On the Exposition of Beethoven's Sonata in Fm Op. 2 No. 1, I. Allegro, Marco Alejandro Gutierrez

Marco Alejandro Gutierrez

        NOTE: This article though published some time ago, it was written even before then. Some, albeit just a few of my views have since changed. See newer articles for more up to date information. 

        Anton Webern used to refer to Ludwig van Beethoven as the highest point in the development of musical form. In his view, everything related to musical form goes towards or comes from Beethoven.

 
        The Sonata is a tribute to Joseph Haydn. Yet to the displeasure of Haydn it is famously not dedicated “to my teacher, Joseph Haydn''. In a possibly unrelated note, despite this dedication, the presence of the Mannheim Rocket in the initial motif is more reminiscent of Mozart if anything else.

 
        This sonata is built from F minor. The piece begins with the main theme, eight measures long. It is structured in the following way: a two measure motif and its repetition (m.1-4), followed by a fragmentation based on the motivic material of the second measure also repeated (m. 5-6), and ending with liquidation by ½ measures originated also from m.2 and a cadence on dominant followed by a rest with a fermata.

  
        The resulting structure counted in measures would be 2+2+1+1+½+½+Cadence on V. This is a textbook example of one of the three types of main theme, referred to by the Second Vienna School as “Der Satz”. It is important to note that when Beethoven writes a movement in sonata form, this is the preferred type of main theme used.

 

   
        Continuing with the analysis of the initial 8 measures, it can be appreciated that the first measure is “weak” metrically speaking, acting almost as a pick up to the second, which can then be described as “strong”. It is important to note that in fragmentation, it is typically the “strong” measure of a 2 measure motif that is repeated as is the case here. By contrast, harmonically speaking, it is the first measure of the motif and its repetition that is “strong” due to the it containing the event of harmony. Good music is always multi-layered and multidimensional, and a Great Master such as Beethoven is the perfect example of this. Webern also described the relationship of the right hand and left hand in the initial motif as a “rhythmical canon”.

 
        Starting on measure 5, we appreciate the presence of fragmentation, a staple of “Der Satz”. It is evident when we direct our attention to the left hand which borrows from measure 2 its exact rhythmical configuration. Further down in measure 7, it is possible to identify fragmentation by ½ measures by looking also at the left hand and its use of only the first half of the rhythmical configuration of measure 2. Namely, a quarter rest and a quarter note. “Der Staz” is characterized by its forward momentum and its final liquidation of all motivic materials and a cadence. The rest with the fermata at the end is described by Philip Herschkowitz as “going on to infinity”. As a curiosity the initial 2 measures and the last two measures of the main theme both contain 10 notes, rather significant is that Beethoven included the idea of symmetry in this “Der Satz”. Something normally attributed to another of the 3 types of main theme, the “Period”.

 
        Speaking of harmony, the initial motiv of 2 measures is in tonic, followed by its repetition in dominant, the subsequent fragmentation has the same harmonic rhythm but in reduction by allotting only 1 measure per chord. The main theme has the function to take us from I to V. 

        

        A complete harmonic analysis of the exposition can be found at the end of this article. To highlight the importance of the modulation occurring with the secondary theme, I have written all chords in the Main theme's key all the way until the appearance of the Secondary. This is not typical, but it is to stress a point: Not all modulations are equally important. Schoenberg mentioned how the presence of the process of modulation does not denote the formal event of modulation. Treating every non-diatonic chord as a new tonality has been the source of much confusion and has obscured the events of modulation that have to do with form and tonal balance. Herschkowitz' referred to this as the great misunderstanding.

 
        To finish our analysis of the main theme, it is useful to identify and label the motivic composition present. It can be divided into 3 distinct motivic elements: a, b, c. As shown in the next image.

        

        This sonata can be considered the only piece in Beethoven’s work with ideal form, after this piece it is easy to notice Beethoven’s experiments in musical form while maintaining overall balance. Therefore, following the main theme in the home key, we now arrive at the bridge or modulatory section which is twelve measures long (m.9-20). It begins just like our main theme, yet the presence of Eb marks the moment we start to leave the home key. Beethoven chose to use the metrically strong measure to initiate a sequence, changing one chord per measure/repetition of motivic material. In measure 15 the sequence is shifted to a motivic element containing syncopation in one measure followed by a descending scale on the following measure. This two measure motif is repeated thrice exactly with the same chords as well. This marks our “chord of no return” as exposed by Arnold Schoenberg and the end of the modulatory section.

 
        One of the most fascinating questions is “where did the syncope element come from in m. 15?” This can be observed from two previous passages, the first one being the lowest note in m. 11-14. In reality the syncope motif in measure 15 is a reduction of these measures’ bass line. The second can be observed in our initial motif back in the main theme. m. 2-5 contain not always in the bass but always in the left hand the same melodic element observed in m. 11-14. After the modulatory section comes the secondary theme in Ab Major. This theme has the exact same metrical scheme of our main theme in its initial four measures. With a key difference in the rhythm of harmony. Where in the main theme it is two full measures sitting on each chord, in the secondary there is one measure and a half in dominant followed by a half measure in our new tonic. There is also the presence of “organ point” on dominant throughout this initial section of the secondary in the left hand. The secondary theme also acts like a false mirror: where the main theme is ascending, the secondary theme is descending.

 
        There is an important event worth discussing. It breaks what we could expect from a secondary theme built in exactly the same way as the main. In the 5th measure of the secondary theme (m. 25), the theme does not go into fragmentation. This is due to the fact that the measure repeated is not the metrically strong measure as previously in the main, but the weak one. The secondary theme refuses to become “Der Satz”. What follows is part of the secondary theme but it is described by Webern as a “free fantasy”. This term, from my understanding, is a translation from the German term originally proposed by Schoenberg. This section borrows heavily from the material previously presented. As it is explained by Herschkowitz, the free fantasy is “bound hand and foot” to the material that came before it. The eighth note rest followed by three eighth notes is reminiscent of the motivic element “c” from the main theme. The descending scales in the nine measure long cadence find their origin in the same motivic element “c”, and specially so from measure No. 7 on the main theme. Lastly, the syncope element originally observed in the modulatory section, can be observed in the left hand in measures 33-41.

 
        The exposition ends with a seven measure long conclusive theme reinforcing the new key, within which the left hand contains the rhythmic material originally found in the fragmentation of m. 7 and the dotted quarter plus an eighth present in the right hand is a variation of the motivic element “b” from the main theme.

 
        As it was remarked by Vladislav Soyfer, one of my teachers and a student of Herschkowitz: “nobody’s Opus 2 looks like this”. Especially taking into consideration that this opus contains in itself a three sonata super cycle, all connected, each of increasing length and developing form. He likened Beethoven to Athena from Greek mythology, who was born from the crown of Zeus vesting full armor and fully armed.

 
        Herschkowitz described Beethoven as being fully himself from the very beginning in his piano sonatas, whereas in other genres, he came to this same greatness later.

 
        This analysis is based on my studies following the New Vienna School tradition with my teachers, Vladislav Soyfer and Semyon Vekshtein, and on the information obtained from the works of Dimitri Smirnov, Philip Herschkowitz, Anton Webern, and Arnold Schoenberg.

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