Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Classical Sonata Analysis

We got so far so quickly on the last one I'd be happy to do them all in order or alternately with similar material.

I wouldn't mind pairing this one with Haydn's Hob.XVI/8 divertimento in G major. This is an easy sonata to play. The final allegro sounds very impressive but falls easily under the fingers. It's quite likey that Haydn wrote this as a teaching piece. It's not entirely certain whether it was to teach the instrument or composition. It's excellent material for our analysis.

Have a quick look/play through at the Clementi sonatina no. 2 (also in G major) and do the same with this one and see which you prefer.

Clementi Sonatina No. 2 (Piano)

Haydn: unnumbered score

Haydn: incorrectly numbered score

Haydn: first movement only (piano)

Haydn: whole sonata, low quality audio

Really, easy to play? I can't imagine I'll be playing it any time soon. Pumped today though about Bach little prelude No.4 coming along nicely.

OK, I kind of liked the Haydn one until I came to the allegro. I thought maybe you were confusing with another piece, when I went back and saw "easy to play".

Flip a coin ... lets do Haydn ... unless I get out voted somewhere.

Suggest we use the incorrectly numbered score. Scratch that. I will see if I can correct this, or # the un-numbered.

Please leave with me a bit

Haydn-Hob-XVI-8 - Download

Richard, that was a very helpful post for me.

Also Greener's putting the following into words helps me:

Do you mean finally finding out how I work?
___________________________

So we're looking at the Haydn, then.

Listen a few times or play it if you can. It's a beginners piece, about grade 2 (ABRSM) so go slow and you should do a reasonable job at least for finding out what's happening even if you have to do RH alone. You will probably get more than listening to an up to tempo professional recording but you should do that too, of course, as many of them as you can find.

We've already seen first and second subjects in the Clementi so mark your score in pencil where you think you hear them here.

Then run through the checklist, recently found helpful

Composer, Title, Date;

Key sig, Metre, Tempo;

Scale (no. of pages, no. of movements), dynamic indications, texture, colour (amount of accidentals), rhythmic diversity, complexity.

Repeat bars, double bar lines, rests in both hands;

Major landmarks, key changes, places where you hear something changing that might suggest a second subject or a closing theme, the start of the recap'n, etc

Make a simple key scheme diagram.

Look for devices; figures, themes, and motifs that recur in various guises, speeded up, slowed down, inverted, backwards, etc.

Divide it into sections, look at the proportions of the various parts, contrasts between sections, tension and release, unity and so on.

How does it differ from the Clementi Sonatina? How is it the same?
__________________________

The piece was written by Pappa Haydn in about 1760 as one of a set of six easy pieces. He called them Divertimenti (amusements).

Haydn was the worlds first great international musical celebrity. He, more than anyone else, shaped what we know as the symphony, the sonata, the string quartet, and the concerto and while his nature wasn't given to shaking up the world as Mozart and Beethoven were he was the first to show signs of the forthcoming Romantic age.

He was a very personable character, always of good cheer and never one for extremes. His music is full of charm, wit, humour and surprise. While Bach wrote for God and Mozart wrote like one, Haydn wrote for humanity. He was the most prolific of the great composers.

Franz Joseph Haydn (he used his second name spelled in German ... Josef)

1732-1809; Born in Rohrau Austria of hungarian descent and raised in a musical family.

Considered "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet"

The more I learn and understand about this man, the more I like him. Aside from the 227 year age difference we were practically twins. Of course he got all the talent. Thankfully though, I got all the good looks .

According to some estimates Josef produced some 340 hour of music. More then Bach, Handel, Mozart or Beethoven.

He was influenced by Johann Stamitz, Giovanni Battista Sammartini. Among his followers were Mendelssohn, Schubert, Beethoven, Mozart.

First movement -- of four movements -- score analyis; Sonata in G Major (composed 1766) to follow ...

Above is quick preliminary review to further set the stage of this great composer.

First movement: 2/4 (split) time in G Major

A (repeated)
Theme 1 - Exposition m1 - m8
Theme 2 - Development m9 - m13
Theme 3 - Recapitultion m14 - m16

We start seeing C# in M11, but does not sound minor. More like D Major. So, I will consider us in D major for final recapitulation phase of this movement.

