ABSTRACT
Schubert composed seven string-piano duos, six for violin and one for the arpeggione. This chapter begins with a survey of the musical scene, and how Schubert and some of his music fitted into it. Although Schubert described each of his first four duos for 'pianoforte and violin', in that order, as a 'sonata', this was not the title they were given by the first publishers. Many professional musicians with ambition supplemented their regular earnings by promoting their own benefit concerts. When Schubert in March and April 1816 composed the three short sonatas, this was probably his first attempt at writing duo sonatas, or the first to survive. Schubert's debt to Mozart and Beethoven is nowhere near as obvious as it had been in the early months of 1816. In the autumn of 1824 Schubert was commissioned to compose a piece for piano and arpeggione.
