Schubert began his eight pieces titled ‘Impromptu’ in the summer and autumn of 1827; they were completed by December.
He issued the first two numbers of the series (in C minor and E-flat Major) in 1828 as Schubert’s Op. 90, Nos. 1 and 2, with some success, but the composer’s death on November 19th of that year halted the project, and the remaining pair of Op. 90 Impromptus was not published until 1857 or 1858; the four others were issued at the end of 1839 by Diabelli as the Op. 142.
I listened today to these delightful pieces as performed by pianist Alfred Brendel:
