The work exhibits the characteristics of severe manic depression. Even Schubert himself explained in a letter that he was "In a word, I feel myself to be the most unhappy and wretched creature in the world." The importance of this information is that Schubert's music is an explicit imitation of his life. In more than an external sense, his music was a biography and an emotional outlet for his own demise. As a result a clearer picture of how Schubert's mood shifted creates a better understanding for both the motivation and actual sound of the arpeggione sonata. Within the music, shifts between the bright and cheerful to dark and brooding occur almost sporadically, displacing most listeners who first hear the sonata. Within the three movements of the sonata, there are consistent shifts from light to dark moods, especially evident in the first movement. Critics of this time period characterized his music as being "[Replete with] eccentricity, which unites the tragic with the comic, the pleasant with the repulsive, heroism with rant, the very saint with the harlequin, unites, exchanges, and even confuses them." Now that we have developed a greater contextual understanding of the composition's history, we must turn to the original manuscript to learn more about the character of the arpeggione sonata.
Schubert's arpeggione sonata exists today as through transcriptions. Since the original instrument for which it was written long became extinct, there were rare instances where this sonata was actually called forth. Among all the of existing stringed instruments, the cello was the only one that incorporated the piece into its existing repertoire because the instrument was similar in both size and range to the original instrument of the piece. Even then the cello was not an easy adaptor for this sonata because the arpeggione had a greater range due to its open strings. Thus in the modern sense the arpeggione sonata has been adapted to both the cello and the double bass, and these differences are immediately apparent from the original inscription.
It is clear that when Schubert actually wrote this...
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The piano plays quick octaves and the urgent bass motive portrays an intense wild ride. This strong galloping is also being formulated by the piano's triplet rhythm which allows for the development of the dramatic storyline's urgency. 5. ) There are four different characters in this piece: the Narrator, the father, the son, and the Erlkonig. Although Schubert uses one singer to portray and sing all of the four parts
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