Franz Schubert's last three piano sonatas, D 958, 959 and 960, are his last major compositions for solo piano. They were written during the last months of his life, between the spring and autumn of 1828, but were not published until about ten years after his death, in 1838–39. Like the rest of Schubert's piano sonatas, they were mostly neglected in the 19th century. By the late 20th century, however, public and critical opinion had changed, and these sonatas are now considered among the most important of the composer's mature masterpieces. They are part of the core piano repertoire, appearing regularly on concert programs and recordings.

One of the reasons for the long period of neglect of Schubert's piano sonatas seems to be their dismissal as structurally and dramatically inferior to the sonatas of Beethoven. In fact, the last sonatas contain distinct allusions and similarities to works by Beethoven, a composer Schubert venerated. Nevertheless, musicological analysis has shown that they maintain a mature, individual style. The last sonatas are now praised for that mature style, manifested in unique features such as a cyclical formal and tonal design, chamber music textures, and a rare depth of emotional expression.

Each one of the three sonatas is cyclically intraconnected by diverse structural, harmonic and melodic elements tying together all movements, as well as interconnecting all three sonatas together. Consequently, they are often regarded as a trilogy. They also contain specific allusions and similarities to other Schubert compositions, such as his Winterreise song cycle; these connections point to turbulent emotions expressed in the sonatas, often understood as highly personal and autobiographical. Indeed, some researchers have suggested specific psychological narratives for the sonatas, based on historical evidence concerning the composer's life.

Historical background

The last year of Schubert's life was marked by growing public acclaim for the composer's works, but also by the gradual deterioration of his health. On March 26, 1828, together with other musicians in Vienna, Schubert gave a public concert of his own works, which was a great success and earned him a considerable profit. In addition, two new German publishers took an interest in his works, leading to a short period of financial well-being. However, by the time the summer months arrived, Schubert was again short of money and had to cancel some journeys he had previously planned.

Schubert had been struggling with syphilis since 1822–23, and suffered from weakness, headaches and dizziness. However, he seems to have led a relatively normal life until September 1828, when new symptoms such as effusions of blood appeared. At this stage he moved from the Vienna home of his friend Franz von Schober to his brother Ferdinand's house in the suburbs, following the advice of his doctor; unfortunately, this may have actually worsened his condition. However, up until the last weeks of his life in November 1828, he continued to compose an extraordinary amount of music, including such masterpieces as the three last sonatas.

Schubert probably began sketching the sonatas sometime around the spring months of 1828; the final versions were written in September. These months also saw the appearance of the Three Piano Pieces, D. 946, the Mass in E♭ major, D. 950, the String Quintet, D. 956, and the songs published posthumously as the Schwanengesang collection (D. 957 and D. 965A), among others.The final sonata was completed on September 26, and two days later, Schubert played from the sonata trilogy at an evening gathering in Vienna. In a letter to Probst (one of his publishers), dated October 2, 1828, Schubert mentioned the sonatas amongst other works he had recently completed and wished to publish. However, Probst was not interested in the sonatas, and by November 19, Schubert was dead.

In the following year, Schubert's brother Ferdinand sold the sonatas' autographs to another publisher, Anton Diabelli, who would only publish them about ten years later, in 1838 or 1839. Schubert had intended the sonatas to be dedicated to Johann Nepomuk Hummel, whom he greatly admired. Hummel was a leading pianist, a pupil of Mozart, and a pioneering composer of the Romantic style (like Schubert himself). However, by the time the sonatas were published in 1839, Hummel was dead, and Diabelli, the new publisher, decided to dedicate them instead to composer Robert Schumann, who had praised many of Schubert's works in his critical writings.

Structure

Schubert's three last sonatas have many structural features in common. D. 958 can be considered the odd one of the group, with several differences from the remarkably similar structure of D. 959 and D. 960. First, it is in a minor key, and this is the primary departure that determines its other differences from its companions. Accordingly, the major/minor scheme is alternated, with main material being minor, and digressions and the slow movement set in the major. Its opening Allegro is considerably more concise than those of the other two sonatas and does not make use of the expansive time-dilating modulatory quasi-development passages that so strongly characterize the other two opening movements. Furthermore, its slow movement follows an ABABA form instead of the ABA form of the other two sonatas. Its third movement, instead of a scherzo, is a slightly less lively, more subdued minuet. Finally, the finale is in a sonata form rather than rondo-sonata form.

