Movement I - Measures 38 to 46

I was curious to see how Beethoven handles this passage, since it is particularly pianistic:

Here is what a literal transcription would sound like:

And here is Beethoven's arrangement:

In the piano version, Beethoven alternates between staccato and legato eighth notes in the left hand. In strings, this doesn't work. The legato eighth notes don't sound as energetic as they do on the more percussive piano. So the Beethoven makes all the eighth notes in the accompaniment staccato. In addition, he adds a staccato to the melody on the last note of each phrase. (Although this latter change is advisable in any event, given the first violin's ensuing drop.) 

Beethoven also decides to score the two phrases differently. In the piano version, the phrases are identical except for the cadences. In the string version, he opts for a light, bouncy first phrase and a more dramatic second phrase. This is more typical of the Viennese style, so it is no surprise Beethoven chooses to do this. The real question is why he didn't do something similar in the piano version. Perhaps he thought such contrasts in texture are more important in string music than they are in keyboard music. Or perhaps this is simply another case of his changing his mind.

In the first phrase, Beethoven lightens the texture by raising the eighth notes in the bass an octave (giving them to the second violin) and by eliminating the alto line altogether. He also replaces some of the repeated notes in the cello with rests, specifically on beat three of measure 38 and on the weak beats of measure 41. And he replaces the cello's dotted half note at the end of the first phrase (on the downbeat of measure 42) with a quarter note. The viola pretty much stays out of the way. In the first two measures, it merely adds color by outlining the melody in staccato. In the next two measures, it is silent. All in all, these changes produces a lighter, cleaner sound than we hear in the transcription.

One effect of switching the bass and tenor lines is that it changes the way the phrase is harmonized, as the analysis above shows. We now have root position tonic chords in measures 39 and 40 rather than first inversion tonic chords. This is unusual. One generally shies away from root position tonic chords in the middle of a phrase, especially if that phrase is going to end with an authentic cadence, since they will weaken the cadence's effect. Beethoven solves that problem by tossing in a retardation at the end of the phrase. On the downbeat of measure 42, the second violin arpeggiates a dominant chord over the C in the bass, delaying the tonic until beat three. This is a nice attention to detail. The retardation isn't necessary in the piano version. But here the phrase would sound too static without it.

The descending arpeggio is a new motive, not present in the original. And Beethoven immediately exploits it. In the second half of measure 42, he repeats the motive in orchestral unison to transport the accompaniment down into the second octave.

In the second phrase, Beethoven eliminates the sustained notes in the accompaniment. Both the bass and tenor play the staccato eighth-note figure while the second violin doubles the first violin an octave below. 

To construct the eighth-note pattern for the bass, Beethoven alternates the original bass note with the root or fifth of the chord. In the second half of the phrase, however, Beethoven makes some additional changes. Had he followed the same pattern, the end of the phrase would be as follows:

The first problem with this version is the preponderance of fifths and octaves at the end of the first measure. Beethoven solves this problem by breaking the pattern, having the bass move in thirds with the tenor:

 A second problem is the poor voice leading in the tenor. Essentially, we hear alternating notes of the viola as outlining two separate parts. If we write out these two parts, we can see the voice-leading problems more clearly.

The B-flat at the end of the first measure wants to resolve to an A. Instead, it leaps upward to a D while the lower voice moves to an A. Similarly, the F at the end of the phrase wants to resolve to an E. So Beethoven raises the last beat of the first measure up an octave and has the line descend. Each dissonance now resolves naturally:

Movement I - Measures 30 to 38

Before examining the scoring of this passage, I want to examine the passage itself in a bit more detail than usual.

These eight measures are essentially a repetition of the previous eight measures with a different accompaniment. But the repetition is not exact. Beethoven alters the melody of the second phrase. If the repetition were exact, the second phrase would be as follows:

Why does Beethoven change the melody? To maintain good two-part counterpoint. The second highlighted note in the unaltered version is an E. In the soprano, we have an F (an appoggiatura) resolving to E. When a dissonance resolves to a note that is already present in another voice, it is called "anticipating the resolution." This is OK in two-part texture when the resolution is to the tonic or to the fourth or fifth degree of the scale (as it is in phrase A) but not when the resolution is to the third degree of the scale. Our modern-day ears aren't so sensitive to such niceties, since they are used to hearing much worse. But, to Beethoven, the above passage would sound noticeably weak. So he changes the melody to avoid the problem.

That means the melody reaches its goal, F-sharp, one beat early, so he ties the F-sharp to the downbeat of the next measure. This problem does not occur in phrase A, so Beethoven leaves that phrase unaltered.

Why am I going into all this? Because Beethoven does something interesting in his string arrangement. He decides to alter both phrases:

As you can see, he changes the melody of phrase A to match phrase B. In addition, he changes the first C-sharp in the right hand to a C-natural, which works better with the altered melody.

