(MUSIC) It is also a perfect example of Beethoven’s unparalleled capacity for using silence to heighten tension. The opening three phrases each begin with brutal, sforzando chords – shocks, and then aftershocks – and the first two end with questioning rests. (MUSIC) With that third phrase, finally, comes an answer. (MUSIC) The shape, the trajectory of these three opening phrases, is very typical, not just of Beethoven, but of music in general, in a way that I don’t believe I’ve discussed: these three phrases are in fact subdivisions of one big phrase: short, short, then long. So, short... (MUSIC) This is probably the most commonplace phrasing scheme in all of music. And in fact, the very next phrase is structured the same way: short (MUSIC), again short (MUSIC), and, finally, long (MUSIC). This introduction, from start to finish, has a coiled intensity, a barely contained energy-- one might say “potential energy”. As the introduction gives way to the exposition, that potential energy turns kinetic. (MUSIC) What I’ve just played for you – the movement’s exposition – is so compelling, so riveting, I’m tempted to say that it requires no explanation. And in a sense, it doesn’t. But it’s also plenty interesting. It is, in one sense, a very rich exposition: it has not only the requisite two themes, but three. One, (MUSIC) two, (MUSIC) and three. (MUSIC) But while there’s a wealth of material – a surplus, even – what we don’t get is the variety of character that helps give an exposition its shape. There may be three themes, but they are very much alike, in more ways than one. First of all, they are all quite driven, filled with nervous energy: in all three, the rate of motion is never slower than an extremely fast quarter note. And on top of this rhythmic similarity, there is a motivic one: all three themes are very much about upward motion. So the first, (MUSIC), the second (MUSIC), and then the third (MUSIC). You might remember the first movement of opus 2 number 1, where the first theme (MUSIC) is, in a sense, “answered” by the second (MUSIC). Now, that’s an unusually cut-and-dried example, and a variety of melodic direction is certainly not an essential aspect of sonata form. But all three themes here have a somewhat frenetic energy which comes in part from the way in which they are always reaching up, and when you combine that with the relentless motion, the result is a bit monochromatic. It’s a thrilling color, to be sure, but it does make the listener feel that the exposition is somehow incomplete on its own, an animal walking on three legs. A couple of other notes about the exposition: the second theme, unusually, is in E-flat MINOR, not major (MUSIC). This is the moment in the minor key sonata, where relief – the major mode – should come. Instead, Beethoven withholds it, and the music remains in a sinister minor, making me even wonder if this is correctly identified as “the second theme”. You see, again, the similarity of the themes has a kind of blurring effect on the form. We’ve had the introduction, virtually all in minor; the first theme area, exclusively in minor; and now the second theme area, which remains in minor until the very last moment. What this means is that this is an exceptionally dark movement. It isn’t until at least the Appassionata – written almost a decade later – that Beethoven wrote another movement that sticks so stubbornly to the minor mode. The third theme does, finally, reach E-flat major, triumphantly (MUSIC), but Beethoven really takes his sweet time getting there, and when he does, it’s over in a flash.