Preview

The First Movement of Beethoven's Sonata Op.31 No.1 Displays Rhetorical Effects Resulting from the Harmonic and Formal Departure from Sonata Form Convention

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1511 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The First Movement of Beethoven's Sonata Op.31 No.1 Displays Rhetorical Effects Resulting from the Harmonic and Formal Departure from Sonata Form Convention
This sonata was composed around 1802, a point at which Beethoven experienced the crisis of encroaching deafness. From then on, the composer started to introduce innovative and bold ideas within classical framework in his musical composition to expand the expressiveness of his music. His novel approach was evident in his formal and harmonic arrangement in the first movement of Sonata Op.31 No.1. Distinctive harmonic departure from the classical sonata form convention fills the movement with drama. In classical sonata form convention, tonality is to be established in the first theme with no ambiguity so as to make contrast with the second theme, which is normally set in the dominant. In the first movement of Beethoven’s sonata Op.31 No.1, however, such clarity in tonality is to be questioned. As shown in Fig. A, after stated in the tonic –G major, the first theme is repeated in full with tonicisation in F major in the exposition (mm.10-21). The whole step down from G to F suggests a descending direction which would lead towards the “real” home key to the listeners. However, the immediate return of G major demolishes this expectation and confirms G as the home key, posing bold surprise in the very beginning of the music. The listeners are deceived in a sense that their expectation is not fulfilled. The tonicisation also creates tension which needs to be resolved by returning to G major. The tonal ambiguity created by the tonicisation is innovative with respect to classical sonata form convention. Fig. A The second theme in the exposition is supposed to be in dominant in classical sonata style. In this piece, nevertheless, the composer placed the second theme in a more remote key area- the mediant (B-flat major). As shown in Fig. B, the arpeggiando passage in the transition (mm.38-45) seems to establish the dominant- D major, preparing the use of the dominant in the second theme. However, the listeners are once again tricked as the restatement of the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Motives were presented in various keys, registers, and groupings of instruments. In this section the composer also used new themes that were not found in the exposition section. The composer ended this section in the tonic key and moved directly into the recapitulation.…

    • 375 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The orchestral introduction of the song no. 2 mm. 1-18 displays the uncertainty of major-minor mode, in which the music sounds as if in an F# minor key, but the E major chords in mm. 16-18 that proceeds to the A major chord in m. 19 provide a certainty that A major is the actual key of the music (fig. 15), whereas the submediant chord at the beginning of the song obscures the actual key and provides the song a minor flavor.…

    • 630 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Mus 100 Study Guide

    • 1142 Words
    • 5 Pages

    - Recapitulation: 3rd section of the sonata-allegro. Reviews the material of the exposition, presenting it in a new light.…

    • 1142 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The first movement of the composition begins with a solo from only the strings family. A soft, consistent melody is played and the violin dominates the other instruments in this piece. The tone color at the beginning of this piece is relatively light which symbolizes the characteristics of a nuturing mother. As expected from a classical piece, the dynamics of the piece suddenly change, and there is a slight crescendo in the piece during the following measures of the composition. The tempo of the composition grows quicker in pace which portrays another chapter in the story, signalizng another movement of the piece. A violinist them performs a solo that plays alot that is also quick, yet play alot on the concept of pitch. It can be heard that the violin goes from very low ranges to fairly high range in pitch to emphasize the great amount of emotion in the piece.…

    • 560 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Beethoven’s Symphony no. 5 in C minor the first movement is called Allergro con brio and it is in sonata form. This movement is very intense and strong sounding and has a single rhythmic motive that is short-short-short-long. The first theme of this movement is in C minor. Throughout this theme he shifts the motive to different pitches and instruments. The second theme is in E flat major and starts with a varied basic motive of short-short-short-long-long-long. The horns starts a new melody that is calm sounding compared to the opening of this movement. In this movement you can hear horns, some woodwind instruments and some string instruments. This movement has a dramatic climax and the closing section starts in C major and moves into C minor.…

    • 454 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ludvig van Beethoven no doubt is one of the greatest pianist and composers to date. His earlier works are usually compared to Mozart due to the similarity of the structure but one major different was Beethoven’s ability to incorporate his own imagination into each composition. Although most of his work had been recognized by the music industry, it was his first symphony of the starting point in his career. The Symphony number one, opus 21 was written in C major contain four movements, and although its structure contain some similarity to Mozart’s work, it was the one that put Beethoven onto the musical scene in Vienna.…

