Editor’s Note: The Schubert ‘Arpeggione’ Sonata is the most famous piece in music history which is NEVER played on the essentially extinct instrument for which it was written; the Arpeggione. In less than 200 years the guitar/cello-like instrument has gone from popularity, to the way of the dinosaur. Few people have even seen one (except in a museum or two), and virtually NO ONE has ever heard it. That itself is another question for another time, but what can not be argued is that the music, written by one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Franz Schubert, translates past the vehicle or instrument for which it is written, whether played by cello, viola, clarinet, or in this case, saxophone. Schubert was a wordless poet. I am reminded of our twentieth century version; John Lennon writing ‘Yesterday,’ and knowing every note tells a story even in a string quartet or saxophone version, without the words. In addition to Schubert’s ability to express himself through verse, the ‘Arpeggione’ Sonata is also testament to that, as an extended work describing the passion, joy, depths of despair, beauty and happiness in everyday life; singing all the way. - Kenneth Radnofsky Copyright © 2012 by Kenneth Radnofsky. All Rights Reserved. Used by permission.