Poetic Transitions

The poetic resonances of these transitional moments extend far beyond their immediate impact. A preliminary definition of poetic' processes is found in Wollenberg, Schubert's Poetic Transitions. The poetic qualities of Schubert's transitions are not confined to the late works, however. In fact the harmonic and chromatic treatment of the scale and the octave displacement it features, exactly foreshadow the approach to the relative major when the transition is finally achieved. The Quartettsatz showed Schubert exploiting the intricate connection of transition to second theme which was to characterize many later nineteenth- century sonata forms. The Quintet first movement's second theme, like that of the G major Quartet, is then repeatedly drawn back to the agent of transition that first prompted its appearance. An area of his sonata forms where Schubert habitually exercised a wider choice than recognized by any conventional theory of the form, is that of the recapitulation.