4 Impromptus

The first two pieces of the set D. 899 (the number given them by Otto Erich Deutsch in his authoritative catalogue) were published by Tobias Haslinger in 1827, and it was he who originally came up with the title Impromptu. This was a smart commercial move, as at the time Bohemian composer Jan Václav Vořišek’s solo piano impromptus were all the rage. The third and fourth impromptus had to wait another 30 years before appearing in print, and even then No. 3 had been transposed from G flat into G major. D. 899 opens dramatically with a funeral march, its ominous tread tinged with a sense of hopelessness and resignation. There follows a gently rippling miniature, whose occasional passing excursions toward the dark side rise to the surface in the thrusting middle section. The third piece, a song without words that appears to smile through a veil of tears, is offset by a final impromptu that passes from darkness into daylight as the opening cascades of semiquavers are subtly transformed from the minor into the major mode.