Schubert's last sonatas

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.[10]

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.[11]

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.[12] The final sonata was completed on September 26, and two days later, Schubert played from the sonata trilogy at an evening gathering in Vienna.[13] 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.[14] However, Probst was not interested in the sonatas,[15] 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.[16] 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).[17] 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.

Schubert at the Piano by Gustav Klimt

Schubert's three last sonatas have many structural features in common.[18] 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:

The compositional process of the last sonatas can be studied owing to the almost complete survival of their manuscripts. According to these, the sonatas were written in two stages – a preliminary sketch (the first draft) and a full, mature final version (the fair copy).[30]

The sketches were written during the spring and summer of 1828, possibly even earlier. The inner movements were sketched up to the final bar, while the outer, sonata-form movements were only sketched up to the beginning of the recapitulation and in the coda. In the sketches, passages from different movements (or even different sonatas) sometimes appear on the same leaf; such evidence suggests that the last two sonatas were composed in parallel, at least in part. Furthermore, in the B♭ Sonata, Schubert sketched the finale before completing the first movement, unlike his usual practice, in which finales were conceived at a later stage.[31]

The final versions of the sonatas convey the impression of a single unit and were likely notated in close succession during September 1828. The sonatas were labeled Sonate I, II, III, respectively, and Schubert wrote at the bottom of the last folio of the third sonata the date September 26. As compared to the sketches, the final versions are written much more neatly and orderly, with full notation and greater care for small details.[32]

A thorough study of the emendations that Schubert edited into the final versions, in comparison with his sketches, reveals many insights. "Examination of Schubert's sketches for the sonatas reveals him as highly self-critical; moreover, it shows that the 'heavenly lengths' of the sonatas were actually a later addition, not conceived from the start. In his subsequent corrections, Schubert elaborated on his themes and expanded them, giving them more 'musical space'", in Alfred Brendel's words. In the revision, Brendel continues, "proportions are rectified, details start to tell, fermatas suspend time. Rests clarify the structure, allowing breathing space, holding the breath or listening into silence".[33]

The major emendations in the final versions can be summarized as follows:

1. The most frequent modification is expansion of the original material. The expansions frequently repeat preceding measures or consist of rests or left-hand figurations without the melody, providing a pause in the motion. This is especially noticeable in the Adagio, minuet and finale of the C minor Sonata, the middle section of the Andantino in the A major Sonata, and the first movement of the B♭ Sonata.[34]
2. Changes in the tempo or meter indications, mainly in the opening movements: D.958/I was originally marked Allegro moderato; D.959/I was originally in alla breve time; D.959/II was originally marked Andante; and D.960/I was originally marked Moderato.[35]
3. Some of the major cyclic elements in the sonatas were only added in the final version. This includes the final bars of the A major Sonata, which consist of a cancrizans of its opening; and the arpeggiation at the end of the slow movement of the same work, which anticipates the opening of the scherzo.[36]
4. Classical-type sonata-form transitions, going from tonic to dominant, were also modified. In the opening movement of the A major Sonata, the transition was originally written a fourth higher; as it appears, only after figuring out the recapitulation, did Schubert decide to transpose the transition in the exposition in accordance with the recapitulation's harmonic scheme, thus creating the more Classical type transition that establishes V of V, found in no other opening movement in late Schubert.[37] In the analogous place in the finale of the same sonata, Schubert started writing the transition but eventually discarded it and started again, once he realized he was still in the tonic, rather than establishing the dominant.[38] These examples demonstrate the weakening of the tonic-dominant axis in Schubert's harmonic thinking and his general "aversion to the dominant".[39]
5. Two passages in the sonatas were radically modified: the development section in the finale of the A major Sonata, and the middle section in the slow movement of the B♭ Sonata.[40]

In addition to the differences mentioned above, numerous other, local modifications of the structure, harmony or texture were applied to the original material. In these modifications, certain uniquely 'daring' original progressions were occasionally toned down, whereas in other places, the new version was even bolder than its predecessor.

