Schubert Impromptus, D. 899 and D. 935
8 impromptus, free to read, hear and print, in the composer's own order.
Open the sheet music librarySchubert wrote both sets of four impromptus in 1827, the year before he died at thirty-one. Only the first two of D. 899 (Op. 90) were printed in his lifetime; the rest waited, the second set until 1839 and the last two of the first until 1857. Schumann thought the second set might be a sonata in disguise.
They are in order here, D. 899 then D. 935. The G flat impromptu, D. 899 No. 3, is the famous one, a long song over rippling triplets; D. 935 No. 3 is a set of variations on a tune Schubert also used in his music for the play Rosamunde.
About the pieces
Impromptu in C minor n 1 Op. 90
An impromptu is written to sound as though it were made up on the spot, which is a difficult thing to compose and a harder thing to play. Schubert wrote over six hundred songs before he died at thirty-one, and the singing never left his piano writing.
Impromptu in E-flat major, D. 899 No. 2
Schubert's E-flat major Impromptu opens with a stream of quick triplets running up and down the right hand like water, over a simple left-hand accompaniment. A stormy middle section in B minor breaks in with heavy accented chords, and the coda turns the opening tune into a furious E-flat minor ending.
Impromptu in G-flat major, D. 899 No. 3
The third of Schubert's first set of four Impromptus. His original publisher moved it into G major and halved its long notes to make it easier to read, but it was written in G flat, with wide 4/2 bars, as it is here.
Impromptu in A-flat major, D. 899 No. 4
The last of Schubert's first set of four Impromptus, written in 1827, the year before he died; only the first two were printed in his lifetime and this one waited until 1857. Cascades of falling arpeggios begin in A-flat minor and slowly brighten into major, and a passionate middle section in C-sharp minor sings in the left hand.
Impromptu in F minor, D. 935 No. 1
The first piece of Schubert's second set of Impromptus, written in 1827 and published only after his death, in 1839; Schumann suspected the set was really a sonata in disguise, with this as its first movement. A grand opening gives way to rippling figures and a dialogue in which the hands cross to trade a tender melody between bass and treble.
Impromptu Op. 142 No. 2
Schubert wrote his impromptus in the last two years of his life, and this set was not published until thirty years after he died.
Impromptu in B-flat major, D. 935 No. 3 (Rosamunde)
A theme and five variations on a melody Schubert also used in his incidental music for the play Rosamunde and in his A minor String Quartet. Written in 1827, the variations dress the gentle tune in faster and faster notes, take it into a stormy minor key, and bring it back simply at the end.
Impromptu in F minor, D. 935 No. 4
The finale of Schubert's second set of Impromptus, an Allegro scherzando with the snap and swagger of Hungarian dance music. Sudden accents, off-beat leaps and racing scales drive it along, and it ends in a headlong run down the keyboard.