Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor

Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 2, No. 1, was written in 1795 and dedicated to Joseph Haydn.

A typical performance lasts about 19 minutes.

Structural Analysis

The sonata is in four movements:

1. Allegro in F minor
2. Adagio in F major
3. Menuetto - Allegretto in F minor
4. Prestissimo in F minor

Allegro: First movement.

The first movement, in 2/2 time, is in Sonata form. The first theme is driven by a Mannheim Rocket, very similar to the opening of the fourth movement of Mozart's Symphony No. 40. The second theme, in A-flat major, is accompanied by eighth-note octaves in the bass (usually with dominant harmony). There are two codettas; the first consists of a series of energetic descending scales in A-flat major, and the second is a lyrical passage marked con espressione. In this second codetta and in the second theme Beethoven makes interesting use of mode mixture as the right hand parts borrows from the parallel minor. The development opens with the initial theme, but is mostly dedicated to the second theme and its eighth-note accompaniment. The retransition to the main theme uses its sixteenth-note triplet. The recapitulation repeats the material from the exposition without much change, except that it stays in F minor throughout. There is a short coda. A tense, agitated feel is ubiquitous throughout the movement. Within the entire movement there seems to be two primary themes, with the remaining melodies simply making up the rest of score. The first theme consists of bars 6 to 16 which then repeats themselves, with very slight variations, in bars 37 to 47. The second theme lasts from 26 to 30, and like the first theme is then restated in slight variations, in 51 to 55.

Adagio: Second movement.

The second movement opens with a highly-ornamented lyrical theme in 3/4 time in F major. This is followed by an more agitated transitional passage in D minor accompanied by quiet parallel thirds, followed by a passage full of thirty-second notes in C major. This leads back to a more embellished form of the F major theme, which is followed by an F major variation of the C major section. This Adagio is the earliest composition by Beethoven now in general circulation; it was adapted from the slow movement of a piano quartet from 1785.^[1]

Allegretto: Third movement.

The third movement, a minuet in F minor, is conventional in form. It contains two repeated sections, followed by a trio in F major in two repeated sections, after which the first minuet returns. The minuet is characterized by syncopations, dramatic pauses and sharp dynamic contrast. The trio is built around longer, more lyric phrases that pass between the right and left hands in imitative polyphony.

The fourth movement, like the first and third, is in F minor, and is built using a modified sonata form (the development is replaced by new thematic material), but the music was marked as common, not cut, time. The exposition is accompanied by ceaseless eighth-note triplets. The first theme is based on three staccato quarter note chords. A transitional passage leads to a more lyrical but still agitated theme in C minor. The chords of the first theme return to close the exposition. Where the development would be expected to start, there is a completely new theme in A flat, with the first respite from the eighth-note triplets. This is followed by an extended retransition based on alternating motives from the first theme and the "development" theme. The recapitulation presents the first and second themes in F minor. There is no coda, only a fortissimo descending arpeggio—in eighth-note triplets -- to conclude the piece.

References

External links

• A lecture by András Schiff on Beethoven's piano sonata op. 2 no. 1
• Recording by Paavali Jumppanen, piano from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
• For a public domain recording of this sonata visit Musopen  
• Piano Sonata No. 1: Free scores at the International Music Score Library Project.