F. Schubert’s last piano sonata: the image of a borderline existence

The article is dedicated to the last piano sonata by Franz Schubert. The Sonata B-flat major is written in the composer's last year of life. The first great compositor of the era of musical romanticism inherited from the Viennese classics sonata form, principles of musical drama, characteristic features of the polyphonic tissue organization. At the same time, in the sonata he introduces elements of variation development that extensively expand the sonata's allegro. The song and dance genres characteristic of Schubert's instrumental music play an important role in the Sonata B-flat major. Multi-genre deepens the figurative sphere, complicates musical dramaturgy. On the border between Viennese classicism and emerging romanticism, there is a particular tension. Here it is possible to cross previously impassable boundaries - tonal, scale, genre and figurative. The presentiments of a near end of life have left their mark on all of Sonata's music. The world of content is filled with extra-musical meanings, each one becoming a perspective of the theme - a transition from being to being. The first part tells about the life of a lyric hero standing at the last line. The second one is about crossing this boundary, and it's about an imaginary crossing of a river. The river separates the world of the living from that of the dead. The third part is Skerzo - the ghost world of memories. The finale is dedicated to overcoming the delicate imperative of the minor, searching for a way into the light world, illuminated by the radiant tonality of B-flat major.