Piano Sonata in A-flat major, D 557 (Schubert)


's Piano Sonata in A-flat major 557 was composed in May 1817.

Movements

The work is relatively short and a performance takes somewhat between 10 and 15 minutes. The sonata is cheerful and uncomplicated, and carries remembrances of Mozart and the Baroque era.
;I. Allegro moderato : A-flat major
;II. Andante : E-flat major
;III. Allegro : E-flat major
The fact that the last movement is in the key of E-flat major rather than the tonic key of A-flat major is evidence in favor of Schubert possibly intending to add a fourth movement, although the extant third movement has much of the character of a finale. At the time this was written it was quite unusual to end a composition in another key than its tonic, however Schubert did do this in some of his early works, e.g. .

Score

The sonata was first published in 1888, in the Breitkopf & Härtel complete edition.
;Manuscripts
The autograph of the sonata, dated May 1817, is incomplete — it stops at the 28th measure of the third movement, but there is a contemporary complete manuscript.
;First publication — Alte Gesammtausgabe
D. 557 was first published in 1888 as No. 3 of the Piano Sonatas volume of the Kritisch durchgesehene Gesammtausgabe.
;Urtext Editions
Both Paul Badura-Skoda and Martino Tirimo published an Urtext edition in 1997.
;Neue Schubert-Ausgabe
In the New Schubert Edition D. 557 is given in VII/2/1.