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  • Essay / Beethoven's Piano Sonata in C minor: a look at mixed elements

    The third movement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata in C minor, Op. 13 is an excellent example of sonata-rondo form. It conforms to expectations of a hybrid of this type, using elements of the seven-part sonata and rondo (ABACABA) forms. It completes four complete rotations as described in the Hepokoski and Darcy model, including a coda.Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The main thematic refrain, which Hepokoski and Darcy call the Prf, appears a total of four times throughout the play. The thematic structure of the Prf begins with a contrasting period in mm. 1-8. The preceding sentence of this period spans mm. 1-4, ending with a half cadence on the first beat of m. 4. Mm. 5-8 serve as a consequent phrase, which ends with an authentic and perfect cadence in m. 8. The Prf continues in mm. 9-12 with a reformulation of the resulting sentence. The reformulation ends with a perfect authentic cadence elided in m. 12, and continues in a codetta which lasts until m. 17. The first rotation then moves to the first episode, which contains a modulating transition space, a secondary theme, and a closing space, which builds into a transition. The transitional space begins with a tonification of the overall subdominant, F minor in mm. 18-21. These measures feature the chord progression V4/2—i6—V6/5—I in F minor. M. 22 with a V4/2 chord in E flat major. Mm. 22-24 feature a brief dominant locking in E flat major. There is no medial caesura and the secondary theme begins after the dominant lock, on the downbeat of m. 25. There is a brief moment of extinction in mm. 30-34, where the melody abruptly shifts to E flat minor. The melody picks up in E flat major in m. 35, however, and continues with a confident and playful tone, reaching an authentic and perfect cadence in E flat major in m. 43. This cadence serves as an essential exponential closure to the first episode and marks the beginning of the closing space in m. 44. The first closing space begins with a parallel point in mm. 44-51. The previous sentence expands on mm. 44-47, ending with a half cadence in E flat major in m. 47. The resulting sentence extends to mm. 48-51, ending with an authentic and perfect cadence elided on the downbeat of m. 51. The elided cadence begins the clarification of the retransition space in mm. 52. The material in mm. 51-57 is, however, slightly distorting compared to the typical sonata-rondo style. Although there is usually no secondary thematic material after the essential exponential closure, Beethoven brings back the mm material. 37-39 to use in the retransition. The retransition ends in m. 61, with an active dominant in the home key. The second rotation begins with a complete reprocessing of the Prf in mm. 62-78. The development, or second episode, begins in m. 79 with a modulating parallel period. The previous sentence, mm. 79-82, is in the overall submediant key, A flat major, and ends with a half cadence on the third beat of m. 82. The resulting sentence extends over mm. 83-86 and ends with an authentic and perfect cadence in E flat major. Mm. 87-94 have exactly the same thematic structure as mm. 79-86, and constitute a very close restatement of the previous period. Mm. 99-106 use a counterpoint of the third kind, leading to a dominant lock in mm. 107-120. This dominant lock marks the retransition space, and ends with the start of the third rotation of the piece. The third rotation, or recapitulation, begins with another reformulation of the Prf in m. 121. The Prf starts the same way..