Schubert/Liszt - Wanderfantasie (2/4)

Franz Peter Schubert ( January 31, 1797 November 19, 1828) was an Austrian composer. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies (including the famous "Unfinished Symphony"), liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music. He is particularly noted for his original melodic and harmonic writing.

Jenö Jando, piano and the Budapest Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andras Ligeti

The Fantasie in C major, Op. 15 (D. 760), popularly known as the Wanderer Fantasy, is a four-movement fantasy for solo piano composed by Franz Schubert in November 1822. It is considered Schubert's most technically demanding composition for the piano. Schubert himself said "the devil may play it", in reference to his own inability to do so properly.

Schubert composed this work in 1822, the same year he worked on the Unfinished Symphony. It was written for, and dedicated to, Emanuel Karl, Edler von Liebenberg, who had studied piano with Johann Nepomuk Hummel. Schubert wrote it in the hope of earning some money from the dedication.

The whole work is based on one single basic motive, from which all themes are developed. This motive is distilled from the theme of the second movement, which is set in C-sharp minor and is a sequence of variations on a melody taken from the lied Der Wanderer, which Schubert wrote in 1816. It is this set of variations from which the work's popular name is derived.

The four movements are played without a break. After the first movement Allegro con fuoco ma non troppo in C major and the second movement Adagio, follow a scherzo presto in A flat major and the finale, which returns to the key of C major. This finale starts out as a fugue but later breaks into a virtuoso piece.

Movement 2 - Adagio

This theme and variations is the most developed exploration of the motive among the movements, and is most faithful to the original lied. Tumultuous and varied in its tone, tempo, and dynamics, it calls for a degree of emotional expression. The piece opens with the original elemental thematic statement and a modified variation which develops into a climax before the movement commences with the variations proper. The four variations alternate between Db Major and C# minor, and successively increase subdivision to achieve velocity without a change in basic tempo, which would disrupt the unity of the movement; this is a characteristic feature of Beethoven's work in this genre. The final variation escalates into a violent diminished chord passage and unison run, giving way to an outro in which rumbling bass figurations belie an otherwise affirming melody which gives final closure and cadence to the principal theme.

Franz Liszt, who was fascinated by the Wanderer Fantasy, transcribed it for piano and orchestra (S.366) and two pianos (S.653). He additionally edited the original score and added some various interpretations in ossia, and made a complete rearrangement of the final movement (S.565a).

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• Schubert
• Liszt
• Wanderfantasie

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