Reflections and Echoes in Schubert’s Waltzes
ORCID
Sobaskie: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9083-3425
MSU Affiliation
College of Education; Department of Music
Creation Date
2026-04-29
Abstract
Franz Schubert’s waltzes may seem small, but they bear more than meets the eye. Leopold von Sonnleithner tells us that Schubert ‘never danced, but was always ready to sit down at the piano, where for hours he improvised the most beautiful waltzes; those he liked he repeated, in order to remember them and to write them out afterwards’. The composer appears to have been inspired by the motion and joy he saw and caused, for certain waltzes communicate physical momentum and personalised interiority – reflections and echoes from the past.The effects expressed within Schubert’s waltzes arise from expectations elicited by their voice-leading, coupled with changes in texture, register, dynamics, metre and rhythm. This chapter will explore representative examples from Schubert’s Originaltänze, Valses sentimentales, Valses nobles, and the Zwanzig Walzer (Letzte Walzer) to demonstrate how they convey impressions of physicality and flow, perceptions of distance and disturbance, plus aspects of sonority and spatiality. In turn, these reflections and echoes offer insights regarding Schubert’s art and aesthetics, as well as the past they inhabited.
Publication Date
8-31-2024
Publication Title
Schubert’s Piano
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
First Page
283
Last Page
300
Recommended Citation
Sobaskie, James William. “Reflections and Echoes in Schubert’s Waltzes.” Schubert’s Piano. Ed. Matthew Gardner and Christine Martin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2024. 283–300.