Schubert composed his three last sonatas in close succession. He intended to publish them together as a set, as evident by the sonatas' titles.[41] In support of this view that the sonatas are a single unity, pianist and scholar Alfred Brendel has found profound musical links between the sonatas. He has argued that the sonatas complement each other in their contrasting characters and demonstrated that the entire sonata trilogy is based on the same basic group of intervallic motifs.[42] Moreover, each of the sonatas contains a complex network of inner harmonic and motivic connections linking together all movements, and passages from one movement often reappear, usually transformed, in later movements.[43] Most of these connections are too subtle to be detected during casual listening. In some cases, however, Schubert quotes a theme or passage from an earlier movement with little alteration, inserting it in structurally significant locations, creating an immediately audible allusion. Such explicit connections are related to the cyclic form, one of the musical forms associated with the Romantic period in music.

The opening and closing bars of the Sonata in A major. Note the cancrizans relationship in pitch.

The most manifestly cyclical work of the three sonatas is the Sonata in A major.[44] In the sonata's scherzo, a joyous passage in C major is suddenly interrupted by a fierce downward rushing scale in C♯ minor, which closely recalls a parallel passage at the climax of the preceding movement. This is followed in the scherzo by a dance theme whose melody is derived from the Andantino's opening melody. This unique moment is one of the most explicit, audible cyclic references in the sonata trilogy. Another important cyclic element in the A major Sonata is the subtle similarities and connections that exist between each movement's ending and the following movement's opening; the connection between the opening and ending of the sonata as a whole, is even bolder: the sonata ends in a cancrizans of its opening, a framing device which is probably unprecedented in the sonata literature.[45]

As regards the harmonic connections between the sonatas, all three sonatas prominently feature the keys of C major/C minor, D♭ major/C♯ minor, G♭ major/F♯ minor, A major and B♭ major/B♭ minor at points of structural significance. The appearance of these keys throughout the different sonatas is noteworthy as a binding harmonic geography across the trilogy, especially since many of such tonal intrusions would make little sense within the harmonic context of each individual sonata on its own. For example, the keys of C♯ minor and F♯ minor are closely related to the main key of the A major sonata (in which also the major versions of such keys, C♯ major and F♯ major, are featured in the second and fourth movements, respectively); however, the insistently recurring influence of C♯ minor and D♭ major (enharmonic of C♯ major) throughout the C minor sonata, and the even more pervasive presence of D♭ major/C♯ minor and G♭ major/F♯ minor all throughout the B♭ major sonata, could hardly be explained as close tonal relationships; their presence is rendered consistent by their systematic reappearance throughout the trilogy. The same applies to the abrupt juxtapositions of C major and C♯ minor in the second and third movements of the A major sonata, and in the second movement of the B♭ major sonata, which in both cases are reminiscent echoes of the C minor sonata in its C–D♭/C♯ struggle throughout all its four movements. Similarly, the key of A major strikingly ushers into D958's slow movement and in D960's first movement's recapitulation, second movement's middle section and briefly in the third movement; whilst the sonority of B♭ (major or minor) prominently infiltrates the very final cadence of D959's first movement and the recapitulation of D958's fourth movement.[46]

Charles Fisk, also a pianist and music scholar, has described another cyclic element in Schubert's last sonatas – a unifying tonal design, which follows a similar, basic dramatic scheme in each of the three works. According to Fisk, each sonata presents, at its very beginning, the generative kernel of a musical conflict from which all the ensuing music will derive. The first movement, beginning and ending in the sonata's home key, confronts this key with a contrasting tonality or tonal stratum.[47] This dichotomous tonal design is also manifested in both third and final movements, whose openings are variants of the first movement's opening. Moreover, the contrasting tonality becomes the main key of the second movement, thus increasing the harmonic tension in the middle of the sonata, while projecting the first movement's tonal design (home key – contrasting tonality – home key) on the sonata as a whole. In the first half of each sonata, the musical material in the contrasting tonality is presented in sharp conflict with the material in the home key – in each appearance boldly detached from its surroundings. However, in the third movements and especially in the finales, this contrasting tonal realm is gradually integrated into its environment, bringing a sense of unity and resolution to the tonal conflict which was presented at the beginning of the sonata.[48] Fisk goes further to interpret the dramatic musical scheme manifested in the tonal design of the sonatas, as the basis of a unique psychological narrative (see below).[49]

Besides the internal references that they often make to earlier passages within them, Schubert's last sonatas contain distinct allusions and resemblances to some of his previous works, mostly earlier piano works, as well as many of his songs. Important similarities also exist between certain passages in the sonatas and works from other genres that were composed in parallel, during the same months in 1828.

The finale of the A major Sonata uses as its main theme, a transformation and transposition of an earlier theme from the second movement of the Piano Sonata in A minor, D. 537.

