Schubert's 'Wanderer' Fantasy - Analysis

A motivic, harmonic, and formal analysis of Schubert's glorious Fantasy in C Major, the 'Wanderer' Fantasy.

Performance of the 'Wanderer' Fantasy by Seong-jin Cho (Finland, 11th October 2019) from:    • Seong-jin Cho - Schubert : Wanderer F...  

Performance of the song, Der Wanderer, by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Gerald Moore from:    • Schubert: "Der Wanderer", D. 493  Fis...  

This is a fair use commentary for educational purposes.

If you would like to watch this video in parts, please see chapter timestamps below:

Movement 1:
0:00:00 Introduction
0:00:38 'Heroic' theme
0:12:02 Diminished-led episode
0:17:01 Lyric theme
0:22:11 'Heroic' theme return
0:23:27 A Minor episode
0:27:48 Pastoral theme
0:30:36 'Heroic' theme return (final, Neapolitan iteration)
0:34:45 Episode leading to slow movement

Movement 2:
0:39:11 Introduction to the slow movement
0:40:04 Overview of the song, Der Wanderer
0:43:51 Adagio theme
0:46:46 Variation 1
0:49:00 Variation 2 (first phrase)
0:49:43 Variation 2 (second phrase) + Variation 3 (first phrase)
0:51:42 Variation 3 (second phrase)
0:52:44 Variation 4
0:54:53 Episode
0:58:10 Variation 5
1:00:35 Coda

Movement 3:
1:04:29 Presto theme
1:07:53 Diminished-led episode into Waltz theme
1:11:10 Waltz theme
1:12:07 Diminished-led episode towards Presto theme return
1:13:48 Presto theme return to Waltz theme return
1:15:33 Lullaby theme, Part A
1:18:51 Lullaby theme, Part B, to return of Lullaby theme, Part A
1:21:32 Presto theme return to Coda
1:24:23 Coda

Movement 4:
1:26:43 Fugato theme
1:32:00 Confrontation with the diminished, augmented 6th, and tremolo
1:36:19 Confrontation with the E major chord
1:39:10 Celebration of C major arrival
1:42:18 Conclusion

BIBLIOGRAPHY/FURTHER WATCHING AND READING

SCORES:
Score used in this video: Epstein, J. (1888) Franz Schubert’s Werke, Serie XI, No.1, Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, https://imslp.org/wiki/Fantasie_in_C_...)

Extract from Beethoven’s Pathétique Sonata used in this video: First edition (reprint) Plate 128 Vienna: Eder, n.d.[1800]

MEDIA:
Circle of 5ths graphic: Just plain Bill - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...

Granada Television (1981) Brideshead Revisited clip:    • "The Low Door In The Wall,"  -  BRIDE...  

Painting of Schubert at the end: By Gustav Klimt - http://art-klimt.com/1890_38.html, compare the cover of Etude Magazine, Vol. 52, No. 12 (Dec 1934) https://archive.org/details/EtudeDece..., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...

Photos of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Gerald Moore: Erich Auerbach/Getty Images, https://www.theguardian.com/music/gal...

TEXTS:
Arko, A. “Structural Models of Franz Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasy: Fantasy, Symphonic Poem, and Two-dimensional Sonata Form.” DMA thesis, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2020, Directed by Dr. Joseph Di Piazza, http://libres.uncg.edu/ir/uncg/f/Arko...

Booth, C. “The Wanderer’s Way: The Grundgestalt and Developing Variation in Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasy, Op.15” MM Music Theory thesis, The Crane School of Music, Potsdam, New York, 2005 [A really outstanding thesis that focuses on Schoenberg’s concepts of the grundgestalt and the tonal problem]

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Bildungsroman". Encyclopedia Britannica, 6 May. 2020, https://www.britannica.com/art/bildun.... Accessed May 2021.

Chang, L-F. "The Orchestral Elements in Franz Schubert's Wanderer Fantasy - with Implications for Piano Performance." DMA (Doctor of Musical Arts) thesis, University of Iowa, 2011, https://doi.org/10.17077/etd.iusqhily

Der Wanderer song lyrics: Lübeck, G. (Original) Translation © Richard Wigmore, author of Schubert: The Complete Song Texts, published by Schirmer Books, Provided courtesy of Oxford Lieder (www.oxfordlieder.co.uk)

Fisk, C. (2001) “Returning Cycles: Contexts for the Interpretation of Schubert’s Impromptus and Last Sonatas” University of California Press

Ishihama, K. “Triangles of Soul - Schubert the ‘Wanderer’ and his Music Explained by Neo-Riemannian graphs.” Doctor of Philosophy dissertation, School of Music and Dance
and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon, 2017, https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlu...

Waugh, E. (1945) “Brideshead Revisited” Penguin Classics, 2000 Edition, https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brideshead-R...

VIDEOS:
The Independent Pianist:    • Schubert Wanderer Fantasy, score/anal...   [An excellent overview that looks at the first movement in terms of sonata-concerto form, and uses different variation subdivisions for the Adagio]