house based in Kassel. The firm was founded by Karl Vötterle (1903–1975) in Augsburg in 1923, and moved to Kassel in 1927, where it still has its headquarters; it also ...
:
**
Otto Erich Deutsch
Otto Erich Deutsch (5 September 1883 – 23 November 1967) was an Austrian musicologist. He is known for compiling the first comprehensive catalogue of Franz Schubert's compositions, first published in 1951 in English, with a revised edition pub ...
.
''Series VIII: Supplement'' — Volume 4: Franz Schubert, thematisches Verzeichnis seiner Werke in chronologischer Folge — pp. 323-324(1978). ISMN 9790006305148 —
**
Walburga Litschauer (ed.
''Series VII: Piano Music, Part 2: Works for Piano Two Hands'' — Volume 1: Klaviersonaten I''(2000). ISMN 9790006497119
External links
VII,2/1: Klaviersonaten Iat the
Neue Schubert-Ausgabe website
{{Portal bar, Classical music
1817 compositions
Piano sonatas by Franz Schubert
Compositions in A-flat major