The finale of the A major Sonata, uses as its main theme, a transformation of an earlier theme from the second movement of the Piano Sonata in A minor, D. 537. Schubert introduced some changes to the original melody, which make it conform better with the sonata's basic motifs, in accordance with the cyclical scheme of the sonata.[50] Another allusion to an earlier piano work appears in the middle of the sonata's slow movement: after the climax in the middle section of the Andantino, appears a passage (bars 147–158) that closely recalls bars 35–39 from the Impromptu in G♭ major, D. 899.[51]

An important, unique work for solo piano written by Schubert, stands apart from his sonatas but is closely related to them in its concept and style: the Wanderer Fantasy of 1822. The harmonic scheme inherent in each of Schubert's last sonatas, according to Charles Fisk, of a tonal conflict gradually resolved through musical integration, finds its precedent in the Fantasy.[52] Moreover, a tonal stratum which plays a unique role throughout the sonata trilogy – C♯ minor/F♯ minor, is also precedented in the Fantasy as well as the song on which it was based, "Der Wanderer" (of 1816)[53] (Fisk calls C♯ minor "the wanderer's key").[54] In these two earlier works, and likewise in the last sonatas, passages written in the C♯ minor/F♯ minor stratum portray a sense of alienation, of wandering and homelessness, according to Fisk.[55] The allusion to the song "Der Wanderer" becomes fully explicit when, in the development section of the B♭ Sonata's opening movement, the new theme first presented in this section, undergoes a transformation (in bars 159–160) to become an almost literal quotation of the song's piano introduction.[56]

Another composition from the song genre, also mentioned by Fisk and others as intimately related to the last sonatas and also depicting a feeling of wandering and homelessness, is the Winterreise (A Winter's Journey) song cycle. Numerous connections between different songs from the cycle and the sonatas, especially the C minor Sonata, have been mentioned. For example: in the C minor Sonata, the first movement's development section recalls the songs "Erstarrung" and "Der Lindenbaum"; the second movement and the finale recall the songs "Das Wirtshaus", "Gefror'ne Tränen", "Gute Nacht", "Auf dem Flusse", "Der Wegweiser", and "Einsamkeit". These allusions to Winterreise retain the alienated, lonely atmosphere of its songs.[8]

Several of Schubert's last songs (the Schwanengesang collection), composed during the period of the sketching of the last sonatas, also portray a deep sense of alienation and bear important similarities with specific moments in the sonatas. These include the songs "Der Atlas" (which recalls the opening of the C minor Sonata), "Ihr Bild" (the B♭ major/G♭ major conflict at the opening of the B♭ Sonata), "Am Meer", and "Der Doppelgänger".[57] Additional songs that have been mentioned in analogy to specific passages in the last sonatas include "Im Frühling" (the opening of the A major Sonata's finale),[58] and "Pilgerweise" (the main section of the Andantino in the A major Sonata).[59]

Schubert's famous String Quintet was written in September 1828, together with the final versions of the sonatas. The slow movements of the Quintet and the B♭ Sonata bear striking similarities in their main sections: both employ the same unique textural layout, in which two-three voices sing long notes in the middle register, accompanied by the contrasted, short pizzicato notes of the other voices, in the lower and upper registers; in both movements, the long notes over the relentless ostinato rhythm, convey an atmosphere of complete stillness, of arrest of all motion and time.[60] String quintet textures also appear elsewhere, throughout the sonata trilogy.[61]

Two sudden, swift changes of tonality, texture, and mood, in the opening movement of the B♭ Sonata, bars 19–20 and 116–17. The tonalities depicted in these two transitions represent, according to Charles Fisk, three distinct tonal strata, conveying contrasting moods, which dominate the entire sonata (these are: B♭–F major; G♭–D♭ major; and C♯–F♯ minor).

Schubert's mature music often manipulates the listener's sense of time and forward movement. Passages creating such an effect appear frequently in the last sonatas, mainly in the first and second movements. Two harmonic devices are employed in the sonatas to create this effect:

• Tonal detachment of passages or complete movements from their home-key surroundings. These passages are often introduced by sudden, "magical" harmonic shifts that closely juxtapose the home key (or a closely related key such as the dominant) with the new, distant tonality.[62] Two examples of this procedure, from the opening movement of the B♭ Sonata, are shown on the right.
• Creation of tonal stasis by rapid oscillation between two contrasting tonalities.[63] Such a device appears in the development sections of the A major and B♭ sonatas, opening movements.

