General Overview

This work exists only as a fragment of its first movement, in the form of an autograph draft. This autograph manuscript is inscribed "April 1819," and after the initial 73 measures were written, the composition ceases with a repeat sign. Consequently, in Schubert scholarship, there is ongoing debate regarding its form: whether the section up to the repeat sign should be interpreted as a long exposition, or as an integration of the exposition and development (for details on the form, see below). A sonata existing as a fragment of only one formal section, as in this work, is unprecedented in Schubert's oeuvre. Therefore, external factors such as comparisons with other works or Schubert's compositional habits do not provide clues to resolve this issue. Furthermore, since blank staves remain in the autograph manuscript after the point where composition ceased, it is unlikely that any part written after the interruption has been lost. Thus, it can be concluded that the composer himself intentionally did not proceed further.

(For the autograph manuscript, please refer to the following website:

http://www.schubert-online.at/activpage/manuskripte.php?top=1&werke_id=277 )

Musical Analysis

Movement 1: No tempo indication, C-sharp minor, 4/4 time

As mentioned in the general overview, the formal interpretation of this movement is problematic because the autograph manuscript ends with a repeat sign.

As the opening movement, sonata form is presumed for this movement. At the beginning, the first theme, primarily consisting of sixteenth and eighth notes, is presented briskly in C-sharp minor. The theme is first presented in a forte unison, then repeated softly in a canonic style from measure 6. Following a crescendo and a Neapolitan chord (m. 9), the second theme is presented in the relative major, E major, at measure 14. This second theme modulates to G-sharp major before cadencing in B major (m. 25), and is then repeated with a new accompaniment figure featuring triplets. After the repeated theme again cadences in B major, a developmental section based on the first theme begins at measure 39. This section begins in the tonic, C-sharp minor, and after a series of dominant seventh chords leads to F major, a new theme is presented (m. 47). This theme is repeated in A-flat major, and at measure 58, it becomes G-sharp major through enharmonic reinterpretation. From measure 63, after a shift to the parallel major, typical of later Schubert, a general pause and a transitional phrase are written, followed by a double bar line, where the composition breaks off.

Thus, formally, it seems reasonable to consider the section up to the repeat sign as the exposition. However, since a developmental section follows the appearance of two themes, the section up to the repeat sign actually combines elements of both the exposition and the development. The technique of repeating the exposition and development as a single unit has no precedent in Schubert's extant works. Therefore, what Schubert envisioned beyond the repeat sign when he ceased composing remains shrouded in mystery.