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It is instructive to compare the less formal methods of approaching the new key in E. Bach and his contemporary Paradies; with them it was generally by means of a half-close. It must be remembered that E. Bach frequently has a movement quite on Scarlatti lines, i.e. without a definite second subject;[35] also that the second subject in Bach's time was, as a rule, of secondary importance. But, curiously, in the Finale of a sonata written by Leopold Mozart (father of the great genius), after a half cadence on the dominant of the dominant, tempo and measure change (from Presto two-four, to Andante three-four, the latter remaining until the end of the first section), and the same occurs in the recapitulation section; by this means the second theme was made specially prominent. In a sonata of Scarlatti's, in D, commencing
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there is a definite second subject in, by the way, the minor key of the dominant, and it is divided from the first by two bars in common time (a descending scale and a shake on a semibreve). And then again, in No. 12 of the "Libro de XII. Sonatas Modernas para Clavicordio," the second subject is divided from the first by two bars of common time (the piece is in Scarlatti's favourite measure, three-eight), an ascending scale and a shake. There are clear examples of a second subject, besides E. Bach, in Eberlin, Fleischer, J.C. Bach, and J.C.F. Bach. Yet even in Haydn's sonatas one cannot always speak of a second subject. The further history of the development of the contents of the second half of the first section shows, as it were, a struggle between two ideals. One was kinship, i.e. the endeavour to present the secondary matter in strong relationship to the opening one (the opening notes or bars of a real second subject were, indeed, frequently the same, allowance being made, of course, for difference of key); the other was contrast, i.e. the endeavour to obtain variety. Haydn was more affected by the first; Mozart by the second. In Beethoven the two are happily combined. It is important to notice the closing bars of many first sections of the period of which we are speaking. For instance, in E. Bach, the first movement of the sonata in each of the Collections of 1781 and 1783 has a concluding theme (as in the sonata of Scarlatti, and frequently evolved from the opening theme). Though in the complementary key, it cannot count as "the second subject." It appears after the complementary key has been ushered in by one cadence, and after having apparently run its course, it has been wound up by another. Then, again, the portion between the cadences just mentioned is at times filled with a true theme, so that the concluding one, like the cave of Abraham's field of Machpelah, is in reality an appendency. Sometimes there are several: the enlargement of the exposition section by Beethoven, and still more modern composers, so that it contains sometimes three, and even more themes, is practically an exposition section on Scarlatti lines, only on a larger scale: the figure has become a phrase, mere connecting passages have acquired organic meaning. The second section of Scarlatti's movement in binary form contained a few bars of development and modulation. Then a return was made to the opening key of the piece, but never to the opening theme; and in that key a portion more or less great, more or less varied, according to circumstances, was repeated. That return to the opening theme is, as we have already said, the landmark which divides binary from sonata form.
In sonatas of the middle of the eighteenth century the modulation section (in a major key) ended in various ways,—on the dominant chord (of the principal key), on the tonic chord of the relative minor, the under-dominant, or even on the tonic itself of the principal key. Later on, Haydn and Mozart kept, for the most part, to the dominant chord. Beethoven, on account of the distant, and often abrupt, modulations of his middle sections, generally marked the approach to the recapitulation by clear, and often prolonged, dominant harmony; sometimes, however, the return of the principal theme comes as a surprise. The recapitulation always remained more or less faithful to the exposition. It is interesting to note how little the character and contents of the recapitulation section have been affected in modern times by the growth of the development section. In the matter of balance the two sections of movements in binary form are more satisfactory than the two sections (two, so far as outward division is concerned) of modern sonatas. The grain of mustard-seed in the parable grew into a tree, and so, likewise, have the few bars of modulation of early days grown into an important section. However difficult to determine the exact moment at which a movement in sonata-form really ceased to be binary, there seems no doubt that that moment has now passed. We have already noted when the change commenced.