J. S. BACH Jonathan Berkahn - Victoria University - Victoria ...

(or ‘spontaneity’, if one prefers) of Samuel Wesley’s ‘Sonata with a Fugue’. The
sonata style of the time achieved this, of course, by counterbalancing wayward tonal
excursions with a great weight of tonally stable material, supported by a large
proportion of purely architectural thematic material, and substantial preparation for
and reinforcement of important tonal goals. None of these resources were available
within an orthodox fugal style. 128 What Beethoven does therefore, within the constant
local flux that fugal writing tends to encourage, is map out a large scale plan of
significant tonal destinations; this course is given coherence not by the repetition and
architectural passage-work of normal sonata writing, but by a tendency to identity
particular kinds of material with particular key areas. The exposition begins in an
orthodox enough manner, with entries on I, V, and I. Before long, however, the
subject appears in D flat (b.52), then in A flat (b.65), displaced both tonally and
rhythmically. Clearly, we have embarked upon a substantial expedition flat-ward.
Important events during this part of the movement include a lengthy entry in
augmentation (begins b.94) and a recognisable episode which occurs first in G flat,
then in A flat (bb.85 and 130; this is the only trace of literal repetition in the entire
movement). At b.150, the fugue ‘turns the corner’ enharmonically, signalising the
shift by an unexpected turn to the minor as it modulates through the cycle of fifths
from G flat major to B minor. The next section, in ‘sharp’ keys, presents new
permutations of the subject: retrograde in b.153, and inverted in b.208, then a
beautiful new (counter)subject appears in b.250 (Ex.5.9).
Given the lack of textural and thematic corroboration, one’s first impressions
about the long-range significance of particular modulations are often misleading. For
example, the shift from somewhere around D major to E flat in b.230 sounds like a
serious turn toward the home key; but it is just a Neapolitan parenthesis, for D has
128 It is also fair to say that these elements were becoming less important in Beethoven’s other music as
well—especially when compared with their overwhelming presence in his ‘middle period’ works.
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