EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 12.
Philip Emanuel Bach: Piano Sonata [23] in F-Minor, First Movement.
This Sonata has three movements: 1. Fast (Allegro assai); 2. Slow (Andante cantabile); 3. Slow (Andantino grazioso). The third of these is marked "attacca" to indicate that the usual pause between the movements is to be omitted. In the second and third movements the themes themselves and their treatment reveal the tentative nature of Bach's efforts. Each of these themes is over-embellished; each has something of the vagueness usual in piano music of his time, and yet there is a distinct tendency towards definite, strophic melody such as is common in the sonatas of Haydn and Mozart.
But the first movement of this sonata of Philip Emanuel Bach's is quite remarkable. Its theme is definite, its phraseology clear and concise, and its form well rounded. In fact a comparison of the opening measures with those of the theme from Beethoven's first sonata will reveal a decided similarity. Beethoven's theme is constructed from a figure or phrase, ascending like an arpeggio higher and higher, until a climax is reached, after which the melody dies down to a pause or half cadence on the dominant chord. This is precisely what happens with the theme of Philip Emanuel Bach, although the second half of the theme is more regular than Beethoven's, the complete melody being in what might be called "verse form," each two-measure phrase corresponding to a line of verse.
More important still, however, is the quality of the melody itself. It is distinctly in the style suitable for the piano; there is no evidence of the old song melody, nor of polyphonic phraseology, nor of dance tunes. This is, in short, one of the earliest examples of pure pianoforte music, using the term in a modern sense. Another interesting point in this movement is the presence of two contrasting themes in the Exposition. "The principle of alternately stating two contrasting themes, which found its ultimate expression in the successive presentation of first and second subjects, had been familiar to the musical world as long as minuets and trios, gavottes, musettes, and the like, had been in vogue, but the process by which the two subjects are allowed to be interwoven with each other, or to generate, as it were, new material having its origin in something that has gone before, opened out a world of fresh possibilities to the composers of the later times, and gave them opportunities which had been altogether withheld from Bach and his contemporaries." "Oxford History of Music," Vol. IV, p. 141. The two themes constitute the material out of which the whole movement grows or germinates, so that they somewhat resemble characters in a story, and this analogy is further carried out in the quality of the themes themselves, the first being usually vigorous and to a certain degree non-lyric, while the second is lyric and more sentimental; as if one were masculine and the other feminine.
But in this movement of Philip Emanuel Bach's Sonata the second theme is hardly more than an embryo. It begins at measure 16, and occupies only ten measures, the last five of which are somewhat vague and rhapsodical. Thus its entire effect is somewhat indefinite, and if we compare it with the second theme of any modern sonata we shall realize that it is very imperfectly individualized. The second theme did not become an essential and distinct element of sonata-form until somewhat later; in Philip Emanuel Bach, and even in many movements of Haydn, it remains completely subordinate to its more important companion, the first theme. Following the second theme—at measure 26—a coda ensues. This important factor in musical form has been already referred to in our chapters on "The Rondo" and "The Variation." Its office here is the same as in former examples, namely, to round out this part of the movement properly and to emphasize the close of the first section.
The exposition (A) extends through measure 34 and is concluded with a double-bar. During the period from Philip Emanuel Bach to Mozart this portion of the movement was always repeated in order to make it perfectly familiar to the listener. The development section begins immediately after the double-bar and extends to the point where the first theme returns in its original form; in this movement that point is reached at measure 66. We have already pointed out certain simple methods of generation in music, as in the Bach Gavotte discussed in Chapter IV, but we now have to consider the growth of a long section of a composition from certain germs contained in the original theme. And this brings up an important question: How do musical themes generate? In the Bach Gavotte a brief phrase of one measure duration blossoms out into a passage six measures long. This may be observed by reference to Figure XXXIV, in which (a) represents the original phrase and (b) the expansion of it.
(a.)
![[PNG]](#5102994518728001825_pag118_score1a.png.id-4882644074145696510.wrap-0.html.html){kind=link}
(b.)
![[PNG]](#5102994518728001825_pag118_score1b.png.id-3771933099115281911.wrap-0.html.html){kind=link}
FIGURE XXXIV.
This development, however, is hardly more than an extension of the original phrase. For the purposes of sonata-form something more radical and far reaching, something more like new creation is necessary. Without going into detail[24] we may be content with pointing out the essential principle of this more radical development. Analysis shows that it always depends on the selection of certain salient characteristics of the original themes and representation of them under new guises, or under new conditions.