Harmonic manipulations of this kind create a sense of standstill, of arrest of time and motion; they often suggest a feeling of detachment, of entering a new dimension, independent of the preceding material, such as the realm of dreams and memories (if the preceding material is conceived as reality); some tonally detached passages may convey a feeling of an alienated, inhospitable environment, an exile (if the preceding material is conceived as home).[64]

The emotional effect of these passages is often further enhanced by textural and/or cyclical devices, such as a sudden shift of musical texture, concomitant with the shift in tonality; the use of mechanically repetitive accompanimental patterns, such as ostinati and repeated chords, in the tonally remote or oscillating passages; and the allusion to previously stated material, which appeared earlier in the piece, in tonally detached passages. Schubert's frequent use of similar harmonic, textural and cyclical devices in his settings of poems depicting such emotional states, only strengthens the suggestion of these psychological connotations.[65]

Extramusical connotations of this kind have sometimes been used as a basis for the construction of a psychological or biographical narrative, attempting to interpret the musical program behind Schubert's last sonatas.[9] Charles Fisk has suggested that the sonatas portray a protagonist going through successive stages of alienation, banishment, exile, and eventual homecoming (in the A major and B♭ Sonatas), or self-assertion (in the C minor Sonata). Discrete tonalities or tonal strata, appearing in complete musical segregation from one another at the beginning of each sonata, suggest contrasting psychological states, such as reality and dream, home and exile, etc.; these conflicts are further deepened in the ensuing slow movements. Once these contrasts are resolved at the finale, by intensive musical integration and the gradual transition from one tonality to the next, a sense of reconciliation, of acceptance and homecoming, is invoked.[66] Fisk's hypothetical narrative is grounded on the basis of the ample cyclic connections within the sonatas and their unique tonal design, as well as their musical similarities to songs such as Der Wanderer and the Winterreise song cycle; and on biographical evidence concerning Schubert's life, including a story written by Schubert (Mein Traum – My Dream).[67] Fisk suggests that the sonatas convey Schubert's own feelings of loneliness and alienation; by their striving towards musical and tonal integration, the writing of these works offered Schubert a release from his emotional distress, particularly deepened after finishing the composition of the lonely, depressive and hopeless songs of Winterreise, during the preceding year.[68]

It is often suggested that the Last Sonata, in B♭ major, is a farewell work in which Schubert faces his own death (somewhat analogous to the myths surrounding Mozart's Requiem); this is usually ascribed to the relaxed, meditative character which dominates the two opening movements.[69] Death scenes are also associated, somewhat more explicitly, with the more tragic C minor Sonata; Charles Fisk, for example, mentions ghosts and a 'dance of death', in the outer movements.[70] However, when judging from a biographical point of view, the notion that Schubert felt his imminent death at the time of composing the last sonatas is questionable.[71]

The opening bars of the C minor Sonata quote the theme of Beethoven's 32 Variations written in the same key

It is well acknowledged that Schubert was a great admirer of Beethoven, and that Beethoven had an immense influence on Schubert's writing, especially on his late works.[72] Schubert often borrowed musical and structural ideas from the works of Beethoven, to combine them into his own compositions. There are two outstanding examples for this practice in the last piano sonatas:

1. The opening of the Sonata in C minor is "taken almost note-for-note" from the theme of Beethoven's 32 Variations in C minor.[73]
2. The structure of the finale of the Sonata in A major is borrowed from the finale of Beethoven's Piano Sonata, Op. 31, No. 1, as evident through numerous parallels in structural features.[74]

Numerous additional, less obvious similarities to works by Beethoven have been frequently mentioned in the literature. In these cases, the question of whether or not Schubert had actually borrowed his ideas from Beethoven is open to musicological debate. Here are some examples:

• in the C minor Sonata, certain passages in the first two movements resemble parallel passages from Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 8, Op. 13 (the Pathétique), written in the same key.[75]
• in the A major Sonata, bars 200–206 from the end of the development section in the finale recall bars 51–55 from the first movement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata in C♯ minor, Op. 27, No. 2 (the Moonlight Sonata).[76]
• in the B♭ Sonata, the opening theme of the first movement recalls the opening of Beethoven's "Archduke" Trio, whereas bars 34–39 recall bars 166–169 from the first movement of Beethoven's Fifth Piano Concerto, the Emperor; in the latter case, both passages are similarly modified in the recapitulations.[77] The opening of the sonata's finale, in turn, recalls the opening of the finale from Beethoven's String Quartet in B♭ major, Op. 130.[78]

