ExclusiveSchubert: 4 Impromptus, D. 935 (Op. posth. 142) Impromptu no. 4 in F minor, D. 935

【Classical music and nature 古典音樂小站】Franz Schubert: 4 Impromptus, D. 935 (Op. posth. 142) Impromptu, D. 935 (Op. posth. 142) Impromptu no. 4 in F minor, D. 935. This beautiful piece was played by Chiara Bertoglio. It has creative commons license (CC BY 3.0, Attribution 3.0 Unported), and is provided through musopen.org.

In a review published in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik in December 1838, Robert Schumann lauded Impromptus 1, 2 and 4 as "one more beautiful memory of Schubert"; however, he dismissed the third as merely a "series of largely unremarkable variations on an equally unremarkable theme". He further remarked that would Schubert "had lived to see how people now revere him, this would have inspired him to the highest degree".

Despite his personal struggles, Schubert was a prolific composer who produced a plethora of works in the late 1820s. The Impromptus were composed during a particularly creative period in 1827, alongside the Piano Trios Nos. 1 and 2, the Impromptus, Op. 90, the Fantasy for violin and piano, and around 30 other pieces.

The Impromptus formed part of the broader Romantic trend of composing short, self-contained piano pieces — a genre that was popularised in the 1820s. Other composers, such as Johann Baptist Cramer, Carl Czerny, Heinrich Marschner, Ignaz Moscheles and Franz Liszt, also wrote impromptus that were published around this time. However, Schubert's clearly structured impromptus largely do not conform to the improvisational traits implied by the literary term 'impromptu'.

The autograph of the Impromptus, Op. 142, dates to December 1827, and the pieces were first mentioned in a letter from Schubert to the publisher Schott in February 1828. There is no documentary record of the first performance, though it is likely that they were first performed at a house concert in Vienna in early 1828 by Carl Maria von Bocklet, who had also premiered the Piano Trio No. 2.

Schubert had difficulty getting Impromptus, Op. 142 published. His publisher, Tobias Haslinger, had already published two other Impromptus (Nos. 1 and 2 from Op. 90) and was not interested in publishing the new set. Similarly, Schott rejected them in October 1828 as they were considered too difficult and therefore 'unmarketable in France'. The work was eventually published posthumously in Vienna in 1839 by Anton Diabelli.

The video was captured in the valley of Ueschinen, Switzerland by Christian Schlegel and edited by Wenjing Ma.



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