The piano sonata 157 has three known movements. Some commentators describe the first movement of the sonata as by far the most interesting, as it shows Schubert breaking away from the restrictions on harmonic progressions his teacher Antonio Salieri had imposed for vocal music, and as one of his happiest inspirations, prefiguring his later trade marks, while the remaining two movements are described as somewhat run of the mill. Others see in the first movement rather unconvincing unorthodoxies lacking invention, while the other two movements are more musically satisfying, with reminiscences of Beethoven and some of Schubert's later compositions. ;I. Allegro ma non troppo : E major. ;II. Andante : E minor. ;III. Menuetto, Allegro vivace - Trio : A scherzo in B major, with trio in G major. The trio has some similarities to that of Schubert's later D major piano sonata, D 850: both trios move in almost constant crotchets and have the same key, sometimes even sharing harmonic progressions.
Missing fourth movement?
Although all three movements of sonata are complete in Schubert's autograph, the sonata as a whole is believed to be incomplete due to a missing final fourth movement. There is no indication Schubert ever attempted to start composing a fourth movement. There are however indications that the work is to be regarded as incomplete without such additional movement:
A relatively weak indication is that the last movement is a Minuet and Trio, which was at the time an unusual type of movement to end a sonata with, although not unheard of. This is the last of three movements, and it would have been a little more usual at the time to write a sonata in four movements, although three-movement sonatas are not too uncommon at this time.
A more compelling indication of the sonata's incomplete status is the fact that this Minuet and Trio is in the key of B major, not the sonata's tonic key of E major. It would have been extremely unusual at the time to end a sonata in a key other than its tonic, and it is much more likely that Schubert intended to add a fourth movement in the key of E major. However, there are other early instrumental compositions by Schubert that are certainly finished, and do not return to the tonic, for example the string quartet .
Others point to the finale-like character of the third movement, so that it can be seen as an effective conclusion of the sonata despite a failure to return to the tonic. It is not known whether Schubert never got around to composing a fourth movement or deliberately abandoned any attempt to write it. It is nevertheless unlikely that Schubert wrote a fourth movement that has since been lost, because several blank pages follow the third movement in the autograph.
D 154, an unfinished sonata movement
, an unfinished Allegro in E major, composed 11 February 1815, and like titled "Sonate" in the autograph, is usually seen as an early version of the first movement of. breaks off at the end of the development. Its second theme, several figures and the start of the development section are nearly identical to 's first movement. Others see and the first movement of as individual drafts of separate compositions merely sharing some of the material. D 154 is more demanding from a performer than the first movement of D 157, and is also written more orchestrally and adventurously.
The autograph of is titled Sonate and has 11 February 1815 as date at the end of the single and incomplete Allegro movement. The autograph of has the dates 18 and 21 February 1815 respectively at the beginning and the end of the first movement. Both manuscripts are in the city library of Vienna, and can be consulted online via the Schubert-Autographs website.
First publication: Alte Gesammtausgabe
was first published in 1888 as No. 1 of the Piano Sonatas volume of the Kritisch durchgesehene Gesammtausgabe published by Breitkopf & Härtel. The second volume of the Supplement contained the fragment.
