An Analysis of the Composing Elements of the First Movement of Shubert’s “Piano Sonata in C Minor” D958

Abstract

Franz Schubert composed twenty one piano sonatas in his thirty-one years of life. In 1828, the last year of his life, Schubert composed three large piano sonatas: D958, D959 and D960. This paper focuses on the work "Piano Sonata in C Minor" D958 among these three pieces, which is the largest, most profound and most representative classic of the three. In his piano sonata creation, while retaining the format of composition of piano sonata in the classical period, Schubert integrated the creation style of the romantic period. The artistic style and artistic form of these piano sonatas in Schubert's late creation reached its peak. This paper focuses on the analysis of the creative elements of the first movement of "Piano Sonata in C Minor" from the aspects of melody, variation, rest, continuant and semitone.