Movement I - Measures 71 to 74

Visually, measures 71 to 74 look similar to the preceding six measures.

There are, however, several differences:

(1) The harmonic motion speeds up. Previously, the harmony changed every two measures. Now it changes every measure.

(2) The previous passage, in B-flat minor, was harmonically static.This passage modulates, reaching D-flat major on the downbeat of measure 75.

(3) The melody is transformed. In the previous passage, we heard the same melody three times. In measures 71 to 72 that melody is (roughly) inverted. And in measure 74 it is interrupted and replaced with a new syncopated figure.

In the piano version, Beethoven retains the same accompanying figure in these measures that he used in the previous measures. The only clue the accompaniment offers that something different is going on is the octave drop in measure 74, which, along with the new syncopated melody, dramatizes the arrival in D-flat major.

In the string version, however, Beethoven helps us hear the newness of this material by changing the accompaniment. Had he followed the same pattern as in the previous section, we would have this:

Because the harmony now changes every measure instead of every two measures, this scheme doesn't work well. It sounds strange to arpeggiate the harmonies in the odd measures but not the even measures. Beethoven might have added arpeggios to the even measures as well. But he preferred to dial things back instead. He drops the arpeggios altogether and has the cello join the middle strings in their tremolo. (As we shall see next week, dialing things back now gives him the chance ratchet things up more effectively later on. This is a technique known to all good composers and horror film directors.)

Even though the cello joins in the tremolo, it retains its individuality by playing eighth notes to the middle strings' sixteenth notes. It also employs the device Beethoven has used previously to accentuate the downbeat: an octave dip on the first note of each tremolo.

Note Beethoven changes the point where the bass drops down an octave to the low A-flat. In the piano version, this happens at the beginning of measure 74. In the string version, it happens three beats earlier. Why? Presumably, it is because the very climax of the passage has changed. In the piano version, the climax is on the sforzando in measure 74. In the string version, Beethoven eliminates this sforzando and marks a forte at the beginning of measure 73, shifting the climax to this point. In addition, he lands emphatically on the final cadence, specifying a forte-piano on the downbeat of measure 75. In the piano version, this measure is marked piano, so as not to upstage the sforzando of the previous measure. (These quarter notes aren't in the real score, by the way. I added them to avoid ending the sound sample on an unresolved dominant.)

What are these changes all about? Beethoven is being sensitive to the realities of string writing. A pianist can land forcefully and effectively on that high G-flat. But this would not work in strings. The violin's sound is too thin in that register to produce a convincing sforzando with no assistance from the accompaniment. The downbeat of measure 72, assisted by the change of harmony and a low A-flat in the cello, is a more natural place for the climax.

This is the kind of change an arranger might be afraid to make. How can you move the climax of the phrase? Isn't that tampering too much with the original? But Beethoven, who doesn't have to worry about offending himself, has no qualms about making whatever changes the new medium requires. Fidelity to the original is desirable. But it's more important that the music sound good.