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MUSICAL MEMORY. |
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104. Analysis of the First movement of Beethoven's Sonata, Op. 2, No. 1.—This movement is in regular sonata-form; the key is F minor, and the second subject is in A flat. Our broadest idea of it, therefore, would be thus :— |
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Now let us examine it more closely. The First Subject (8 bars) is, with the exception of one chord, founded entirely upon Tonic and Dominant harmonies. The bass with its stepwise progression from the Tonic to the Dominant should be noticed. The first phrase of the first subject is now introduced in the bass in C minor (b. 9, 10), but the immediate introduction of D fiat (b. 11) induces a modulation to the key of A flat, the dominant chord of which key is shortly reached (b. 16). The emphasizing of the cadence to the chord of E flat by three occurrences of the same progression, further intensified at each repetition (b. 15-20) should be noticed. The Second Subject, in A flat, now appears (b. 21), and is a phrase of two bars, which, like the last one referred to, is heard three times. The third time it is incomplete, and passes at once into a figure of changing-notes which progress upward, while the part for the left hand takes a downward direction. The passage culminates eventually in a descending scale passage with a syncopated bass part (b. 33-36); these four bars are repeated with the bass part an octave lower, the upper part having a different initial note and an altered ending. The form and progression of the cadence-figure (b. 41-3), a phrase of two bars which is also heard three times, is quite simple.
105. The study of the Development is in every way interesting, and considering the early Opus number of the work to which it belongs (Op. 2), it reveals in a remarkable manner the germ of several of Beethoven's most characteristic "methods," which are only shown in their maturity in much later works. We shall therefore discuss it somewhat fully. First, we notice that the two subjects are developed in their regular order; and then, the importance which is given to the Second Subject. Both of these methods of procedure are exceptional with Beethoven. The first special Beethoven device is the new form of the First Subject, which is introduced in phrases of three bars instead of two. Another is the regular order in the progression of the keys. Thus this portion starts with the first subject in A flat major, modulates to B flat minor, introducing the Second Subject in that key (b. 56), and thence on to C minor (b. 63), from whence it returns through B flat minor (b. 70), to A flat (b. 72), and proceeds to the Dominant Chord of F minor (b. 77). In the passage immediately preceding the Dominant Pedal C (b. 81), leading to the Recapitulation, we must draw attention to another favourite device of Beethoven. Often after he has reached his goal, in this case C, the Dominant of F minor, he immediately quits it and returns to it again in a more emphatic and forcible manner. Thus |
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