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Schubert · Impromptu in A♭ major, Op. 90 No. 4 · D. 899 No. 4 · Solo piano

Impromptu in A♭ major

Notated in A♭ major but opening in the minor, Schubert's fourth impromptu turns a cascade of sixteenths into its melody, sets a dark, chordal trio in C♯ minor at its centre, and brings the scherzo back note for note, only louder. Underneath its fluency, the piece keeps its home key waiting.


— i —

Minor before major

The key signature promises A♭ major, but the opening paragraph is in A♭ minor, and the major arrives only as a change of colour on the same keynote. Even then the home key is never given the strongest kind of cadence: that is saved for the trio.

— ii —

One falling figure

A sixth that sinks by a semitone onto the fifth shapes the scherzo's first close, the trio's melody, its richest chords and its bass line. Once you hear it, the two halves of the piece turn out to be singing the same thing.

— iii —

Two peaks, not one

The scherzo's climax is high and loud, at the top of the keyboard. The trio's is broad and heavy, spread across the widest span in the piece. Schubert divides the extremes rather than building a single arch.


The structure

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mm. 1–106

Scherzo

A run of sixteenths in A♭ minor that is figuration and tune at once. It travels to C♭ major, which darkens into B minor, before the major mode breaks through and a sequence climbs to the scherzo's highest and loudest moment. Six bars of tonic and a single linking chord close it.

mm. 107–164

Trio

C♯ minor, which is D♭ minor written in sharps. The motion halves to steady repeated chords under a low melody. The first part closes in G♯ minor, the home key under another name; the second stands over the dominant before the opening music returns in the major. Both parts are repeated.

mm. 165–170

Retransition

A single chord held under six bars of returning sixteenths, until it resolves into the opening.

mm. 171–268

Return

The scherzo again, note for note. Only the dynamics change, and every change makes it stronger.

mm. 269–280

Coda

The scherzo's closing bars recalled, then a bare octave and a final chord in the major.


At a glance

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Composer

Schubert

Catalogue

Op. 90 No. 4 · D. 899 No. 4

Key

A♭ major, opening in A♭ minor

Form

Ternary: scherzo, trio, return and coda

Instrumentation

Solo piano


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