The exploration and discovery of dance topoi in Franz Schubert's piano sonatas

Franz Schubert (1797–1828), a masterful dance composer, incorporated many of the popular dances of his time into his piano sonatas. His dance output, which numbers approximately 500 in total, covers duple- and triple-meter social dances which include: écossaise, Deutscher, Ländler, waltz, polonaise, minuet, galop and a single cotillon. The unique elements derived from each of these dances form a dance topos (plural: topoi). A topos carries each dance’s musical features, which include its character and rhythmic and melodic traits, but is not the dance proper. This research elucidates what, why, where, and how Schubert incorporated these dance topoi into his piano sonatas. Some of these topoi are easily detected, while others are concealed or embedded. In a few instances, they are modified or distilled into the simplest character unit, which often are the basic dance rhythms. The topoi may also be transformed as his composition develops, often through the concept of thematic variations. Occasionally, he combined two or more of the dance and/or non-dance topoi in a single passage, thus forming what is known as a trope. This project comprises in-depth comprehensive study intended to bridge the gap between contemporaneous late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century social dances and Schubert’s piano works, particularly his sonatas. The hope is that it will also provide inspiration, practical interpretative value, and a stimulating perspective on the sometimes elusive sonatas of Franz Schubert.