Fantasy Aesthetic and Franz Schubert’s “Magical” Transitions in Sonata Forms

ABSTRACT This article examines Franz Schubert’s sonata-form transitions within the context of Romanticism’s stylized fantasy aesthetic. The analysis draws from the G Major Quartet (D. 887), E♭ Major Trio (D. 929), and C Major Quintet (D. 956). I argue that Schubert’s unique blending of two distinct tonal syntaxes in this music creates a moment of the fantastic, evoking a sense of “magic” where reality and dreams intertwine. This interpretation challenges the familiar readings of “dream” and “otherworldly” in current hermeneutic approaches to Schubert’s sonata forms, and offers novel perspectives in the broader discourse of “rationality” in Schubert’s music.