Wanderer Fantasy

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.

Historical background

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

Structure

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 1 - Allegro con fuoco ma non troppo

Commencing with the motivic material in fanfare, the movement progresses swiftly and dramatically, firing off the motive cell in a kaleidoscope of tones and keys, but never departing from its original quarter-eighth eighth-quarter rhythmic structure. A climax of the development settles into a contrastingly lively melodic interlude which punctuates the movement. This passage introduces a theme later repeated in Db major in the scherzo. After further and increasingly more demanding iterations of the motivic cell, a stormy chordal climax deteriorates and decelerates into the segue material which ushers in the Adagio. The movement ends on a V7 chord, and as such is dovetailed with the second. This cohesion is characteristic of the work and the genre. The approximate performance time is 6:25.

Movement 2 - Adagio

The Adagio, a theme and variations, is the most developed exploration of the motive among the movements, and is most faithful to the original lied. It is a tumultuous and dramatic chart which is varied in its tone, pace, and dynamics. The piece opens with the elemental thematic statement, which is more or less a direct quotation of Der Wanderer. A relative major quasi-variation turns minor and develops into a diminished climax before the movement commences with the variations proper. The four variations alternate between Db Major and C# minor, and gain momentum through successive rhythmic subdivision as their drama develops. The final variation escalates into a violent diminished chord passage, a flashy unison run, and a chordal explosion. This cues the outro in which rumbling bass figurations belie an otherwise affirming melody which gives final closure and cadence to the principal theme. The approximate performance time is 6:35.

Movement 3 - Presto

This is in A flat major. The frenetic scherzo, playful and mercurial, is in essence a mockery of the first movement (compare to the scherzo in Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 29 in this regard). The movement follows the same repeating-motive form of the first, and closely imitates melodic contour, rhythm, and dynamics, albeit in triple meter. It is punctuated by several diminished chord departures and exuberant major passages, and concludes with an exceedingly dramatic improvisational coda which powers through to the audacious fortissimo chords that summon the finale. The approximate performance time is 4:50.

Movement 4 - Allegro

The finale begins with and, to a degree, maintains fugal elements but is largely a straightforward virtuoso piece. The drama and tension of the preceding music is released in this furious, dramatic run which finally exhausts the motive. Several figurations in this movement are arguable Beethoven quotations, especially from Op. 111.^{[citation needed]} C Major is maintained throughout the movement with the exception of modulatory passages which invariably return to the original tonic. The closing passages make extensive use of the German augmented sixth chord, utilized throughout the fantasy as a principal source of harmonic tension. An exuberant coda, in its emphasis and positivity, anchors the work harmonically and emotionally. The approximate performance time is 3:45.

Liszt's transcriptions

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).

External links

• Wanderer Fantasy: Free scores at the International Music Score Library Project.