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Wednesday, May 11, 2005

P.D.Q. Bach Prussian Sonata No. 1

This piece appears to be in some sort of Sonata-Allegro-ish form. LAST BLOG!
Bach opens the piece in F major, ending group 1 at the beginning of bar 6 on a PAC. We immediately find ourselves in a transitional section, where Bach flirts briefly with d minor, but moves to the dominant key of c major. There is something of an authentic cadence in the 9th measure, but it quickly moves on to transitional phrase ending on a IAC in c minor. A little more transition and we find ourselves after a half cadence in c major to group 2 in bar 24, lasting 8 measures till 31. Nothing too weird yet.
The developmental section is very...developmental??? It begins with developing group 1, which lasts from measures 32-42ish. This section is very tonally ambiguous. It's hard to pin down a key, there are b naturals, b flats, e flats and naturals, f sharps, g sharps. It's a little crazy. Around measure 6, we see material from the group 2. In measure 55, there is a large half cadence. This would be as expected...however it's a half cadence in the dominant key. There is no re-transition period. WEIRD. Actually, it's not that weird, it just makes the piece sound very abrupt in change, almost like a sonata-rondo. Instead of staying in the tonic key of F major throught the transition to from group 1 to group 2, Bach insists in flirting with C major and minor. Never fear, in measure 75, we hear our group 2 in the right key of F major, ending the piece on a nice PAC. Whew. PS No coda.

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