Just as a novelist develops his characters by letting their fundamental peculiarities manifest themselves in all sorts of ways and among all kinds of circumstances, meanwhile paying but scant attention to their more accidental or superficial traits, so the composer of a sonata seizes upon whatever is individual in his themes—a strong rhythm, a peculiar turn of phrase, a striking bit of harmony—and repeats and insists upon it tirelessly, with whatever variation of minor details his ingenuity may suggest. An examination of this process of generation in the works of Haydn and Mozart will make these important points clear. In Figure XXXV (a), is shown a brief quotation from the beginning of the first movement of Haydn's Symphony in D-major. Although this theme has no pronounced rhythmic figures the four repeated notes in measure 3 are unusual in a simple melody of this type, and Haydn chooses them (with the first two notes in the next measure) as the first subject of his development section.
(a)
![[PNG]](#5102994518728001825_pag120_score1.png.id-1821759098031231570.wrap-0.html.html){kind=link}
(b)
![[PNG]](#5102994518728001825_pag120_score2.png.id-7061783148179400689.wrap-0.html.html){kind=link}
FIGURE XXXV.
At b in the above quotation will be found a short passage from the beginning of the development section of the same movement. This passage illustrates the detachment of a characteristic motive in a melody, and here the use of it in various keys as a means of setting forth, as it were, its latent possibilities. Here a certain element in the theme is freed and takes on an existence of its own, and until the very end of the section we hear it over and over again in different parts of the orchestra.
(a)
![[PNG]](#5102994518728001825_pag121_score1a.png.id-7702522051836932605.wrap-0.html.html){kind=link}
(b)
![[PNG]](#5102994518728001825_pag121_score1b.png.id-3089724709605518617.wrap-0.html.html){kind=link}
(c)
![[PNG]](#5102994518728001825_pag121_score1c.png.id-6246742859382997398.wrap-0.html.html){kind=link}
FIGURE XXXVI.
The methods of germination employed by Haydn in the foregoing illustration were typical of his time. Mozart commonly relies, in his development sections, on the interest provided by presenting some salient motive in a variety of keys and with polyphonic treatment. Examples of this are to be found in Figure XXXVI, containing (a) the original motive from the first movement of his string quartet in C-major, dedicated to Haydn, and (b), (c), short excerpts from the development section of the same movement.
It will be observed that in (b), the viola imitates the first violin while the second violin and 'cello reiterate the four eighth-notes of the original motive, and that, in (c), the 'cello takes the motive, while each of the three upper parts sounds the eighth-notes, staccato; the contrasts of key should also be observed. This is a very concise and logical example of the methods of generation employed by Haydn and Mozart.
The first theme of the movement by Philip Emanuel Bach has two salient qualities: it progresses by leaps upward, and it has a peculiarly noticeable rhythm. These two properties are brought into play almost immediately. After a brief statement of the opening phrase of the theme (36-39) in the relative major key—as if to tell us what is to be the subject of this part of the movement—the composer proceeds to evolve a passage (40-44) with chords (in the right hand) in the rhythm of the theme, and against them (in the left hand) a passage containing the leaps upward. This is further varied by free changes in harmony.
The initial phrase of the first theme and a brief quotation from this passage in the development section are shown in Figure XXXVII.
This development is, however, all too short. After measure 44 the music becomes discursive, showing no longer any definite bearing on the original subject matter.
(a)
![[PNG]](#5102994518728001825_pag123_score1.png.id-5010241205565845787.wrap-0.html.html){kind=link}
![[PNG]](#5102994518728001825_pag123_score2.png.id-5408114134465097905.wrap-0.html.html){kind=link}
(b)
FIGURE XXXVII
This discursiveness is a natural characteristic of the formative period in the evolution of sonata-form, before composers had learned the necessity of a close logical development throughout.
The "restatement after contrast" in sonata-form is commonly known as the "recapitulation." In the early specimens of the form the recapitulation was, except in its harmonies, almost identical with the exposition. Here the first theme is reduced to one half its original length, which is rather an unusual abbreviation. Mr. Hadow, in his "Sonata Form," lays down the following rule for this portion of the movement: "The recapitulation should not contain any noticeably fresh material; it should follow the main thought of the exposition with no important parentheses or divergences, and, when it varies, should do so in a manner which does not obscure the subjects, but only sets them in a new light."
In Figure XXXVIII is shown the foregoing plan in the form of a diagram. This should be compared with the similar diagrams in Chapter IX.
FIGURE XXXVIII.
TABULAR VIEW OF SONATA-FORM, OR FIRST-MOVEMENT FORM.
| A Exposition | B Development | A Recapitulation |
| Introduction (optional) Theme I, usually followed by a short transition, or link Theme II in contrasting key | This section is based on themes already presented in the Exposition | Theme I. Transition (?) Theme II in tonic or home key |
| Coda | Coda | |
| (Duality of harmony) | (Plurality of Harmony) | (Unity of Harmony) |