Schubert’s Impromptus are collected in two sets of four: op. 94 and op. 142 (numbered as D 899 and D 935 in the widely used Deutsch catalogue). The name itself, first given by Tobias Haslinger, the publisher of the first two opus 90 works, was then adopted by Schubert for both collections, preserving the continuity of numbering from 1 to 8. The split into two collections was probably due to an offer by Schott, a publisher from Mainz; since it failed to materialize before the composer’s death, the second set of Impromptus was published posthumously as op. 142 in Vienna eleven years later (NB by the same Anton Diabelli immortalized by Beethoven’s variations).
In Four Impromptus op. 142, it is easy to observe many characteristic features of Schubert’s style. The singing theme in No. 2 (Allegretto in A flat major) is a reminder of Schubert the songwriter, and the middle movement, defined as Trio, with a persistently emphasized syncope in the bass and a triplet figuration that rises and falls in a single wave, acquires, in this singing context, the character of a dramatic and ballad-like commentary. No. 3 stands out as variations, a form very infrequent in cycles of small piano pieces. The theme has been taken from the incidental music Rosamunde, Fuerstin von Zypern (from the Entr'acte following act three). After an airy Fifth Variation, Schubert returns to the original theme in a slow and lyrically-dwindling finale. The final Impromptu is a graceful scherzo in 3/8 metre. Figurations often run to the top register, and the semiquaver motion is arrested five times with general pauses before the theme’s recapitulation. A downward-running octave through the entire keyboard closes the cycle with a virtuoso effect.

Adam Walaciński