Haydn Piano Sonata Xvi:12

Composition and Harmonic Analysis

Date : 18/06/2016

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Uploaded by : Juan
Uploaded on : 18/06/2016
Subject : Piano

Haydn XVI:12

First Movement –& AndanteEXPOSITIONThis early sonata slowly starts departing from the 'partita' structure and establishes its first movement in a clear classical sonata form. The first indicator: its slightly larger proportions -compared to its even earlier counterparts-.

'A' starts in a clear homophonic texture with its main motive exposed in the treble. The motive features long trilled upper notes followed by scales that ornaments their resolutions a lower fifth below the long treble notes -focal points-. Harmonic-wise, the piece is very stable around the tonic, tending to stay close to the tonal centre through its episodes and thematic variations.

'A' is followed by a modulatory episode to E -dominant-. This arpeggiated episode firstly revolves around the I and the V degrees before deviating the attention into the secondary dominant in order to resolve through a cadence to the dominant key. Compositionally speaking it blends subtly the texture of 'B' -interaction between bar 4 and 5-, a plainly accompanied arpeggiated passage -bars 5 and 6- and the homophonic texture of 'A'. This mix aids a smooth transition between themes.

'B' is therefore exposed in the dominant key. Its texture is conversational -trocado-, with a scalistic and arpeggiated gesture repeatedly alternated, every two beats, between the bass and treble. It is very smooth the way in which Haydn then incorporates a double arpeggiated and scalistic passage -3^rd beat bar 13- that continues to build up in intensity, climaxing at bar 16 -the increase in tension is helped by the use of octaves in the bass and two insistent trills in the treble-& all these just before the Exposition's codetta.

The codetta features a dominant pedal note on top of which the arpeggiated design is stated clearly in the treble through the use of repeated notes. The harmonic direction heads towards establishing the dominant& attitude which contributes to establish the typical sonata harmonic plan.

DEVELOPMENTOne of this sonata's main features is the fact that it hardly departs from the tonal centre. There are certain modulatory passages that we can easily spot, but the new keys are just touched once and left behind quickly to re-establish the tonic.

The progression at the beginning of bar 21 brings the tonal centre quickly back to A major. After that Haydn invests 2 bars alternating between tonic and dominant before heading into the subdominant on bar 26. Thematically-wise, the focus is placed on developing the chords through arpeggiated gestures. This strategy both explores the use and condensation of this feature, which in itself is strongly linked with all modulatory processes in this piece -e.g.: first modulatory episode starting on bar 4-.

Bar 25 is the beginning of a conversational passage that alternates bass and treble arpeggiated gestures once again, this time following a cadencial type sequence which brings the music back to the tonic on bar 29. At this point we arrive at what we can confidently categorize as the most expressive passage of this movement organized around a tone progression leading to the V7 at bar 33. The rhythmic material on the bass -dotted crotchet followed by quaver- is original of this section -some similarities can be drawn with bars 5, 6 and 41-43, much dryer and both modulatory processes- and maybe the most distinctive feature of the entire development section, along with the harmonic tone sequence itself.

At bar 24 we find the re-capping codetta that involves another original element: a periodic arpeggiated accompaniment. This feature collaborates with the introduction of the Perfect Authentic Cadence at bars 36 and 37 leading to the re-exposition.

RE-EXPOSITION'A' is iterated in the exact same manner as it was on the exposition. 'A' is followed by a progression that re-instates A major as the tonic in order to present 'B' back on it. The rhythmic elements of this modulatory passage are, in the first two bars, the same as those of its analogous exposition's counterpart. Bars 44 and 45 exhibit a much quicker harmonic speed, the fastest within the piece. This acceleration increases the tension and brings the music back to A major.

'B' is then re-exposed in the tonic without suffering any major changes. The movement finishes using a tonal pedal, which as well goes in line with the transposition process.

Second Movement –& Minuet and trioThis Menuet is written following an A-B-A' structure. 'A' is substantially varied at the end of the piece.

A's antecedent features:

In the treble:·& Rhythmically: the combination of triplets and crotchets

·& Melodically: A line that always portrays the chord through an arpeggiated melodic contour.

In the bassA simple arpeggiated melodic line

In the combined textureA contrapuntal interaction that features double notes on each beat. The treble is always ornamented while the bass plainly exposes the naked arpeggio.

B's antecedent

The contrapuntal texture remains the same as in the antecedent. The main variation is experienced by the treble, where the 'leapy' melodic contour is replaced by a smooth scalistic one. The bass also modifies its behaviour and showcases scales in augmentation if compared to the treble ones.

In terms of the phrasing, we are facing what would be considered a sentence according to William Caplin's classification. The structure of this particular sentence is quite rich. We encounter a 4 bar long antecedent which is then followed by a 6 bar consequent, ending in a codetta -bars 9 and 10-. 'A' therefore modulates to the dominant as expected.

'B' constitutes a very shy variation of 'A''s antecedent, ending in a codetta similar to what happens at 'A''s consequent.

'A'' "s antecedent is the same as 'A', while its compressed consequent is worked out as a stretched Perfect Authentic Cadence, ending in codetta. This cadencial approach to the harmonic progression allows the easy compression of the consequent while it increases the intensity toward the ending of the movement in the tonic.

TrioThis trio follows an A-B-A' structure with deeply varied 'A''.

Extremely lyrical in character, it main features the off-beat in the treble. The melodic contour in the treble is built up around a succession of step-wise movements ornamented through repetitions and escapatorias -e.g. second crotchet bar 2-. The bass follows a strict descending scale in the antecedent and an ascending one in the consequent. The codetta continues with the same behaviour but in diminution& the latter producing an acceleration of the harmonic rhythmic, highly desirable when approaching the cadence section.

Antecedent and consequent are balanced through this ascending and descending attitudes in the bass and treble. In both cases -antecedent and consequent- the focal points move in parallel through both the bass and treble. The passage is balanced direction-wise between antecedent and consequent.

'B' gains in expression by eliminating the rests in its antecedent and featuring an almost completely parallel continuous and dual descending scale from bars 38 -43. In spite of 'B' being closely related to 'A''s antecedent from the beginning, this relation becomes even more evident in its consequent. It continues featuring a descending scale through its focal points, but this time the design is almost the same we find in 'A''s antecedent. We can highlight the use of a pedal note on G# in the bass' middle voice, which pulls quite efficiently towards the dominant at bar 46.

Harmonically speaking, it is quite interesting to see how the full movement is written in Am with a strong tendency towards C. These keys are fairly distant from A, particularly C& which is only related to A by being the relative major of A's modal counterpart. This relation gives a very refreshing harmonic glow to this movement.

In opposition to 'A', 'A'' is very regular. With equally sized antecedent and consequent, it manages to powerfully re-establish the tonic through the use of a 'summarizing' diminished seventh chord at bar 49. This strategy helped Haydn to reach the V in time -by the beginning of 'A'''s consequent- and incorporate a perfect authentic cadence bar 53.

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Haydn Piano Sonata Xvi:12

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