However, these differences are relative and are significant only in comparison to the extreme similarity of D. 959 and D. 960. Those two are similar to the extent that they can be considered variations on an identical compositional template, having no major structural differences.

All three sonatas, most importantly, share a common dramatic arc and make considerable and identical use of cyclic motives and tonal relationships to weave musical-narrative ideas through the work. Each sonata consists of four movements, in the following order:

1. The first movement is in moderate or fast tempo and in sonata form. The exposition consists of two or three thematic and tonal areas and, as common in the Classical style, moves from tonic to dominant (in major-mode works) or to the relative major (in minor mode works). However, as often with Schubert, the harmonic scheme of the exposition involves additional, intermediate tonalities, which may be quite remote from the tonic-dominant axis and sometimes imbue certain expository passages with the character of a development section. The main themes of the exposition are often in ternary form, with their middle section digressing to a different tonality. The themes generally do not form symmetrical periods, and irregular phrase lengths are prominent. The exposition ends with a repeat sign.

   The development section opens with an abrupt turn into a new tonal area. A new theme, based on a melodic fragment from the second thematic group of the exposition, is presented in this section over recurrent rhythmic figuration, and then developed, undergoing successive transformations. The first thematic group returns in the recapitulation with different or additional harmonic digressions; the second group returns unaltered, only transposed a fourth up. The short coda maintains the tonic key and mainly soft dynamics, achieving a resolution of the movement's conflicts and ending pianissimo.

2. The second movement is slow, in a key different from the tonic, and in ABA (ternary) or ABABA form. The main sections (A and B) are contrasted in key and character, A is slow and meditative; B is more intense and animated. The movement begins and ends slowly and quietly.

3. The third movement is a dance (a scherzo or minuet) in the tonic, in overall ABA ternary form, with a trio in either ternary or binary form, and in a conventionally related key (relative major, subdominant, and parallel minor respectively). They are based on their sonata's first movements, with a similar tonal scheme and/or motivic reference. The B section of each piece features tonalities serving important dramatic functions in previous movements. Each features animated, playful figurations for the right hand and abrupt changes in register.

4. The finale is in moderate or fast tempo and in sonata or rondo-sonata form. The themes of the finales are characterized by long passages of melody accompanied by relentless flowing rhythms. The exposition has no repeat written in. The development section is more ordinary in style than that of the first movement, with frequent modulations, sequences, and fragmentation of the exposition's first theme (or the main theme of the rondo).

   The recapitulation closely resembles the exposition, with the minimal harmonic changes needed to end the section in the tonic: the first theme returns in a shortened version; the second theme returns unaltered, only transposed a fourth up. The coda is based on the exposition's first theme. It is composed of two parts, the first quiet and attenuated, creating a sense of expectation, the second animated, dissipating the final tension in decisive, agitated motion and ending with fortissimo tonic chords and octaves.

Sonata in A major, D. 959

I. Allegro

The sonata begins with a forte, heavily textured chordal fanfare emphasizing a low A pedal and duple-meter stepwise diatonic ascent in thirds in the middle voices, followed immediately by quiet descending triplet arpeggios punctuated by light chords outlining a chromatic ascent. These highly contrasting phrases provide the motivic material for much of the sonata. The second theme is a lyrical melody written in four-part harmony. The exposition follows standard classical practice by modulating from tonic (A) to dominant (E) for the second theme, even preparing the latter tonality with its own V – the only first movement to do so in the mature Schubert. Despite this traditional approach, both exposition themes are built in an innovative ternary form, and in each resulting 'B' section a highly chromatic development-like section based on the exposition's second phrase modulates through the circle of fourths, only to return to the tonic. This novel structure creates a sense of harmonic movement without actually committing to a thematic modulation, and is one of the techniques Schubert uses to achieve a sense of scale in the movement.

The development proper is based on a scalar variation of the second theme heard at the end of the exposition. Here, in contrast to the striking modulatory excursions nested in the exposition, the tonal plan is static, shifting constantly between C major and B major (later B minor). After the development theme is finally stated in the tonic minor, the dramatic retransition has the unconventional role of only shifting to the major mode to prepare the recapitulation, rather than fully preparing the tonic key (which in this case has already been established).

