Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Bach (Baroque)
Beethoven (Classical)
Tchaikovsky
(Romantic)
Shostakovich
(Contemporary)
In particular, Baroque music is known for its use of the counterpoint. The
counterpoint is a pretty complex musical idea, but in simpler terms,
counterpoint uses different, independent musical lines that sound harmonious
when played together.
Unity of mood: each piece features a single emotion (i.e. a piece that begins
happy will remain happy)
Ornamentation (music flourishes, often fast notes, to decorate the main note)
Single melody with accompaniment: one voice carries the primary melody
while another voice plays a simpler line that supports the melody
More modulation (change in key) to unexpected keys: the overall effect of this
is that it is harder for the listener to predict what will happen next in the piece
The first movement of Beethoven's piano sonata in c-minor, opus 10 no. 1, is an example of tight
construction, similar to opus 2 No. 1, with the initial structural tonic prolonged into the latter part of
the development section.
This movement opens with a far more elaborate statement than the opening of op. 2 no. 1. (Examples
again are from Ludwig van Beethoven Complete Piano Sonatas, v. 1, Heinrich Schenker, ed., Dover
Publications, Inc., New York, 1975; and again, measure numbers appear at the end of every fifth
measure - i.e., measure 5 has a large "5" in a circle over the bar line at the end of the fifth measure.)
The first eight measures (example 241b.1) bear a superficial resemblance to an eight-bar period.
Rhythmically, melodically and harmonically they are incomplete, however, and are the beginning of a
22-measure sentence (mm. 1-22).
Example 241b.1
Rhythmically, these opening eight measures appear to consist of two parallel four-measure
statements. Each four-measure statement consists of two ideas - an explosive idea that rockets
upward in a sharp dotted rhythm, and a sedate idea whose melody settles slightly downward in a much
more relaxed rhythm.
These eight measures are not only incomplete, but intensely unbalanced. A balanced statement would
consist of four two-measure units. These eight measures consist of a three-measure phrase and a twomeasure phrase answered by another three-measure phrase and another two-measure phrase. This
would be ten measures, except for the overlap in measure five. (Harmonically and melodically, it's an
overlap, but dynamically, it's an interruption. See measures 113-114 for a complete statement of this
two-measure motivic idea.) That makes it nine measures, and, in actual fact, this opening idea is both
completed and continued in the rising triad at the beginning of measure nine (example 241b.2).
Example 241b.2
Melodically, this rising triad completes the motion from the opening c-natural to the high e-flat,
continuing to the high f-natural, and concluding on the g-natural in measure nine. The rising triad
recapitulates the "rocket" idea in miniature form. The c-natural in measure nine completes the second
statement of the secondary motivic idea: c-c-b-b in measures 3-5 and d-d-c-c in measures 7-9.
Harmonically, the rising triad completes the statement of an idea punctuated by the full forte chords in
measures one and five and the repeated high notes in measures 2-3 and 6-7: c-natural and e-flat (tonic
harmony, measures 1-3), moving to b-natural and f-natural (dominant harmony, measures 5-7),
resolving to c-natural and e-flat (or c-natural and g-natural, tonic harmony, measure nine).
There is too much to talk about in the simple descending melodic line in measures 9 and 10.
Example 241b.3
Beethoven is being coy (example 241b.3). Having reached the high point g-natural, we descend
immediately to what seems to be the starting point c-natural, but it doesn't satisfy. For one thing, it's
too soon. And the rhythm is tentative, indecisive. Less obvious, but crucial, the c-natural is an octave
too high. In the continuation, we have (1) the bass shifting octaves (it was down, then it's up, then
down again); and (2) the melody (doubled in octaves) glides down to the g-natural an octave lower.
At the time that Beethoven composed this movement, his piano lacked the g-natural above the fnatural in measure 7. Beethoven has turned this lack into a brilliant development. The initial rise
from c-natural toward the g-natural an octave and a fifth above (but not reaching it) has turned around
into a descent from the g-natural an octave lower than the original goal down to the c-natural an
octave and a fifth lower (i.e., middle-c).
Measures 9 through 16 resemble an eight-bar sentence, but the pause at measure 16 leaves us in
limbo. Continuing, the fleeting phrases in measures 17 through 20 "tip-toe" us to the hoped-for cnatural, but completion is not achieved without the leading tone which appears in the grimly
victorious phrase in measures 21 and 22. The entire melodic process of descending from the g-natural
in measure 9 to the c-natural in measure 22 is a seductive expansion of a dual line (mostly parallel
thirds) which is stated with striking simplicity in the left hand part of measures 13 through 18. See
example 241b.4. All of this is an elaboration of the descending melodic line in measures 9 and 10.
This idea has a wonderful delayed consequence half-way through the movement. (In addition, there
are the minor sixths, marked in 241b.4(b), whose thematic significance is discussed later.)
There is too much to talk about in the simple descending melodic line in measures 9 and 10.
Example 241b.3
Beethoven is being coy (example 241b.3). Having reached the high point g-natural, we descend
immediately to what seems to be the starting point c-natural, but it doesn't satisfy. For one thing, it's
too soon. And the rhythm is tentative, indecisive. Less obvious, but crucial, the c-natural is an octave
too high. In the continuation, we have (1) the bass shifting octaves (it was down, then it's up, then
down again); and (2) the melody (doubled in octaves) glides down to the g-natural an octave lower.
At the time that Beethoven composed this movement, his piano lacked the g-natural above the fnatural in measure 7. Beethoven has turned this lack into a brilliant development. The initial rise
from c-natural toward the g-natural an octave and a fifth above (but not reaching it) has turned around
into a descent from the g-natural an octave lower than the original goal down to the c-natural an
octave and a fifth lower (i.e., middle-c).
The immediate consequence of the measure 9-10 idea is the explosive rise from middle-c to
the g-natural an octave and a fifth above in measures 22 through 24. (See example
241b.5) What follows is an explosive rise from the leading tone below middle-c to the same
high g-natural. (Compare this to the first "rocket", from g-natural to the high e-flat, in
measures one to three.) We are hammering at this g-natural, and in octaves. Something to
remember, you think? Following this, we have a striking conclusion in which the familiar
high f-natural (from measure 6-7) is emphasized, and the high d-natural. (Something else
to remember.) This passage explodes in our face with the precision and symmetry of an
eight-bar sentence, but it has ten measures. The logical consequence of an opening eightbar phrase, which (as we saw) actually consists of two five measure statements (scrunched
into nine measures, instead of ten). Dynamic assymmetrical symmetries. In motion.