From Baroquish to Beethovenish

The development has grown beyond bar 78, careening from an early seventeenth-century sound to a very early eighteenth century sound, which may be somewhat jarring in the 80s. I don’t know whether any of the new stuff will stick yet, but it sure is fun writing, especially after a day spent wrestling with computer-related issues at work.

More Development Work

I’ve been exploring various options for the development, and so far like this the best; it has a certain amount of energy and forward motion as well as some decent sounds. It takes the first subject through e minor, C major, g minor, F major, B flat major, through E flat and on to G (major or minor, not sure yet). The dotted quarter – eighth over Alberti bass has been salvaged from a previous Development attempt, though I don’t now yet how it fits in or whether it gets transposed. The last bar (#92) would come right before the recap.

Now that I’ve gotten this far in this sonata, I think I can articulate a bit what it is trying to be overall. The simple, carefree first subject is youthful, perhaps child-like. It is followed by a syncopated bridge that could be heard as a teenage dance and the hymn-like second subject could be middle age: meditative and contemplative. Then comes the dance of old age? So much for analogies. The opening of the development puts a serious tone to the first subject. The middle bit is somewhat comic. How it gets knit together I’ll figure out later.

Between 39 and 41

And here is what was done between measures 39 and 41; the second theme leaps lightly up a pair of octaves to repeat the phrase with a small variation at the end. Then it’s on to the coda, where I inserted an extension at mezzo piano. The first try had this insertion touch G minor, but that sounded out of place. There is still something no quite right with the coda, but I’ll figure it out later. On to more development work.

Contrast

The second subject isn’t much of a contrast to the first subject. They are both happy and frivolous, the only difference being a bit more lyricism in the second. So I revised the second theme to be quieter and hymn-like, and also slowed the pace. There is more to be done between measures 39 and 41; the coda will remain syncopated.

The (Re) Development

I kept the bit about alternating the first theme motive between right and left hands, but slowed down the change of keys. It starts in G, touches C in measure 42 briefly, then rises into B flat. The overall pace is quick, without any cadential pauses, which is good for a development section I think. It also has, to my ears, a hint of Baroque, though it is nowhere near contrapuntal or fugal or anything like that. The harmonic progression in the first five bars from G major to E minor to C major turned out well.

The Development

The first twelve bars of this version of the development goes through a whole slew of keys, about one per bar, with the first subject motive alternating between right and left hands. The progression doesn’t seem too bad to my ears, but it is awfully fast.

The next four bars turned out rather well, I think. It needs a longer lead before it, though.

The last five bars are hack work to get back to C major. Much work remains to be done.

Bridge Repair

The first bridge was too jarring going up, so I sent it down instead. It slides into G better that way. The syncopation in the coda was rather appealing, so I brought it forward to lengthen the bridge. It’s a bit of a contrast from the late 18th century style, but I like it. Notice that measures 15 – 17 slip back towards C.
Now comes the hard part, where I’ve stumbled every other time in the past; writing the development section. I got me a copy of Charles Rosen’s "Sonata Forms", hoping it will give some insight and maybe point me in useful directions. I’ve also been reading through some Mozart piano sonatas. So far, I’ve learned that I tend to abandon structure in the development, while Mozart appears to use short phrases. I’ll give that a try. Figuring out a useful key progression is also going to be a challenge.

Here is the second theme with a coda, ending on octave D, which can be either the dominant of G major or part of the dominant of C major. Maybe I should call this a sonatina; it’s looking to be rather short right now. Before I go into the development, I should fix the bridge between the two themes.

Learning to Write Music

I want to learn how to write sonatas, so what more obvious place to start than C? The opening pair of phrases was fairly easy to write, starting and ending on tonic with straight-forward harmony. The bridge passage is too abrupt going to G, and I don’t know yet what will follow. I’m also assuming the whole exposition will be worth repeating. Maybe I’ll find out tomorrow.