Piano Sonata in A major, D 664 (Schubert)
composition for piano by Franz Schubert
The Piano Sonata in A major, D 664, Op. posth. 120, is a sonata for solo piano composed by Franz Schubert in the summer of 1819.
Movements
This piano sonata, numbered D 664 in the Schubert Thematic Catalogue, consists of three movements:
Well regarded among pianists, the "Little" A major sonata is so called to distinguish it from the hefty 1828 sonata in the same key. It is the shortest among Schubert's complete sonatas. The manuscript, completed in July 1819, was dedicated to 18-year-old Josephine von Koller of Steyr in Upper Austria, whom he considered to be "very pretty" and "a good pianist". The lyrical, buoyant, in spots typically poignant nature of this sonata fits the image of a young Schubert in love, living in a summery Austrian countryside, which he also considered to be "unimaginably lovely".
The A major sonata is straightforward, with a dulcet melodic opening. It was the first of Schubert's piano sonatas where the sonata form as perfected by his idol, Beethoven, does not seem to be wrestled with; rather, it is a "joyous breakthrough", a carefree triumph over strict rules of construction.
The original manuscript to this "little" sonata has been lost.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3490124. The Library of Congress control number is n83175857. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1819 and 1828.
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This entry incorporates text from “Piano Sonata in A major, D 664 (Schubert)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.