The Piano Sonata #13 by Schubert is the shortest among Schubert’s complete sonatas. The manuscript, completed in July 1819, was dedicated to an Austrian woman whom he considered to be “very pretty” and “a good pianist.”
The lyrical, buoyant, in spots typically poignant nature of this sonata fits the image of a young Schubert in love, living in a summery Austrian countryside, which he also considered to be “unimaginably lovely.”
The A major sonata is straightforward, with a dulcet melodic opening. It was the first of Schubert’s piano sonatas where the sonata form as perfected by his idol, Beethoven, does not seem wrestled with; rather, it is a “joyous breakthrough,” a carefree triumph over strict rules of musical construction.
Here is Sviatoslav Richter to play this wonderful music for you:
