Schubert, "Wanderer" Fantasy

During his short life span of just 31 years, Franz Schubert wrote an amount of 23 piano compositions that follow the sonata musical form, although only twelve of them were properly finished due to little Franz's tendency to procrastination, i.e., his propensity to delay everything, for one reason or another.
He also wrote eight "fantasias", of which the one popularly called "Wanderer" is, in our opinion, a full-fledged sonata, except for the name. Little inclined to instrumental pyrotechnics, it is nevertheless one of his most technically demanding piano pieces.

The publishing indifference

Composed in 1822, the work did not enjoy great recognition after its publication, as was usual for the author for a long time. It is known that publishers published his works with some reluctance, under the modality "on commission", quite meager, by the way. Therefore, it is not surprising to hear some scholars say that Schubert may have dedicated the Fantasia to a wealthy pupil of Hummel with the veiled intention of being financially rewarded.

Nevertheless, at the time. the author was only twenty-five years old and was enjoying life in the company of his musician, poet, and painter friends. These were the good years of the famous "schubertiades".

Fantasia for piano in C major, opus 15, called "Wanderer" - Sections:

Its four movements, or sections, are played without interruption, each beginning with a variant of the primordial motif, the opening phrase of the lied "Der Wanderer," composed by Schubert seven years earlier, and from which the popular nickname derives. This characteristic also makes it possible to conceive of the work as a sonata written in the form of a theme and variations.

00       Allegro con fuoco

06:32  Adagio

13:39  Presto

18:50  Allegro

The performance is by the Romanian pianist Herbert Schuch.