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cadencing in bar 37. In comparison, the beginning of the Trio con- dently projects the tonic with powerful root-position chords, but in other respects it seems to go over the same ground as the rst section of the Allegretto. Both sections open with non-modulating phrases (bars 1 16 and 37 44); both have central phrases with descending chromatic lines (the treble in bars 17 24, the bass in bars 45 9); and in the last eight bars of the Trio (bars 53 60) the bass virtually quotes bars 32 6 from the earlier section. Thus the Allegretto may be seen to exhibit the same type of improvisatory variation processes that characterise sections of the E fantasy-sonata. This is the only movement in either of the Op. 27 sonatas which is not marked attacca to the next movement. Some pianists, however, plunge straight into the nale, following the spirit of Beethoven s score rather than its letter. The missing attacca is unlikely to have been a mistaken omission: it is not in Beethoven s autograph and, had he intended to include the marking, he would surely have added it at the proof stage of the rst edition. Paul Mies argued that an attacca would have been con- fusing within a da capo movement, and that its absence does not indicate a pause between the second and third movements.18 Whatever the rights 86 The design of the Op. 27 sonatas Example 5.9 Registral connections between the Allegretto and Presto agitato or wrongs of joining the nale to the Allegretto in performance, there are strong registral connections that override the double bar. Example 5.9 shows how a gap in the treble register at bars 34 6 is lled by ascending arpeggios in bars 1 2. So, if the Allegretto emerges in response to the last notes of the Adagio, then the nale appears to take its immediate cue from the gesture which precedes it. Presto agitato All the drama that was suppressed in the rst movement bursts forth with a vengeance in the nale. Indeed the Presto agitato might almost be regarded as a recomposition of the Adagio sostenuto in Beethoven s most dramatic style. Aspects of the rst movement s tonal design leave traces here (see the discussion of the development section, below). And earlier ideas return transformed within this, the most terse and concen- trated sonata-form movement the composer had written up to this time. As several critics have pointed out, the opening section of the Presto dynamically recasts the beginning of the sonata: its arpeggios, lament bass, and emphasis on G . But the other themes also refer back to the previous movements (see Example 5.10). For instance, the second subject inverts the Adagio sostenuto s basic melodic shape (5.10a and b); the theme at bars 43 . alludes to the head-motive of the Allegretto (5.10c and d); the end of the development section recalls the end of the Adagio s central pedal point (5.10e and f ); the coda returns to the rst movement s triplet quavers and slow sonorous bass lines; and in both the rst and last movements Neapolitan chords are prominent. In comparison with the looser motivic connections and mixed character of the E Sonata, the Moonlight has a remarkable motivic cohesion and in its outer move- ments unity of tone. 87 The Moonlight and other Sonatas Example 5.10 Motivic transformations in the Presto agitato Bars Tonality Length Exposition 1 64 c g 64 bars Development 65 101 (C ) f G f V/c 37 bars Recapitulation 102 57 c 56 bars Coda 157 200 c 43 bars Figure 5.14 form of the Presto agitato Figure 5.14 gives an overview of the movement s form. The opening of the exposition is built on two broad descents from C to G 1 in the bass: the rst (bars 1 14) moves by step and ends with a six-bar prolon- gation of G as the dominant of C ; in the second (bars 15 21) the bass arpeggiates through C , A , and F , before resolving onto G as a new tonic in bar 21. The following theme pays lip service to the lyrical arche- 88 The design of the Op. 27 sonatas type for second subjects, but it retains the nervous energy of the opening with its rapid Alberti bass, gruppetto, and sudden dynamic surges. A perfect cadence in G minor might be expected at bar 29, but Beethoven substitutes a third-inversion dominant seventh chord. This substitution initiates a descending sequence (bars 29 32) that transforms elements of the Adagio sostenuto: the melodic shape of the plaintive cry in bars 15 17 and the sweeping harmonic pattern of bars 56 7. It is halted only by a thundrous A major chord in bar 33, the strongest emphasis yet on a Neapolitan chord. An attempt at closure is thwarted by another inter- rupted cadence at bar 37, and the rst strong close in G minor nally arrives at bar 43. In contrast to the second subject, the closing theme is harmonically stable, dissipating earlier dissonant energies with a series of cadential formulae. The exposition s last cadence is coloured by another Neapolitan (A major in bar 55), before the second subject is liq- uidated over a G pedal (bars 57 64). At the close a repeated emphasis on 5 (d 3) recalls both the nale s second subject and the monotone that dominated the Adagio sostenuto. In bars 63 5 chromatic motion in an inner voice (b b c 1) retonicises C minor for the exposition repeat. At the second-time bar the music cadences into C major rather than C minor: a modi cation which leads to F minor at the start of the develop- ment. At thirty-seven bars, the development section (bars 65 101) is unusu- ally short and concentrated. It is governed by two tonal areas: F minor acts as a local tonic until bar 83, at which point the music swings rapidly towards the dominant of C in preparation for the recapitulation. This progression transforms a weak relationship from the rst movement into a dynamic, goal-directed process here. In Part 1 of the Adagio sostenuto the last perfect cadence is in F minor (bar 23), initiating a move to the dominant of C (bars 23 8) and a long pedal point. The Presto s develop- ment section dramatises this progression, but a signi cant new element is incorporated: the G major statement of the second subject (bar 79 onwards) is a Neapolitan interpolation within the ruling F minor, further developing the increasingly important relationships between key areas a semitone apart (for a tonal outline of this section, see Example 5.11). Beethoven tightens the drama of the recapitulation by omitting the modulatory passage from the exposition: the second subject, now in 89 [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |