FREE ESSAY ON MOZART K310 SONATA (2ND MOVEMENT) ANALYZATION

MOZART K310 SONATA (2ND MOVEMENT) ANALYZATION

The 2nd movement of the Mozart k310 Piano Sonata resembles standard sonata form in many
ways. It opens with a first theme in F (same as key signature). The theme is four bars
long; two bars of antecedant, two bars of consequent. Mozart then starts the first theme
again with a 32nd note run pick-up instead of the 16th note arpeggio pick-up in the the
begginning of the piece so we are prepared for variation in the second statement of the
first theme. He then continues the theme with variation until the consequent phrase which
is completely different from the first consequent phrase. This new consequent has not
only faster rythmic movement but also compressed harmonic rythym. This tension prepares
the listener for the textural shift that is about to occur. 
The Bridge begins with 16th note arpeggios in the bass, a contrast to the quarter note
dominated bass of the first theme. Unlike a typical bridge section which modulates far
from the original key, this bridge just moves from I to V7 for several bars before going
to ii. Then, rather than using the ii in a familiar ii-V7-I cadence, the ii is
arpeggiated for an entire bar in the melody. This is further obscured by the chromatics
used in the arpeggio, a half step movement to each chord tone. The next bar returns to I
without a real cadence and then quickly moves to V. We are now at the second them and it
does begin in C (V, the way most second themes begin), but C has not really been
tonicized. C still sounds like V. This is solved by the 'b' natural in the pickups to the
second theme, implying the new key center with a leading tone in place of a true
tonicization from a cadence. 
The second theme, like the first, has an antecedant and consequent phrase. However, they
are each only one bar rather than two as in the first theme. They are then repeated
without variation but in another register with a trill in the treble. There is then a
sonata form rounding off of the second theme for three bars. 
The closing follows the second theme and is quite long in this piece. A short repeated
figure in the first bar and a half is ended by what sounds at first like modulation, but
does not actually continue to another key. It instead rounds off back to C and the first
short repeated figure enters again, this time with ornamentation. This time the figure
ends when it arrives at a ii chord and there is a new texture. A long d minor melodic
scale in the treble ends in the next bar on a I chord and is echoed by a G major scale in
the bass. The I chord confuses the tonal direction becasuse the listener expects the ii
to be followed by V and then I. This is even more confusing because the scale that
accompanies the I chord implies V (the chord the listener wants to hear). The next bar
rounds off this cadential prolongation (ii-V-I) but the exposition does not yet end. The
arrival to I does not occur until beat three of the bar. The first two beats create even
more prolongation as they nearly modulate. And even after this, the exposition is not
done. There is a two bar codetta (a one bar figure played twice, the second time with
variation) before the strong V7-I cadence with a C pedal tone. This is the first very
strong cadence since the start of the closing material. 
Since the cadence at the end of the exposition is to C without any hint of F as a tonic,
the Developement begins in C. In fact, it is clearly in C as its pick-ups are a C
arpeggio and the first bar looks and sounds like I and shows no indication of a 'Bb' or
any other scale alteration. The opening of the developement is also a textural change but
seems to resemble old material in its melody. Both the first theme and the second theme
have similar figures to the new material. 
The developement starts with tonal movement in each of the first two measures, I in the
first measure and ii6 in the second. In the third bar the harmonic rythym increases with
a I64 for the first two beats and a V7 in the third beat. The next bar is a I6 followed
by a bar with a harmonic change each beat: ii6, I64, and V7. Already there is tonal
ambiguity. Twice a ii chord has returned to I intstead of continuing to a V chord or a
substitute. And at the end of the 6th bar of the development a V7 has been set up. 
The V7 does not resolve to I. Instead, it resolves to i, the parallel minor. At this
point (bar 7) there is a dramatic textural change, triplet motion in the bass. Also, the
bass has moved from slow movement in the higher register to rapid movement in the low
register. So now every quality of the piece (tonality, rythym, and register) has been
drastically changed. 
The bass now arpeggiates for while, making chords easily definable by note name, but
their implications become much more difficult to identify. The harmonic motion occurs
each bar. Measure 8 is a clear D major arpeggio. If the piece were looked at purely
linearly, one would be inclined to call this II . But a II contains 'F#' and implies the
presence of a 'C#' leading tone. There is obviously no room for these in a c minor key
center. By looking beyond this bar, we see that everything after this point becomes
related to ii. So the D major chord is really V7/iv/ii. This moves appropriately to iv/ii
in the next bar as a G minor arpeggio. The next bar is an A major arpeggio in the bass
which is V/ii. So the past two bars have set up a iv-V progression which begs to resolve
to i (ii in this case as it is really iv/ii-V/ii-i/ii). It does not resolve to ii. There
is a deceptive cadence to VI (a Bb arpeggio). The Bb is contiued in the next bar but the
'g#' in the melody gives the measure a very different tonality. The 'Bb' and 'g#' are on
either sides of 'A'. This chord is really a german 6th. This a the german VI/ii, which
usually resolves to V/ii and then ii. In this case it does go to V/ii in measure 13.