A striking feature of many of these alleged borrowings from Beethoven is that they retain, in their borrowed state, the same structural position they had in Beethoven's original design – they appear in the same movements, at the same structural points. However, despite all this evidence in support of Schubert's borrowing from Beethoven, "he evokes the memory of Beethoven and the classical style, but is no docile follower", as Alfred Brendel points out. "On the contrary, his familiarity with Beethoven's works taught him to be different... Schubert relates to Beethoven, he reacts to him, but he follows him hardly at all. Similarities of motif, texture or formal pattern never obscure Schubert's own voice. Models are concealed, transformed, surpassed".[79] A good example of Schubert's departure from Beethoven's line can be found in his most overt quotation of Beethoven – the opening of the Sonata in C minor. Once Schubert's theme has reached A♭ – the highest note in Beethoven's theme – instead of the original, witty cadence in the tonic, Schubert's theme continues to ascend to higher pitches, culminating fortissimo on another A♭, an octave higher, tonicized as a downward rushing A♭ major scale. From this A♭ major interlude – an evasion of the opening material's harmonic goal, the main generative thematic material for the entire sonata will arise. In this way, what had initially appeared to be a mere note-to-note plagiarism of Beethoven has eventually given way to a radically different continuation, one which invokes Schubert's own, idiosyncratic compositional style.[80]

But perhaps the best example of Schubert's departure from the style of his idol is the finale of the A major Sonata. Although starting from themes of equal length, Schubert's movement is much longer than Beethoven's. The added length comes from the episodes within the rondo structure:[81]

• Schubert's second theme (the B section of the rondo) indulges in a long harmonic and melodic excursion, going through the keys of the subdominant and flat submediant. Beethoven's more traditional short and simple theme merely consists of alternating tonic and dominant harmonies.
• Schubert's development section ends with a long passage in C♯ minor, with no parallel in Beethoven's finale.

Charles Rosen, who unraveled this unique borrowing of a Beethovenian structure in Schubert's A major Sonata, has also referred to Schubert's departure from the former's style in this instance: "Schubert moves with great ease within the form which Beethoven created. He has, however, considerably loosened what held it together, and stretched its ligaments unmercifully... the correspondence of part to whole has been considerably altered by Schubert, and explains why his large movements often seem so long, since they are being produced with forms originally intended for shorter pieces. Some of the excitement naturally goes out of these forms when they are so extended, but this is even a condition of the unforced melodic flow of Schubert's music". Rosen adds, however, that "with the finale of the A major Sonata Schubert produced a work that is unquestionably greater than its model".[82]

Schubert's piano sonatas seem to have been mostly neglected during the entire nineteenth century, often dismissed for being too long, lacking in formal coherence, being un-pianistic, etc.[83] However, references to the last sonatas can be found among two nineteenth-century Romantic composers who took serious interest in Schubert's music and were influenced by it: Schumann and Brahms.

Schumann, the last sonatas' dedicatee, reviewed the works in his Neue Zeitschrift für Musik in 1838, upon their publication. He seems to have been largely disappointed by the sonatas, criticizing their "much greater simplicity of invention" and Schubert's "voluntary renunciation of shining novelty, where he usually sets himself such high standards", and claiming the sonatas "ripple along from page to page as if without end, never in doubt as to how to continue, always musical and singable, interrupted here and there by stirrings of some vehemence which, however, are rapidly stilled".[84] Schumann's criticism seems to fit the general negative attitude maintained towards these works during the nineteenth century.

