Abstract
The first movement of Robert Schumann’s Piano Sonata, Op. 11, has been evaluated in various aspects by many researchers and analysts. However, it seems that there are many different interpretations regarding its formal structure. The purpose of this study is to present a detailed formal analysis, based on the ‘Sonata Theory’ of James Hepokoski and William Darcy (2006). Besides the form analysis, the harmonic and thematic features of the movement were also discussed in detail. Furthermore, Schumann’s motivation for composing this sonata, and the historical context of the work are also taken into consideration. The composer dedicated this piano sonata to his future wife, Clara Wieck, and mailed it to her under a pseudonym. For this reason, it is possible to consider this Sonata as a ‘love-letter’. Therefore, the thematic and motivic intertextual references of the Sonata are also taken into consideration through the analysis. The findings of this study suggest that the movement in question was structured under the standard sonata framework typically seen in minor mode sonatas. However, closer scrutiny reveals that the Sonata contains some astonishing and delightful anomalies. In this paper, the radical aspects of the first movement of the Sonata are examined in detail.
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