Abstract
F. Schubert was the first composer who placed frequent modulations including to distant-keys as his one of the most important expressive techniques. In this respect, he entered a new phase in his creative style, which differs from the inheritance of Viennese Classics in the following features: first, the tendency to give precedence to subdominant-related keys in modulation; second, on the contrary, the tendency to avoid or to delay dominant or dominant-related keys; third, the control of certainty of major-minor tonality through various modulation processes; and forth, the frequent changes from one key to its relative or parallel major or minor and sometimes to the Neapolitan key.
The purposes of this paper are to clarify Schubert's compositional characteristics and techniques focusing mainly on the harmony and modulation, and also to explain the romantic aesthetics of his music.