There is a texture change in measure 13. The rythym that was in the bass is now in the
treble and is not arpeggios but is a single repeated note figure with an octave jump the
second triplet of each beat. The figure in the bass is now eigth note motion with
arpeggio implications at the end of each measure. The figure is an inversion of the idea
in the treble throughout the past six bars. There is another dramatic change as well. The
harmonic rythym has compressed to two harmonic events per measure as opposed to one. This
all contributes to more building of tension. The inverted figure, though, serves to
provide some unity between this section and the last section. The second harmonic event
in measure 13 is a ii chord, as promised by the german 6th (german VI/ii-V/ii-ii). The
next measure is iv/ii a g minor chord, followed by an Edim. The Edim tonicizes the F in
the next measure, and is therefore viio/IV which moves to IV in the next measure. Here
things get more ambiguous. In measure 15, the second harmonic event is unclear. The
triplet figure in the treble uses 'f' and 'a'. The bass moves: 'f', 'a', 'd', and then
'b' natural in the next measure. The first part of the measure is a clear VI (F). The 'f'
and 'a' seem like an extension of this tonality. The 'a' and the 'd' considered together
seem to reinforce the idea of ii (d) being tonicized throughout the earlier section and
suggest that it is still the key center here. The 'b' natural (which is part of the 'f',
'a', 'd' eighth note figure) implies that the previous motion has been a kind of
arpeggiation of V, the dominant of i or I (which have both been absent for a while). This
figure is deliberately obscure and creates more ambiguity to make what comes later more
effective. Measure 16 is clearly V65 for two beats. We now expect a strong resolution
back to I or i. Instead the tonal movement is deceptive as the next chord is a C#dim. It
is not a familiar deceptive cadence but a deceptive move from V to viio/ii, a chord that
implies a cadence to a chord that implies a completely different cadence. The viio/ii
does cadence to ii in the next measure. The second harmonic event of bar 17 is V7/i which
resolves to i in bar 18. This means that the viio/ii did not really tonicize ii but
rather set up the familiar ii-V7-i cadence. The second harmonic event of bar 18 is an
Adim which is viio/VII. This mirrors the viio/ii figure in bar 16. This time, however,
the viio does not resolve as expected. The next measure starts with a D65 chord. This is
the beginning of a progression that sets up IV. The 'D' chord is V65/ii/IV. The ii/IV
comes in the last beat of bar 19 with a g minor chord. This is the first of a ii-V-I set
up (ii/IV-V/IV-I/IV). The downbeat of bar 20 is V65/IV. However, it is too weak an
inversion and occurs too quickly (one beat) to establish 'F' (IV) as a key center. While
the treble flirts with 'F' as a key center with tertiary harmony movement, the bass jumps
to IV/IV with a Bb, delaying our arrival at a true key center. 
Bar 20 does succeed in decreasing the tension of most of the developement. The previous
seven bars have mainted similar motion in the treble, this measure breaks away from that.
There has also been 2-3 suspension between beats one and two of each bar until now. This
added tremendously to the tension earlier and increases the release of the arrival at
measure 20. There is an implied tonicization in the last half of a beat of bar twenty; a
'b' natural in the bass. It functions the same way the 'b' natural in the pickups to the
second theme did. However, with all the tension we've seen, this half a beat is hardly
convincing of a strong tonicization of I. It is a weak tonicization though, and that is
elaborated on in the next two bars. There is a C in the bass mimicking the treble triplet
figure earlier. Measure 21 begins with a I (C) chord. The third beat is a viio which
returns to I in bar 22. The third beat of bar 22 is an Italian 6th which moves back to I
in bar 23 (the resolution in the chord from tritone to 6th is delayed one beat in the
treble with a pedal C in the bass). Tonal analysis is not the only important thing in
these two bars. The figure that moves from 6-5 and 4-3 in the first beat of measure 21 is
repeated with variation in the first beats of 22 and 23. The variations borrow from the
parallel minor scales. This contributes to the ambiguity of C as I. The tonic is still
not clearly established. The fact that the bass moved from V to I from 20 to 21 but that
VI was sustained in the treble implies that IV is not really gone. These things make the
tonality vague, it's the Italian 6th that defines the tonality. An Italian 6th is
supposed to resolve to V and then to I. Since the Italian 6th here resolves to C, then C
must be V, which means what we thought was IV is actually I (F). This is why when the
tritone in beat one of bar 23 resolves to C, we are not completely satisfied. When theme
one returns in F the entire developement has been resolved. 
The first theme reenters in its original key and the piece continues without much
dilineation from the original exposition. The first theme's antecedant and consequent
phrases occur twice, the second time with variation. The bridge, however, is quite
different. The first bar of the bridge has similar rythymic and directional figures as
the the begginning of the bridge in the exposition. The tonality, though, has changed.
Also the ambitus of the treble figures in the two first bars is opposite. 
The bridge continues with a sequence of similar rythymic and directional figures, but the
tonality sounds like modulation. While there is no real modulation to another solid key,
there are secondary dominants. The bridges of the exposition are the same length (six
measures) but the only nearly identical figure is in the last measure of the bridge: the
I-V movement from beat one to beat two, and the implied tonicization of C using a 'b'
natural in the pickups to the second theme. There is a major difference this time,
though. The 'b' natural is quickly negated by a 'Bb' in the continuing pickups. This sets
up the second theme to be in F rather than C. 
So the second theme occurs transposed to F but without much other deviance from the
exposition. The second theme, however, is followed by something very unusual; a five
measure developement and variation of the second theme similar to the three measure
rounding off in the exposition but unique enough that it cannot be called a simple
rounding off. The closing material then enters with little variation other than the
transposition to F. The two scale figures (formerly d melodic minor and G major in the
exposition, g melodic minor and C major here) end on a viio on beat one and are followed
by a weak V65 on beats two and three, which prepare for the final cadence. But since the
dominant chord is weak, the ending is not fully prepared and there is another two measure
codetta to round off to the final cadence: a strong V7-I with a pedal F that moves down
an octave at the resolution of the upper staff.