Schubert's Bi‐rotational Sonata Forms: Developmental Function and the Type 1–2 Hybrid

Abstract

ABSTRACTSchubert's early string quartets reveal a tendency towards bi‐rotational designs combining elements of type 1 (lacking a development section) and type 2 (beginning their second rotation off‐tonic) sonata form. Examples of the practice are found in first movements, slow movements and finales and encompass at least nine movements from the ten quartets composed between 1810 and 1815. Owing in part to their difficult reception history, these works have not yet been utilised to evaluate the applicability of sonata theory's typology of sonata forms to early nineteenth‐century repertoire, even though they seem uniquely well placed to do so.In this article I propose a new conceptual formal model based on a hybrid form, existing in a continuum between type 1 and type 2 structures. Through analysis of the first movement of the String Quartet in D major, D. 74 (1813) and the early Quartettsatz in C minor, D. 103 (1814), I argue that the tension between understanding these works as either balanced, parallel binary forms or as a single unfolding process of tonal actualisation stems from their particular historical profile: on the one hand, they hark back to Classical models (in particular, the operatic overture), and on the other, they are prescient of the progressive formal/tonal strategies in Schubert's later works. It is this unique dual perspective that renders these works apposite as a means by which to problematise the ostensibly strict distinction between type 1 and type 2 strategies, and to lead to a more nuanced realisation of the theory's analytical possibilities.