Expert: Jim Frimmer - 12/27/2009

Question
I have been working on some of the early Schubert piano sonatas, circa 1817.  Most biographers and music scholars draw the, perhaps inevitable, comparisons with the Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven sonatas - sonatas written in a style which used motivic development for dramatic purposes.  Comparison with these great figures, which were undoubtedly Schubert's idols, shows the melodies and structures in Schubert's works to be much more drawn out and fluent - we sometimes miss the concision of the early masters.  In 1817 Beethoven was working on the Hammerklavier so the bulk of his middle period sonatas were behind him staring Schubert in the face.

I am just wondering if Schubert was also influenced by his contemporaries in piano sonata style - was Beethoven then only name on the list, or was the music public in Vienna at the time also interested in Hummel or Clementi or other composers?  Beethoven may, by 1817, have been so advanced in his own idiosyncratic style as to have left more conventional music lovers behind, leaving room for - for whom? - Weber?  Is Weber just a relevant an influence on Schubert as Beethoven?  I can't seem to find any information in this.

THanks for your help.

Answer
Brad,

As far as the piano sonata is concerned, Haydn Mozart and Beethoven would be the only composers that significantly influenced Schubert's style.  In the earlier sonatas, Schubert is much more influenced by Haydn and Mozart than by Beethoven, Their external form never really departs from the standard classical patterns, but Schubert's lyricism is more apparent than the dramatics in the Beethoven sonatas. Instead of the surging romantic emotions, Schubert gives us expansive melodies and wonderful, shimmering harmonic progressions.  Some of the slow movements are like his impromptus or the Moments Musicaux.

In the last 3 sonatas, however, Beethoven is definitely in his consciousness. Just listen to the last movement of the C minor sonata (and the opening of the first movement which is obviously taken from Beethovens 32 Variations in C minor for piano) or the opening of the last movement of the B flat sonata which is like the finale of Beethoven's String Quartet, Opus 130.

As for Weber and Clementi, I wouldn't say that there is really anything there as far as an influence on Schubert.  Weber is perhaps better known in the opera world. His piano works are known more for their technical difficulty than their musical substance.  Clementi probably influenced Beethoven to a certain degree (Beethoven openly admired his sonatas), but not Schubert.

By the way, Schubert's Moments Musicaux and the Impromptus were important influences (actually the model)on the Romantic character pieces that were to follow after (Schumann, Faure Chopin, even Brahms.