In this paper, I consider two mutually reinforcing formal phenomena, exemplified in Franz Schubert’s sonata forms. The first is commonly termed developmental “extension” or “episode” (e.g., Dahlhaus 1978, Hyland 2016, and Martinkus 2017) and, for some, has come to define form functional displacement in Schubert’s idiom (e.g., Godin 2014). The second situation comprises development sections that are “un-developmental” in their formal construction. These have not received such extensive analytical attention, yet they are equally important to our understanding of Schubert’s conceptualization of sonata form. In many of his “un-developmental” developments, processes of variation come to the fore as a primary means of organization.
I establish Schubert’s tendency to compose displaced developmental episodes and variational development sections through a brief review of D. 887/i, D. 958/i, and D. 960/i. I then offer an in-depth analysis of the first movement of the A Major Piano Sonata (D. 959/i) as a case study of form-functional displacement in Schubert’s sonata forms. The exposition’s subordinate theme complex exemplifies Classical “core” technique (Caplin, 1998): a model is sequenced in full three times, the fourth repetition leads to fragmentation and a return of material referencing the main theme’s B section. Meanwhile, it is through variation, and the use of un-developmental loosening devices such as expansion, that Schubert loosens the formal texture within the development section. Schubert’s (“un”)idiomatic use of compositional techniques—juxtaposing variation techniques with developmental processes in expositions, developments, and recapitulations—requires a reconfiguring of expectations surrounding the compositional possibilities available within a sonata form.