♫ Whatever its character, this movement is a pure rondo, and so its B and C sections are there primarily to provide contrast. The B section, in particular, brings a stability that makes it stand well apart from the opening of the movement. ♫ Unlike the opening of the movement, this B section begins firmly on the tonic, and its opening phrase is a statement, not a question. ♫ Whereas the ambiguity of the character of the A section makes it difficult to put into words, in the case of the B section, it’s pretty straightforward: it’s grazioso as it starts out, and soon grows impish and playful. ♫ So, we are on altogether firmer footing here. The only moment at which the B section is less than straightforward and nods towards this piece’s other tendencies is the very end when, instead of truly seguing back into the A section we land on a dominant fermata, just as we did in the opening of the sonata, and right near the opening of this movement. ♫ Now, I’ll say it again: there’s nothing revolutionary or rebellious about this, but it’s not common practice. Going back to the previous lecture’s opus 2 no. 2, this is how the B section leads back into the A. ♫ That is the “normal”, certainly the smoother course of events. But in op. 10 no. 3, the last movement above all, Beethoven time and again opts out of the smoother course of events, in favor of these hard stops. This is particularly true in the C section, which features not one, not two, but three fermatas of this same kind. The C section is launched by a deceptive cadence, and begins with a passage in which the hands are out of sync with one another. If you listen slowly, you can hear that the change of chord always happens one beat later in the right hand than in the left. ♫ Without that detail, this would be a triumphant, exultant episode; the conflict between the hands makes it a bit more complicated than that, tying it not just to the question-upon-question ambivalence of the opening of this movement, but also to the rhythmic displacements of the first movement. And as the episode progresses, that sense of uncertainty grows and grows, with the energy frittering away, and leading to a fermata – the first of three here – on a diminished chord. ♫ This leads to a reference to the opening of the movement, in the wrong key – well, it was already in the wrong key the first time around, so this is now the wrong, wrong key. ♫ Fermata no. 2! And not home yet. This leads to the most misterioso passage in the whole movement – an improvisation on that part of the opening, ♫ this time spanning most of the keyboard, and growing more chromatic than it was initially. ♫ And, fermata no. 3! This fermata, unlike the previous two, but like so many earlier ones in the piece, is on the dominant, which means that harmonically, we are all ready for the return of the A section. But in this movement, given the options of being seamless, or a bit disjointed and awkward, Beethoven always goes in the latter direction. So, there’s no other new material, until the coda, which I will proceed to in a moment. But first I just want to quickly point out that the A section, in its many repetitions, is always embellished in one way or another. Now, this is absolutely standard practice for rondo themes, but – surprise, surprise – the ways in which Beethoven chooses to embellish this particular theme are designed to enhance its questioning nature. We go from this, the opening, ♫ to this, later on in the movement, ♫ and finally, to this, the last appearance of the A material prior to the coda. ♫ This final, most ornate version, leads to a firmer, more emphatic D Major cadence than we’ve had before, but if we expect this to finally put a lid on all the questions, Beethoven has other ideas, as this cadence leads to yet ANOTHER dominant with a long fermata. ♫ I feel like there have been many times in this course that I’ve asked some variant of the question, “how will Beethoven ever get us out of this?” And usually, he does so in a way that is both emphatic and ingenious. But what is ingenious about this ending is that Beethoven doesn’t really find a way to move beyond the quizzical, inconclusive nature of this movement. The fact that even in the coda we’re getting these dramatic fermatas was the tip-off: the silences, the querying, that was not a problem to be solved – it was the very nature of the movement. And Beethoven remains true to it to the end. After two more of the three note phrases – the second in minor – and a syncopated, harmonically winding passage, we land on a D pedal, at which point the piece doesn’t conclude so much as slither into silence. ♫ This is somewhat similar to the ending of the Tempest sonata, which also ends with a disappearance, ♫ but in the case of the Tempest, that disappearance followed a huge, violent final cadence, ♫ making that whispered ending more defeated than anything. Here, the last cadence is nowhere near as emphatic, ♫ which means that this ending just reflects the ambiguity of character – and even of harmony – that has run through the entire movement. With its inconclusiveness, ironically, it seals the character of the movement: riddling and gently mysterious. The slow movement is still unquestionably the emotional peak of the work – like all of the early sonatas, the last movement does not attempt to one-up it. But it is the only time in the early period that Beethoven avoided the straightforward with a finale, and in that way, is an important step along the path to the future. In fact, out of all of the early 4 movement sonatas – and there are six of them among the first thirteen – Op. 10 no. 3 is altogether the most unconventional. It might not be able to compete with the sheer grandeur of op. 7, but it operates on more levels – structural and emotional – simultaneously. In that way, it is a genuinely important work. Beethoven established a thrilling model for the sonata form, and then more-or-less destroyed it as he built a new one for later in life. Op 10 no. 3 is one of the first works that shows that however brilliant these early works were, they would not hold Beethoven’s interest forever.
