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Monday, February 28, 2005

Piano Sonata in F minor, Op. 2, No.1 Menuetto and Trio by Beethoven

After completing another mystery in the life of the library, the Beethoven CD was found after a half an hour of intense searching from four workers. So, I'm definitely going to listen in depth now. The piece has many dynamic structural phenomena. It has no middle ground. It goes from pp to ff with sf in the middle of the p sections. These huge contrasts look like they would be shocking and define phrase changes enthusiastically. There is also a lot of density change as the sections begins with small chords and then moves into unison octaves. At meas. 59 there are huge chords that create intensity to prepare for the conclusion. The menuetto seems to be in simple sectional binary form because although the expository A section returns, it is in the bass clef and seems to vary from the original theme in rhythm. The trio section has an obvious binary rounded form. At the end, the expository section returns in the original key. It is open because the A section doesn't end on an authentic cadence. I really like the timbre changes in the B section between the left and right hands carrying the melody. I'm thrilled that DePauw university staff are so dedicated to meeting our library needs so I was able to listen to this enthralling CD recording of Beethoven.

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