Brahms's attitude towards the last sonatas was different. Brahms found special interest in Schubert's piano sonatas, and expressed his wish to "study them in depth". In her diary, Clara Schumann mentioned Brahms's playing of the B♭ Sonata, and praised his performance.[85] In Brahms's works dating from the early 1860s, a clear Schubertian influence can be observed, in features such as closed lyrical themes, distant harmonic relationships, and use of the three-key exposition. Two of these works, the First String Sextet and the Piano Quintet, contain specific features that resemble Schubert's B♭ Sonata.[86]

The negative attitude towards Schubert's piano sonatas persisted well into the twentieth century. Only around the centennial of Schubert's death did these works begin to receive serious attention and critical acclaim, with the writings of Donald Francis Tovey, and the public performances of Artur Schnabel and Eduard Erdmann.[87] During the following decades, the sonatas, and especially the final trilogy, received growing attention, and by the end of the century, came to be regarded as essential members of the classical piano repertoire, frequently appearing on concert programs, studio recordings, and musicological writings. Some late twentieth century scholars have even argued that Schubert's last sonatas should rank together with Beethoven's most mature sonatas.[88]

Schubert's last sonatas mark a distinct change of compositional style from his earlier piano sonatas, with several important differences. The typical movement length has increased, due to the use of long, lyrical, fully rounded-off, ternary-form themes, the insertion of development-like passages within expositions, and the lengthening of the development section proper.[89] Texturally, the orchestral grandeur of the middle-period sonatas gives way to a more intimate writing that resembles a string ensemble.[90] New textures appear in the last sonatas – scale-like melodic elements, free counterpoint, free fantasia, and simple accompanimental patterns such as Alberti bass, repeated chords, and ostinati; the orchestral unison texture, abundant in the preceding sonatas, has disappeared.[91] The harmonic language has also changed: more distant key relationships are explored, longer modulatory excursions, more major/minor shifts of mode, and more chromatic and diverse harmonic progressions and modulations, using elements such as the diminished seventh chord.[92] In general, the last sonatas seem to enact a return to an earlier, more individual and intimate Schubertian style, here combined with the compositional craftsmanship of Schubert's later works.[93]

Certain features of Schubert's last sonatas have been mentioned as unique among his entire output, or even that of his period. Here one can mention the profound level of cyclic integration (especially the cancrizans which "parenthesize" the A major Sonata);[94] fantasia-like writing with a harmonic daring looking forward to the style of Liszt and even of Schoenberg (in the slow movement of the A major Sonata, middle section);[95] exploitation of the piano's ability to produce overtones, both by use of the sustain pedal (in the slow movement of the B♭ Sonata), and without it (in the A major Sonata);[96] and the creation of tonal stasis by oscillating between two contrasting tonalities (in the development sections of the opening movements of the A and B♭ major sonatas).[97]

As mentioned above, Schubert's last sonatas have long been historically neglected, dismissed as inferior in style to Beethoven's piano sonatas. However, the negative view has changed during the late twentieth century, and today these works are usually praised for their conveying of an idiosyncratic, personal Schubertian style, indeed quite different from Beethoven's, but holding its own virtues. In this mature style, the Classical perception of harmony and tonality, and the treatment of musical structure, are radically altered, generating a new, distinct type of sonata form.[98]

Schubert's last sonatas are sometimes compared to Mozart's last symphonies, as unique compositional achievements: both consist of trilogies with one tragic, minor-key work, and two major-key works; both were created during an astoundingly short period of time; and both creating a culmination of the composer's lifetime achievement in their respective genres.[99]

Several key issues are routinely raised by musicians and music scholars, when discussing the performance of Schubert's compositions for piano. These discussions also concern the last piano sonatas. For most of these issues, no general agreement has been reached; for example, to what extent should the sustain pedal be used, how to combine triplets with dotted rhythms, whether to allow tempo fluctuations within the course of a single movement, and whether to observe each repeat sign meticulously.[100]

The first ending of the exposition in the B♭ Sonata's opening movement contains nine bars of unique material, which is not repeated elsewhere within the piece.

The issue of repeat signs has been debated particularly in the context of the opening movements of the two last sonatas.[101] Here, as in many of Schubert's sonata form movements, a repeat sign is written for an exceedingly long exposition, while the material of the exposition is repeated a third time in the recapitulation with little alteration. This has led some musicians to omit the exposition repeat when performing these movements. In the last two sonatas, however, unlike other movements, the first ending of the exposition contains several additional bars of music, leading back to the movement's opening. When performing the movement without the repeat, the music in these bars is totally omitted from the performance, as it does not appear in the second ending. Furthermore, in the B♭ sonata, these added bars contain strikingly novel material, which does not appear anywhere else in the piece, and is radically different from the second ending. Pianist András Schiff has described the omission of the repeat in these two movements as "the amputation of a limb".[102] Brendel, on the other hand, considers the additional bars as unimportant and prefers to omit the repeats; with regard to the B♭ sonata, he further claims that the transitional bars are too unconnected to the rest of the movement, and believes that their omission actually contributes to the coherence of the piece.[103]