The recapitulation is traditional – staying in the tonic, and emphasizing the tonic minor and the flat submediant (F major) as subdominant tonalities. The coda restates the first theme, this time in a much more 'hesitant' manner, pianissimo and with further allusions to subdominant tonalities. The movement ends with serene arpeggios; however, for the penultimate chord, Schubert chose a striking Italian sixth on ♭II, instead of the more usual dominant or diminished seventh chords. This choice is not arbitrary – it is a final statement of the chromatically based ascending minor second motive that pervaded the movement, a motive that will be reversed into a descending minor second in the following movement.

II. Andantino

The second movement is in F♯ minor, in ABA form. The A section presents a sparse, lamenting, poignant melody, full of sighing gestures (portrayed by descending seconds). This theme, despite its vastly different character, references the opening bars of the Allegro, an aforementioned source of much of the sonata's material – the Andantino's first measure shares with the fanfare a second-beat bass note 'echo' after the downbeat on A, creating an audible rhythmic affinity; additionally, the quiet close of the A theme features the fanfare's characteristic pattern of stepwise thirds in the middle voices enclosed between tonic octaves.

The middle section is of an improvisatory, fantasia-like character, with extremely harsh modulations and sonorities, culminating in C♯minor with fortissimo chords. The chromaticism, triplet emphasis, and modulatory patterns of this section are all reminiscent of the developments nested within the Allegro's exposition. After the C♯ minor climax (according to Fisk, a key of great importance in the cycle due to its relation to "Der Wanderer"), a recitative section with startling sforzando outbursts emphasizing an ascending minor second leads to a serene phrase in the major mode (C♯ major), which in turn leads (as the dominant of F♯ minor) back to the A section, here somewhat transformed, with new accompanimental figuration. The final bars of the movement feature rolled chords that prefigure the opening of the following Scherzo.

III. Scherzo: Allegro vivace – Trio: Un poco più lento

The A section of the scherzo uses a playful leaping rolled chord figure that is rhythmically and harmonically reminiscent of the opening bars of the sonata. The B section is dominated by the juxtaposition of two distant tonal realms. It commences in C major for a rollicking theme that is abruptly interrupted by a downward-rushing C♯minor scale without any modulatory preparation, in a striking cyclic reference to the climax of the preceding movement's middle section. Following this outburst, the B section quietly ends in C♯ minor a grace-note melody identical in contour to a figure from the theme of the Andantino (2–1–7–1–3–1), before modulating back to the movement's tonic. C major returns in the concluding A section, this time more tonally integrated into its A-major surroundings, by modulatory sequences. The ternary form trio in D major uses hand crossing to add melodic accompaniment to the chordal theme, and is rhythmically and harmonically based on the opening of the Allegro.

IV. Rondo: Allegretto – Presto

This lyrical rondo movement consists of flowing triplet movement and endless songful melody. Its form is a sonata-rondo (A–B–A–development–A–B–A–coda). The rondo's main and opening theme is taken from the slow movement of the sonata D. 537 of 1817. Charles Fisk has pointed out that this theme would make musical sense as a response subsequent to the questioning leading tone that closes the Allegro's opening fanfare; in this capacity the Rondo's lyricism is the dramatically delayed final goal of the sonata. The second thematic group is written in the traditional dominant key; however, it is very long, modulating through many different subdominant tonalities.

The development section, in contrast, culminates in a long passage in C♯ minor with a climax characterized by a tension-building ambiguity between E major and C♯ minor and a greatly prolonged evasion of a cadence. This leads to a false recapitulation in F♯major, which then modulates to begin again in the home key.

In the coda, the main theme returns fragmented, with full bar pauses, which lead each time to unexpected changes of key. This is followed by an agitated Presto section, based on the final bars of the main theme, and the sonata concludes with a bold evocation of its very opening measures, with an ascending arpeggio (essentially an inversion of the descending figure from the Allegro's second phrase), followed by a fortissimo full statement of the opening fanfare in retrograde.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schubert%27s_last_sonatas / License: CC BY-SA 4.0