Tempo problem in Schubert D784, 2nd movement
I am studying Schubert Sonata in a-minor D784. I have a problem with the tempo in the 2nd movement.
In my scores (Wiener Urtext, thus, I suppose this is not a typo) the 2nd movement is written in Alla Breve with tempo marking Andante.
To my feeling the Andante is only possible with respect to the quarter note and not with respect to the half note -- which it should be since the piece is in Alla Breve.
Since Schubert is quite "exact" with his tempo markings (e.g. first movement of the sonata is clearly in 4/4, although one could easily think it should be in 2/2, or Schubert Op. 90, D. 899, Gb major with the double-alla-breve tempo), I am not fully convinced that the Andante feeling is with respect to the quarter note in this movement.
Does anybody have any ideas about this?
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Schubert has a number of other very slow Andantes. The first piano trio has an Andante un poco mosso in 6/8 which is usually played around 44 dotted quarters per minute or slower. The second trio has an Andante con moto in 2/4 which is usually played around 50 quarter notes per minute at the fastest.
Andante as "walking" (which is spurious anyway) refers to a step every half-beat, or a left foot every beat.
I would play D784 at around 56 half notes per minute, thinking of the half note as the pulse. This is faster than usual, but I think Schubert slow movements are generally played too slow. (There is an early music movement influence here; one argument for a faster tempo is that the fortepianos of Schubert's day (even the London action rather than Vienna action ones) articulate faster and sustain notes for less time than a modern piano.)
The consensus among various recorded versions I've just researched is that it's quarter note Andante.
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