The large and technically demanding G major Sonata was composed two years before Schubert’s death in October 1826 and is one of only three piano sonatas that appeared in print during his lifetime. The unusual title of the first edition “Fantasie, Andante, Menuetto und Allegretto” stems from the publisher Haslinger and is probably due to the dreamy-melancholy underlying mood of the first movement which corresponded little to the traditional concepts of a sonata’s first movement. It is hardly surprising that the “Fantasy-Sonata”, as it is often still called today, later inspired artists such as Franz Liszt and Robert Schumann with its free and romantic nature, who described it as being consummate “in form and spirit”. For the present Urtext edition a thorough re-examination of all known sources was undertaken, including the autograph in the British Library, and the edition now presents itself with the usual crystal clear Henle music engraving. The preface by Schubert expert Andrea Lindmayr-Brandl and the detailed commentary section provide comprehensive information about the genesis of the work, the sources and their readings. A further highlight are the fingerings by pianist Martin Helmchen.
G. Henle Publishers stands for Urtext sheet music of the highest quality. The Urtext editions not only provide the undistorted and authoritative musical text but are also aesthetically pleasing, optimised for practical use and extremely durable. And then there is the strong, distinctive blue profile: (almost) all of the Urtext editions are bound in the characteristic blue cardboard.
Musicians trust Henle's blue Urtext editions because they:
- provide an undistorted, reliable and authoritative musical text
- offer superb, aesthetically appealing music engraving
- are optimised for practical use (page turns, fingerings)
- are of high quality and durable (cover, paper, binding)
- contain a short preface that introduces the work (particularly useful for AMEB exams) in German, English and French, as well as explanatory footnotes for particularly interesting passages in the score
- contain a description of the sources, an evaluation of the sources, readings and a documentation of the corrections made (= "Critical Report") in German and English, and often also in French
