Piano Sonata in F, Episode 6

The second movement follows the first as soon as the last note has died away. The falling opening melodic line is the motive C#-B-E stated four times in various rhythms, which merges into the ostinato and sets the tempo at a long march pace, purposeful but not a parade-ground march (quarter note = 50). The ostinato establishes the key of b minor. Over the ostinato, the three-note motive is repeated with various rhythms, in retrograde (bar 7), partly inverted (bar 9), reordered (bar 10), and imbedded in a melismatic passage (bars 11 and 13). The intent with these variants is to break up the monotony of the ostinato.



Bars 14 and 15 have the ostinato doubled on the third (plus an octave), which functions as a modulation to D major, as well as switching the ostinato from left to right hand. The bass then takes over the role of melodic variations of the three-note motive in bars 16 through 19 at a pace that quickens gradually. Bars 20 and 21 are a free counterpoint to the ostinato, except for the end of bar 21 which is the three-note motive transposed up a fourth. The melodic pace reaches its peak with running sixteenths that contain echoes of the three-note motive’s shape in bar 22, then transposed versions of the motive. The section concludes with an augmented version of the motive.



In overall plan, the second movement is a rondo of seven parts. The three episodes will be somewhat wild interruptions of the ostinato-based theme, with the third episode being the wildest. Bar 120 is a placeholder for the kind of texture intended for the third episode. The concluding occurrence of the theme brings the movement to a calm close with more variants of the three-note motive.