Composed 1828; 40 minutes

The first movement of D. 959 opens with bright, arresting A major rhythmic chords, followed by a cascading triplet figure that seems unrelated and questioning. Yet within these opening bars lie musical elements that shape the entire sonata. The two-note motif appears within the triplets, soon to be inverted, then further evolving within the ensuing development. The serene second theme, barely introduced, is swept into expansive melodic growth, as its secrets are unfurled. Each idea undergoes numerous transformations across the full range of the piano, with a singularly striking twist in the coda, where the two main ideas are gradually and magically fused in hushed tones, before disappearing into the distance.

The Andantino is one of Schubert’s most tormented movements. Its hypnotically repeated theme evokes the despair of his bleakest songs. Calling its middle section “among the most daring and terrifying pages in all music,” Alfred Brendel likens its anguish to the war paintings of Francisco Goya, who, like Schubert, died in 1828. Goya’s works expose human cruelty and individual fragility in the face of power. Few composers have explored such depths of darkness as Schubert does here. 

The Scherzo, with its pizzicato-like opening chords, relaxes the tension, playfully reworking ideas from previous movements. The finale, though lyrical, carries an undercurrent of melancholy. Schubert revives a melody from an early sonata (D. 537), transforming it into something more subtle and distinctive. Structurally, the movement nods to the finale of Beethoven’s G major Sonata, Op. 31 No. 1. But where Beethoven offers a firm resolution, Schubert polarizes the music. As Robert Schumann noted, Schubert’s ‘heavenly lengths’ remain at odds with the stormy central section. In the coda, the main theme fragments, its echoes fading into silence.