Fantasie in F minor, D.940 (Op.103)

Fantasia · in F minor · Op. 103

Franz Schubert 1797–1828
F minor
Key
Fantasia
Form
Op. 103
Catalogue
Score
First page of Fantasie in F minor, D.940 (Op.103)

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Themes & character
For piano four hands·Among his greatest works·Dedicated to Caroline Esterhazy·Composed 1828

At a glance

Catalogue
Op. 103
Key
F minor
Form
Fantasia

About the piece

Composed in 1828, the last year of Schubert's life, and among the finest things he wrote in any medium. It is for piano four hands, a form he used more extensively and more seriously than any other major composer. He dedicated it to Countess Caroline Esterhazy, his former pupil, for whom he is generally believed to have held a hopeless attachment. The haunting opening melody returns throughout the work's four linked sections, and the ending, a sudden collapse after a great contrapuntal climax, is among the most devastating in his output.

The composer

Franz Schubert
Franz Schubert
1797–1828

Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. He was immensely prolific despite living a short life, leaving behind a vast oeuvre of more than 1,000 compositions, including over 600 Lieder and other vocal works, seven complete symphonies, sacred music, operas, incidental music, and a large body of piano and chamber music. Among these are the songs "Gretchen am Spinnrade", "Erlkönig" and "Ave Maria"; the Trout Quintet; the Symphony No. 8 in B minor (Unfinished); the Symphony No. 9 in C major ; the String Quartet No. 14 in D minor ; the String Quintet in C major; the Impromptus for solo piano; the last three piano sonatas; the Fantasia in F minor for piano four hands; the incidental music to the play Rosamunde; the song cycles Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise; and the song collection Schwanengesang.

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