Deniz KIRAN

409151007
Deniz KIRAN
409151007
 Deniz KIRAN
409151007

SCHENKERIAN ANALYSIS OF WALDSTEIN SONATA AND COMMENTARY

Tonal plan of Beethoven’s Waldstein Sonata does not obey the traditional sonata form tonal plans as
it goes from C major in the main theme to III (major mediant) in the subordinate theme.
Nevertheless we encounter the same practice in a few Beethoven piece, therefore Beethoven
establishes chromatic mediant relationship as one of his normal tonal vocabulary uses if not regular.
We, here, encounter chromaticism in the subordinate theme due to the reasons mentioned above. In
the immediate beginning we see that first secondary dominant area (V/V) is explored for melodic
reasons, there are octave leaps in G and this also elaborates both the tonic triad and tonicized G
itself. After the main theme we hear the subordinate theme in E major, which has a quasi-choral
texture with homorhythmic notes and chordal course. We hear the repetition of the subordinate
theme in measure 29 with slight modifications but obviously we do not see these details in the
graphs as the underlying harmonic and melodic structure is the same as the former one. The
descending texture is not peculiar to the subordinate theme, actually there are descending lines in
the main theme and we see a rather dramatic chromatic descend from C to G in the bass line of the
main theme. Still the general characteristic of the main theme is a climbing one. Its climbing
culminates in the local climax of the main theme and then the descending process begins in the
subordinate theme in E major. Quick successions of notes in the transition do not find themselves a
place in the graphs as they are only embellished dominant of the E. There is another important
motivic feature in the exposition, which is a minor second descend which is followed by the
contrary motion, a minor second ascend. In the exposition, a lot of time we encounter that ♭VII
degree is used. This might be an assimilated dominant chord as the motion creating this chord is B
natural to B flat then a return to B natural.This motivic material comes a lot of times in the piece.
Chromatic adjustments direct the course of tonality in the piece as we can see in the recapitulation
where E major becomes E minor just to give way to the continuation of C major tonality after the
development section in F major. Development section does not give us a lot of material to reflect in
the graphics but the main spirit of the development is found in measures 136 to 156 where the
recapitulation begins. There is a long standing on the dominant section between these measures and
it prepares us to the climax in measure 156. The majority of the beginning of the recapitulation
corresponds to the exposition but the subordinate theme is in A major now. We can conclude that
Beethoven uses C as the origin and A as the mirroring of E. There is an obvious symmetry in the
use of second key areas. A major becomes A minor and after a short phrase in A minor the tonality
is again C major in measure 203. What we see after recapitulation is a chromatic descend in the
melody from G to C, in its complete form but this chromatic line is not always complete as we can
see in the first time we hear it it lack scale degree 4, and it completes itself in the second time, we
hear a clear descend from G to F and then to C in the coda. What we can say about the coda is that
it completes the lacking point of the closing making us hear the descending line from G to C again
and completing it with the scale degree 4.