Pathétique, Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor (Ludwig Van Beethoven) Flashcards
Era
Classical-Romantic
Showed adventurous harmony and extended structures
Romantic era features
Powerful emotions - Pathétique is suffering
Minor keys, dramatic chords, accented notes, strong melodies, romantic harmony, diminished sevenths
Piano
Was undergoing development - larger range
Fundamental ideas
Repetition ( repeats intro) and contrast (subjects in devlopment)
Structure
Developed sonata form - intro (unusually slow) - exposition - intro - development - recapitulation - intro - coda
Key
C minor
Time signature
4/4 - 2/2 - 4/4
Intro
Homophonic, right hand (florid melody), left hand (chord accompaniment), heavy, dramatic chords (diminished 7th - chromatic + unstable - romantic)
Grave - unusually slow
Extreme dynamic contrast - romantic
Diatonic - functional harmony
Exposition - first subject
Fast tempo, 2/2
(C minor)
scalic, ascending,
murky bass, diatonic (PC),
chromatic bassline (classical to romantic),
Bflat pedal (dominant of Eflat minor - preparation)
Exposition - second subject
Eflat minor - weird since normally relative major
hand crossing, acciacatura, mordent
New theme 1 - Eflat major, contrary motion (right goes up/left goes down), continuous quavers, Alberti bass
New theme 2 - scalic descending melody, stepwise, high tessitura
Repeat - classical - 2nd dominant to dominant will then go to tonic (Cminor)
2nd intro
Same as 1st
Unrelated G minor
Eflat written as Dsharp - enharmonic equivalent
Development
Unrelated E minor
develops 1st + 2nd subject (distant keys)
Rhythmically augmented version of intro
Modulates to G minor - dominant pedal in C minor - dominant preparation to C minor
Recapitulation
1st subject (C minor) - tonic pedal, perfect cadence, functional
2nd subject (F minor - subdominant) - hand crossing, high tessitura, scalic + descending, four bars from intro - same
Coda - based on 1st subject