I can't imagine there is anything specific to string writing that prompted the decision to alter phrase A. I think Beethoven just decided he liked the theme better this way, and rightly so. Changing only the second phrase makes it appear that the change is one of necessity. Changing both phrases makes it appear voluntary, as if variety were the sole consideration. It's the musical equivalent of putting the awkward rhyme first in a rhymed couplet so as not to draw attention to it. Bach, whom Beethoven consciously emulated, did this sort of thing frequently.

Back to Beethoven's scoring decisions. Here is the literal transcription:

And here is Beethoven's arrangement:

It surprises me that Beethoven chooses to give the melody to the second violin rather than to the viola, not so much because it requires crossing parts in measures 33 and 37 but because we just heard this melody played by the first violin. So I would have expected Beethoven to give this utterance to the viola for a change of color.

As he has done previously in this movement, Beethoven replaces the half notes in the cello at the end of each phrase with staccato quarter notes, giving the downbeats an extra fillip.

Finally, Beethoven has the viola double the first violin's entrance in measures 32 and 36 a tenth below. Simply having the viola jump in at the last minute to assist with the chords at the end of the phrase would sound a bit abrupt. This change makes for a smoother transition into the cadence. The quarter-note rests are, of course, necessitated by the fact that the violist must skip over a string to reach the high notes.

Movement I - Measures 22 to 30

Measure 22 begins the secondary theme. The literal transcription is straightforward. 

But Beethoven, as usual, is not content with a literal transcription. In the the piano version, the accompaniment offers a contrast to the melody. It consists of chords on the strong beats against the syncopated melody.

In the string version, the accompaniment serves more as a complement to the melody. The lower strings play a counter-melody in thirds beginning on the first beat of measure 25 and moving in contrary motion with the first violin. At the end of the measure, the second violin joins the first violin in thirds.

Thirds or sixths in contrary motion produce a smooth, gentle sound in strings. Mozart used this technique to good effect in the opening of his Clarinet Quintet:

This change, therefore, emphasizes the contrast between the rising staccato line that begins the phrase and the legato cadence. This contrast is present in the original version, but it is less apparent. The string version brings the contrast into higher relief. After hearing this version, I'm sure that, when I play this sonata, I will play this passage differently.

Beethoven continues to follow his practice of articulating the downbeats more clearly in the string version. He replaces the half notes in measure 26 with quarter-note staccatos, and he eliminates the tie in the melody. Of course, this change is more subtle on the violin than it would be on the piano. There is a big difference between having the hammer strike the string again and simply changing direction of the bow. So the effect of repeating the G, especially when combined with retaining the tie in the second violin part, is simply to give an extra pulse to the downbeat. When the phrase repeats, however, Beethoven is not content with this extra pulse. In measure 30, he emphasizes the re-articulated F by adding a turn.

Movement I - Measures 16 to 22

Beethoven makes quite a few changes in measures 16 to 22, the end of the modulating bridge:

In my transcription, I had to raise the tenor part an octave to keep it in the range of the viola. And I had to make some adjustments to the chords at the end. But this is reasonably close to the piano version.

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The most noticeable change Beethoven makes is to abandon the alternating dynamics. In the piano version, these alternating dynamics throw you off balance by emphasizing beat three of each measure. In the string version, he accomplishes the same thing by adding a sforzando in all four parts to beat three of each measure.

He also makes something explicit in the string version that is only implicit in the piano version, namely that the odd and even measures are identical except for revoicing. That is, the four beats beginning with beat three of measure 18 are identical to the preceding four beats except that the parts are switched around. The first violin takes the viola part an octave higher, the second violin takes the first violin part, and the viola takes the first violin part an octave lower. You can hear this in the piano version even though some notes are left out, most notably the sixteenth notes in measure 18.

Another change Beethoven makes is to increase the tension by bringing the repeated Gs in the bass up an octave in measure 19, then up another octave in measure 20. And, at the the end of measure 20, he effects the climax by articulating the sixteenth-note figure in all three upper parts. You couldn't really do this on the piano unless you had seven fingers on your right hand.

If you listen to both samples, you can hear that the transcription sounds smoother and less animated. This is partly due to the sforzandos in Beethoven's arrangement. But it is also due to the added rests. The inner voices in the piano part and the transcription are mostly half notes. In the arrangement, Beethoven ends the sixteenth-note figure in the alto part with a staccato and a rest. He also adds a rest to both inner parts at the beginning of measure 19. This isn't really practical on the piano, but it gives a much cleaner sound in strings.

Finally, we have the two punctuating chords at the end, which Beethoven now marks as fortissimo. Of necessity, he must raise the bass part an octave. Perhaps this is another reason Beethoven chose to bring the cello part up in the preceding measures, since it allows a dramatic two-octave descent to the low G. Beethoven also raises the soprano an octave in the first chord, allowing a forceful quadruple stop in the violin part. In the final chord, the middle voices are dropped, leaving octave Gs, a change sufficiently obvious that I employed it in my "literal" transcription as well.

All in all, the string version of this passage is much more effective than the piano version. One senses Beethoven had this version in mind from the start and made concessions when he wrote the piano sonata.

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