Wanderer Fantasy

The "Fantasie in C major", Op. 15 (D. 760), popularly known as the "Wanderer" Fantasy", is a four-movement fantasy for solo piano composed by Franz Schubert in November 1822.

Historical Background

Schubert composed this work in 1822, the same year he worked on the Unfinished Symphony. It was written for, and dedicated to, Emanuel Karl, Edler von Liebenberg, who had studied piano with Johann Nepomuk Hummel, the virtuoso pianist and composer. He wrote it in the hopes of earning some money for the dedication.cite book|last=Einstein|first=Alfred|title=Schubert: A Musical Portrait|year=1951|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=p. 204]

tructure

The whole work is based on one single basic motive, from which all themes are developed. This motive is distilled from the theme of the second movement, which is set in C-sharp minor and is a sequence of variations on a melody taken from the lied "Der Wanderer", which Schubert wrote in 1816. It is this set of variations from which the work's popular name is derived.

The four movements are played without a break. After the first movement "Allegro con fuoco ma non troppo" in C major and the second movement "Adagio", follow a scherzo "presto" in A flat major and the finale, which returns to the key of C major. This finale starts out as a fugue but later breaks into a virtuoso piece.

The Wanderer Fantasy is considered Schubert's most technically demanding composition for the piano. Schubert himself said "the devil may play it", in reference to his own inability to do so properly. [cite book
title=Schubert
first=Edmondstoune|last=Duncan
publisher=J. M. Dent & Co.|year=1905|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=SZcPAAAAYAAJ|pages=p. 165] Franz Liszt, who was fascinated by this piece, transcribed the work for piano and orchestra (S.366) and two pianos (S.653). He additionally edited the original score and added some various interpretations in ossia, and made a complete rearrangement of the final movement (S.565a).

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