Grand Duo (Schubert)

Grand Duo (Schubert)

The Sonata in C major by Franz Schubert, D 812 (Op. posth. 140), for piano four-hands (two players at one piano), is one of Schubert’s most important works for more than one pianist and one of his most important piano works altogether.

History

Schubert wrote this work in the spring of 1824 while at Zseliz on the Esterházy estate, probably for the two countesses he was tutoring at the time. The sonata was published after Schubert's death, in 1837, when it was printed with the title ‘Grand Duo’ – by which it is still popularly known, though there is no evidence that this was Schubert’s title.

tructure and Analysis

There are four movements:
* Allegro moderato
* Andante
* Scherzo and Trio (Allegro vivace)
* Finale (Allegro vivace)

This is a mature and characteristic work by Schubert on the largest scale. The structures of the movements closely resemble those of a symphony and some passages appear to reproduce orchestral effects (though both these observations might apply to some of Schubert’s solo piano sonatas). Thus in addition to its intrinsic qualities and interest the "Grand Duo" was soon believed by some authorities, including Robert Schumann, to be a transcription or draft of the missing so-called "Gastein Symphony" that Schubert was thought to have written in 1824. (It is only since the 1970s that it has been proved conclusively that there was no such work.) As a result, there have been a number of orchestral realizations of the Sonata as a symphony, the best known being by Joseph Joachim (1855). Other examples are by Marius Flothuis (1940-42), Fritz Oeser (1948), René Leibowitz (c.1965), and most recently Raymond Leppard. Joachim altered the tempo of the finale to "Allegro moderato".

The finale, like that of the B-flat sonata for solo piano (D. 960) from the composer's last year, opens deceptively in the wrong key, in this case, the relative minor, A minor (in the later solo sonata, after a unison G, the melody opens in the supertonic, C minor). In both cases, however, the harmonic deception is almost immediately 'corrected' by shifting to the main key.

A typical performance takes about 40 minutes.

External links

*


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Schubert's last sonatas — The three piano sonatas numbered 958 through 960 in Deutsch s catalogue of Franz Schubert s complete works, are the composer s last major compositions for the piano, often referred to in short simply as Schubert s last sonatas. They were written… …   Wikipedia

  • Schubert, Franz — ▪ Austrian composer Introduction in full  Franz Peter Schubert  born , Jan. 31, 1797, Himmelpfortgrund, near Vienna died Nov. 19, 1828, Vienna  Austrian composer who bridged the worlds of Classical and Romantic music, noted for the melody and… …   Universalium

  • Schubert compositions D number 505-998 — This is a catalogue of works by Franz Schubert, ordered according to the D numbers of an updated version of the chronological catalogue of Schubert compositions by Otto Erich Deutsch.A generic list (that is, ordered by musical genre) is at List… …   Wikipedia

  • SCHUBERT (F.) — «Voulais je chanter l’amour, cela m’entraînait à la douleur; voulais je chanter la douleur, cela me menait à l’amour» (Schubert, 1822). Schubert ou le paradoxe. La proposition est peut être inattendue; à y regarder de près, c’est sans doute celle …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Duo Crommelynck — was the name of a notable classical piano duo team active from 1974 to 1994, consisting of the Belgian Patrick Crommelynck and his Japanese born wife Taeko Kuwata. In 1994, at the height of their fame, they committed suicide. Patrick Crommelynck… …   Wikipedia

  • Grand Prix der Volksmusik 1997 — Der 12. Grand Prix der Volksmusik fand am 30. August 1997 in Zürich (Schweiz) statt. Teilnehmerländer waren wie in den Vorjahren Deutschland, Österreich und die Schweiz. Wie bereits seit 1989 wurde auch in diesem Jahr in jedem Land zuvor eine… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Grand Prix der Volksmusik 2004 — Der 19. Grand Prix der Volksmusik fand am 4. September 2004 in Wien (Österreich) statt. Teilnehmerländer waren wie in den Vorjahren Deutschland, Österreich, die Schweiz und Südtirol. In jedem Land wurde eine öffentliche Vorentscheidung im… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Grand piano — Piano Pour les articles homonymes, voir Piano (homonymie). Piano Un pia …   Wikipédia en Français

  • List of compositions by Franz Schubert — Many of Franz Schubert s works are covered in separate Wikipedia articles, for which there are links on this page.A complete list of Schubert s works arranged by D number (see below), is available in the following two articles:*Schubert… …   Wikipedia

  • Liste des œuvres de Franz Schubert — L œuvre de Franz Schubert compte près de mille compositions achevées. Une part très minoritaire de ces œuvres sont classées parmi plus de 160 numéros d opus. Cette numérotation a été établie par les éditeurs de Schubert, si bien qu elle suit l… …   Wikipédia en Français

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”