Another performance issue pertains to the choice of tempi, which is of special relevance in Schubert's major instrumental works, particularly in the opening movements. Schubert often notated his opening movements with moderate tempo indications, the extreme case being the Molto moderato of the B♭ piano sonata. The latter movement in particular, has been interpreted in vastly different speeds. Ever since the famous performances by Sviatoslav Richter, taking the opening movement at an extremely slow pace, similar tempo interpretations for this movement have been frequent. However, the majority of Schubert scholars tend to dismiss such an interpretation, arguing instead for a more flowing pace, a measured allegro.[104]

Some Schubert performers tend to play the entire trilogy of the last sonatas in a single recital, thereby stressing their interrelatedness, and suggesting that they form a single, complete cycle. However, since each of these sonatas is rather long (as compared, for instance, with most of Mozart's or Beethoven's sonatas), such a program may prove exhausting to some listeners. One of the solutions to this problem is to shorten the program by omitting repeats, mainly those of the opening movements' expositions (however, this practice is highly disputed, as noted above). The pioneers of the Schubert sonata performance, Artur Schnabel and Eduard Erdmann, are known to have played the entire trilogy in one evening; more recently, so have Alfred Brendel,[105] Maurizio Pollini,[106] Mitsuko Uchida,[107] and Paul Lewis.[108]

Several highly acclaimed editions of Schubert's last sonatas are available, namely those of Bärenreiter, Henle, Universal, and Oxford University Press. These editions have, however, occasionally received some criticism for the wrong interpretation or notation of Schubert's intentions, on issues such as deciphering the correct pitches from the manuscript, notating tremoli, discriminating between accent and decrescendo markings, and reconstructing missing bars.[109]

The sonatas have been performed and recorded by numerous pianists. Many, especially the devoted Schubert performers, have recorded the entire sonata trilogy (and often all of Schubert's sonatas or his entire piano repertoire altogether). Others have sufficed with only one or two of the sonatas. Of the three sonatas, the last (in B♭) is the most famous and most often recorded. The following is an incomplete list of pianists who have made notable commercial recordings of the sonata trilogy, in full or in part:

• Entire sonata trilogy: Leif Ove Andsnes, Claudio Arrau, Daniel Barenboim, Alfred Brendel (several recordings), Richard Goode, Wilhelm Kempff, Walter Klien, Stephen Kovacevich, Paul Lewis, Alexander Lonquich, Radu Lupu, Murray Perahia, Maurizio Pollini, András Schiff, Martino Tirimo, Mitsuko Uchida, Christian Zacharias.

• Sonata in C minor: Nikolai Lugansky, Sviatoslav Richter.
• Sonata in A: Vladimir Ashkenazy, Jorge Bolet, Christoph Eschenbach, Artur Schnabel, Rudolf Serkin, Krystian Zimerman.
• Sonata in B♭: Clifford Curzon, Jörg Demus, Leon Fleisher (two recordings), Clara Haskil, Vladimir Horowitz (two recordings), Evgeny Kissin, Anna Malikova, Maria João Pires, Menahem Pressler, Sviatoslav Richter (four recordings), Arthur Rubinstein (two recordings), Artur Schnabel, Rudolf Serkin (two recordings), Vladimir Sofronitsky, Maria Yudina, Krystian Zimerman.

Recordings on fortepianos:

• Entire sonata trilogy: Andreas Staier (Johann Fritz, Vienna, c. 1825), Tobias Koch (Conrad Graf, Vienna, c. 1835), Paul Badura-Skoda (fortepianos by Conrad Graf and J. M. Schweighofer), Jan Vermeulen (Nannette Streicher, 1826), John Khouri (Joseph Böhm, Vienna, c. 1828).
• Sonata in B♭: András Schiff (Franz Brodmann, Vienna, c. 1820), Gert Hecher (Joseph Brodmann, Vienna, c. 1810), Gerrit Zitterbart (Nannette Streicher und Sohn, 1829), Ayako Ito (Chris Clarke, 2000, after Conrad Graf, 1826).

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Schubert's last sonatas.

• Piano Sonata D.958, Piano Sonata D.959, Piano Sonata D.960: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
• Performances of sonatas in C minor, D. 958 by Seymour Lipkin and A major, D. 959 by Charlie Albright from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in MP3 format