B(repeated)
2 goes at theme 1; m17-m26 more melodic version, then m27-m33 closer to original.
Theme 2 - m35 (actually 2nd half of m34) - m39
Theme 3 - m40 - m44

We see a couple of C#'s (m25 but natural again when we see next C in m29. Also m33 but natural again in m36. So, think we are just skirting D major in the B section and otherwise G Major throughout.

My goodness Greener, I do believe you've got the hang of this notated music stuff.! :-)

Thanks Jim. But, perhaps it just looks impressive. Lets wait and see what Richard thinks of it ...

Greener, part A lays out all of the themes for the first time, so it is all Exposition Part B, after the repeat, contains the Development (wandering around) and the Recapitulation (very similar to the Exposition).

This is the normal pattern for sonata-allegro form.

OK, thanks. I wasn't sure about this. But clearer now. In trying to identify the ideas/themes, these three are prevalent to me so far.

Yes, PianoStudent88 has the terminology but you have the content.

The exposition is up to the repeat bars in M16 3/4. It has three themes, which you've found easily, the first is M1 to M8 1/2 in G closing with an imperfect cadence (IV-V) and the second in D major closes with a perfect (V-I) cadence at M14 1/4. The last 2 1/2 measures are a closing theme.

The development is M16 3/4 up to M26 3/4.

The Recapitulation is from M26 3/4 to the end in G throughout.

Excellent progress, Jeff. I may have to start watching my back sooner than you thought!

Terrific. Shall we move along to Menuet (looks like a short one?)

At any rate, I need to skip out for a bit. Back in a couple of hours.

Look at the themes in the exposition. How do they compare and contrast?

Explore the keys and material in the development section. Find out where all the material comes from. It should be a composite of the fragments, figures and themes from the exposition. Just like the Clementi sonatina.

Lead in to m17 = Lead in to m1
Off beat melody in m17 is from theme 2 that starts in 8.5

This next section I will need to think more on. I think m18-m19 may be condensed version of m5-m7.

end of m21 is first (lead) theme again, we also hear this at end of m19 and again at end of m22.

Need to come back to this section. Page is getting very messy, so need to transcribe first.

m26 - m33.5 = m1 - m7.5
m33.5- m39 = m7.5 - m13
m40 - m41 = m14-m15
m43 - m44 = m14-m15 (closing tag)
m45 = m16

Still a little unsure of where everything comes from in the first two lines up to m26. Else, I believe everything is covered.

"Lead in to m17 = Lead in to m1" : Yes

"Off beat melody in m17 is from theme 2 that starts in 8.5" : beats me. I can't see where RH comes from.

"This next section I will need to think more on. I think m18-m19 may be condensed version of m5-m7." : No, but nice try. Any more thoughts?

"end of m21 is first (lead) theme again, we also hear this at end of m19 and again at end of m22." : I know you meant M23 not M22 and yes, the three note figure introduces each of the four phrase in the development.

"Need to come back to this section. Page is getting very messy, so need to transcribe first. " : Any more progress?

m19-m20 = m13-m14 sort of

If this works, m18 can also come from m13.

M21-m26 hmmm ...

This section looks/sounds like it may be coming from a variation of m14-m15

m24 is coming from 1st part of m11

Correction m24-m25 coming from m10-m11

For connecting themes: This might work for someone who relates to music like I do. I caught on to it for the sonatinas when I was young before having theory. I hear the melody line (play it, hear it). So if a melody as part of A or B repeats itself later on in the recapitulation, then I hear it and think "Oh, there's that melody again. Seems to be an octave lower / different key." When the composer plays with it by sticking in new notes, or starting differently but landing at the same time, then the "ear player" in me hears a written down improvisation. I'm mentioning this because I read that Greener started as an ear person. Since I was primarily a singer, I tend to hear melody more, and I'm trying to catch up to hearing chords.

Hi KS, yes thanks and agree. This is obvious for most of the B section in relating back to the A section. But, not so obvious for the first two lines (with exception of a couple of sporadic mentions of the first theme melody thrown in.) In this case, I'm not hearing a very good match. But, will keep trying

m24 = m5
m25 = m7
m26 = m6

getting mixed up now. Think I liked my previous answer better