beethoven

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  • Created by: hedghoge
  • Created on: 22-11-21 10:50

melody

  • The main themes in the piece are the first and second themes, plus the six note rising idea from the introduction.
  • The first theme  is a rising, scalic theme.
  • The second theme  features a theme which rises then falls, including use of ornaments.
  • There are a number of scalic passages in the piece, including the descending chromatic scale at the end of the introduction. Other melodic ideas include arpeggios and
  • broken chords.
  • Ornaments are an important part of the melody, including acciaccaturas and mordents in theme 2, and trills just before the recapitulation.
  • The development uses ideas from the first theme in lots of different keys. It uses sequences.
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Dynamics

  • This piece has a wide range of dynamics, from very quiet  to very loud 
  • There are crescendos  and decrescendos 
  • The intro uses fp  markings, meaning loud then immediately soft.
  • It also uses sf  markings, meaning a sudden loud accent.
  • Dynamics markings in the piece are used expressively, showing Beethoven anticipating romantic era music
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Harmony

  • The harmony is mainly diatonic, and mainly uses standard chords of the time.
  • There are also some more dissonant, complicated chords.
  • There are some more complicated, chromatic chords used, including a diminished seventh at the start of bar 2. This is the most dissonant chord available to Beethoven at the time.
  • Perfect cadences announce the ends of sections and changes of key.
  • This is called functional harmony. There are big perfect cadences at the
  • end of the piece.
  • There are pedal notes, like the dominant pedal at the end of the
  • development section.
  • There is an interrupted cadence in the introduction at bar 9
  • The harmony uses standard chords of the time 
  • The harmony uses mainly root position and first inversion chords.
  • There are dominant 7th chords at cadences.
  • There are occasional suspensions 
  • There is a circle of fifths progression in bars 
  • Another chromatic chord used is the augmented sixth chord, used in bar 30.
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Tonality

  • The piece is in the key of C minor 
  • The music modulates to different keys in the development section
  • The first subject is in C minor. The second subject starts in the unexpected key of Eb minor, then moves to the expected key of Eb major 
  • In the development the piece modulates to many
  • different keys, including distant, unrelated keys such as E minor 
  • In the recapitulation the first subject is back in C minor.
  • The second subject initially plays in the unexpected key of F minor, then moves to the expected key of C minor
  • F minor is the subdominant of C minor.
  • Perfect cadences confirm changes of key throughout.
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Rhythm tempo and meter

  • The introduction is grave (very slow), and the metre is 4/4
  • The main tempo for the rest of the piece is very fast.
  • The main tempo for the piece is allegro di molto e con brio  and is written in 2/2 
  • There are some very rapid notes 
  • including septuplets and 1/128th notes in bar 10
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Texture

  • The texture is mainly homophonic
  • There is a monophonic section with a long descending scale leading into the recapitulation
  • The right hand plays in octaves half way through the introduction
  • The intro is homophonic with all the notes playing together in chords.
  • This is known as a homophonic chordal texture.
  • There is a two part texture with melody and broken chords in the second  idea of the second subject 
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Instruments

  • This piece is written for the piano.
  • Unlike a harpsichord, the piano can play both loud and soft.
  • Although it is not written in the score, Beethoven
  • would have use the sustain pedal for greater expression.
  • The piano allowed Beethoven to make extensive use
  • of all kinds of dynamic possibilities. This sonata has
  • lots of crescendos, diminuendos and lots of other dynamic markings.
  • This piece was written for the fortepiano, which came before the more modern pianoforte.
  • It had a smaller range and was not capable of as much dynamic contrast as a modern piano.
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Background information

  • This is a piece of music from the classical era.
  • Classical music has clear, catchy melodies and homophonic textures .
  • A piano sonata is a piece for solo piano. It has several movements—we are studying movement 1.
  • Beethoven was a forward thinking composer, and this piece shows signs of the romantic era.
  • This piece was composed between 1796 and 1799.
  • Romantic music is all about expressing emotions. It does this through more dramatic use of dynamics, use of the sustain pedal on the piano, more complex,
  • chromatic harmony, and more complex, altered structures 
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structure

  • The piece is in sonata form
  • Sonata form consists of an introduction then the main sections: exposition, development, and recapitulation.
  • In the exposition two themes are introduced. In the development the themes are altered by changing key lots.
  • The recapitulation is the sameas the exposition, but with the two themes now in the same key.
  • The piece finishes with a coda.
  • The themes in the exposition are linked by transitions (or bridges).
  • Thereis a codetta at the end of the exposition, then the whole exposition is repeated.
  • Beethoven uses some techniques which are unusual for sonata form:
  •  The second theme starts in Eb minor instead of the expected Eb major. It
  • moves to Eb major at bar 89.
  • The development begins with 4 bars from the introduction—this is very
  • unusual! When the development returns to the allegro tempo it is in the unrelated key of E minor.
  •  In the recapitulation the second theme starts in the key of F minor instead of
  • the expected C minor. 
  • it then moves to C minor.
  •  The coda starts with 4 bars of the introduction again.
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