    • 584 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Beethoven: Sonatas Op. 2, No.2 in A Major; Op. 2, No. 3 in C Major; Op. 10, No. 3 in D major; Op. 31, No. 2 in D minor; Op. 31, No.3 in E♭ Major; Op. 53 in C Major; Op. 57 in F minor; Op. 81a in E♭ Major; Op. 106 in B♭ Major; Op. 109 in E Major; Op. 110 in A♭ Major; Op. 111 in C minor.…

    • 643 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It was composed in the year of 1804, but due to having several other projects he had to postpone his writing. It wasn’t until about 1808 that he premiered the song along with symphony Number Sixth in which he dedicated to Prince Lobkowitz and Count Andreas Rasumovsky. The tempo of this specific song is allegro and involves four movements. The first movement of the song has a dramatic yet potent feeling to it. It made me imagine something terrible was about to happen to someone leaving me in suspense of what was about to come. When Beethoven wrote this song he had strong feeling which defiantly showed in the first movement of this…

    • 483 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Prep for Exams.

    • 541 Words
    • 3 Pages

    (Shoe-horn sonata and related text examples) AIM FOR MOTIFS AND IMAGERY. In the related text and Shoe-Horn Sonata there are links between the two that both relate to distinctively…

    • 541 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The emotional journey of this great masterpiece continues within the second and third movement by bringing the listener back to feelings of calmness and sweet flowing melodic lines. This significant contrast from the first movement creates within an individual a sense of peace and tranquility that allows for the listener the opportunity to further enwrap themselves in the musical emotion of the piece. As the piece continues, this dolce expression crescendos with a melodic playfulness throughout the rest of the second movement and into the third movement taking the listener.…

    • 498 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This movement sounds like he was painting a beautiful picture. It has some kinds of romantic emotion, but Beethoven described it by a sorrowful way. Beethoven composed this movement use lots of sixteenth notes, from one part to others. The theme sixteenth notes were formed by A.F.E.D. This movement was totally different with the second movement, and makes a confrontation with the first movement. This also can give expression to Beethoven have a firm belief in the struggle for victory. However, this movement comes to an abrupt end. This makes people to reverie. There are still having hardships in the endeavor. Like the end of the Shakespeare’s Tempest, the protagonist subdued his foes. However, he let the past be forgotten, and forgave all of his foes. This also gave expression to the helpless of can’t triumph over the societal forces and limitations. This explained the ending of Beethoven’s tempest sonata and Shakespeare’s Tempest has some relevance.…

    • 287 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The first theme, which consists of smaller motives within itself, begins in m. 2and ends in m. 9. This theme (theme I) begins on F5 and also ends on F5. It outlines the tonic triad with likewise tonic support in the bass voice. Theme I is reiterated on multiple occasions throughout the piece and when it first appears, it is a single melodic line with only the bass voice underneath, but as the piece develops, so does the theme. Theme…

    • 1470 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The dramatic tone in this piece can be explained by the composer’s personal struggles as he attempts to come to terms with his hearing loss. The famous tune that begins the exposition is in a minor key which gives me a feeling of dread. As those four beats are repeated and a harmony is added the music accelerates and crescendos to a fortissimo that adds a sense of frenzy to the music. Just then, trumpets herald in the second theme which slows down to an adagio tempo with a quieter mezzo piano dynamic, the major key here provides a lighter feeling of peace and calm briefly before building excitement is created through another crescendo and tempo acceleration.…

    • 444 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    An application of Analysis of Beethoven’s ‘Pathetique’ piano sonata No. 8 inC minor, Op.13 with particular focus on musical features such as melody, thematic content, rhythm, form and structure, and harmony.…

    • 4391 Words
    • 18 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    While this form has a formula or approach to it. It is rather rigid and leaves itself to be very open. It uses a 3 part binary form that has an Exposition, Development and Recapitulation. Many composers have developed and expanded this style of music composition. Mozart being the subject of this paper is also one of the composer known for his strong and clear understanding of Sonata form in his music. This paper will examine one of his piano sonatas entitled, Piano Sonata K. 281 in Bb Major.…

    • 1523 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics