The most curious note in this passage is the C on the downbeat of measure 63. Every other melody note is doubled at the octave (unless the left hand is in the way). Here, Beethoven unexpectedly tosses in a tritone. Clearly he wants to draw attention to the modulation. We feel a jolt at this point that we would not feel if he had simply doubled the G-flat at the octave.
The literal transcription below is unsatisfactory for a number reasons. For one thing, the texture is too thick in the lower register. For another, we don't feel the aforementioned jolt on the downbeat of measure 63. The lone C in the second violin doesn't do the job.
Beethoven, in his arrangement, fixes both these problems--and others as well:
As expected, Beethoven adds a chord on the downbeat of measure 61. His reasons for doing this in measure one still apply. But he now has the addition reason of voice-leading. He must resolve the dominant chord at the end of measure 60.
Beethoven also adds a chord to the downbeat of measure 63. This not only continues the pattern begun two measures earlier. But, more importantly, it supplies the jolt that is missing in the transcription. He draws attention to this chord by tying the G-flat in the melody. It is the change in harmony that is important here, not the melody.
After the downbeat, the lower strings leap up an octave. This leap continues the pattern from measure 61. But, conveniently, it serves two other purposes as well: (1) It brings the lower strings closer to the first violin, avoiding the muddy texture of the transcription. (2) It gives Beethoven the chance to have the bass descend over the next two measures as the melody ascends. The widening wedge to support a crescendo is a device we already encountered in measures 50-56.
In the piano, the device used to support the crescendo was a thickened chord texture (which was true in measures 50-56 as well). The wedge makes that unnecessary, and Beethoven sticks to four-note chords. In the first chord, he drops the seventh. In the remaining chords, he simply avoids doubling the melody. This means dropping the E-flat at the beginning of measure 64. Since the E-flat is in the bass, dropping the E-flat means choosing a new bass note, which fits right in with the widening-wedge plan. Look how nicely that all worked out.
The final chord could have been voiced differently. Beethoven might have retained the A in the second violin and had the viola drop down to a C. That, in fact, would be more typical voice leading. But Beethoven apparently wanted to extend the wedge device to the inner voices as well.
I made a suggestion a few weeks ago that any composers reading this blog should try to do their own arrangements before reading about what Beethoven did. That applies especially to next week's passage. It is highly pianistic, so a literal translation is virtually impossible. I'm curious how other composers might try to arrange this passage. So, if you feel so inclined, feel free to post your solution in a comment either on the blogspot.com page or on the associated Facebook page. I doubt you will come up with the same solution as Beethoven. But that's not necessarily wrong. There is a variety of possible solutions, and I'm sure that among us we can up with several ways to achieve the desired effect.
This is the passage:
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