♫ The subsequent three movements of op. 31 no. 3 might not have quite the same degree of creativity, but they are absolutely of the same quality. And in fact, the second movement – a scherzo, as mentioned – is perhaps unique in Beethoven’s output for being a kind of opera buffa. As I’ve so often mentioned, Beethoven’s humor is a dominant feature in much of his music. But when he’s being humorous, the tone is not usually operatic, theatrical. And there are many instances of operatic music throughout his life, but it’s usually not comic opera. From the recitatives of the Tempest and Op. 110, to the flourishes in the slow movement of op. 10 no. 1, when Beethoven evokes the opera, it is usually a dramatic, if not outright tragic, scene. Even the slow movement of op. 31 no. 1, ♫ which is definitely played for laughs, at least in part, is not drawn from opera buffa – the humor comes from the way in which Beethoven is parodying a dead-serious, over-indulgent soprano and tenor. This scherzo is different. It doesn’t quite sound like Mozart, but it suggests Mozart, with its scurrying motion, and the twinkle in its eye. This movement is a scherzo in character, not in structure. It is in 2/4 time, rather than the scherzo's usual 3/4; it has no trio section; and in fact, the form it most closely resembles is a sonata form, in that it has a first, second, and closing theme, and that its central section is not contrasting material, but rather a development. Let me play what one might call the “exposition”. ♫ So, a few things to say about this: first of all, it is rambunctious without being particularly fast. Beethoven marks it “Allegretto scherzando”. That’s a very particular sort of marking. The “scherzando” part of it makes the character very clear: it is high-spirited, playful, and with mischief on its mind. But whereas many of Beethoven’s scherzo movements get markings that are not just Allegro, but allegros qualified “upward”, Beethoven goes here with the significantly more moderate – more controlled, really – “Allegretto”. This movement’s silliness has poise. So, I said that this movement was “operatic”, and I certainly think the word fits. But that doesn’t mean that all the writing is vocal in nature. In fact, almost throughout, the music is evocative of wind instruments, never more so than at the very beginning, where the left hand can only be thought of as a bassoon – it’s that sort of detached, spitting-out-watermelon-seeds articulation that a bassoon does to perfection and a piano can only imitate. ♫ This, too, ♫ sounds like double reed instruments – that reedy, finely articulated sound world really fits the character of this music to a tee. The main line at the opening, however, is a character in a comic opera – maybe Don Alfonso from Cosi fan Tutte – the offbeat accents giving the whole thing a sly edge it wouldn’t have otherwise, at least not to the same degree. Without the accents, ♫ and now, as Beethoven wrote it. ♫ It’s the sort of detail that isn’t a detail – those accents, along with the bass articulation – give the music all its character. One detail in this exposition that I want to point out is these little ritardandos, which come twice – four times, assuming one observes the repeat. ♫ These grab the listener, because the motion of the movement is generally so consistent and assured – these moments of losing the plot therefore stand out. I also wonder if they are meant to be a reference to the ritardandos in the first movement. ♫ These also occur repeatedly. They serve a different function, but these recurring ritardandi are fairly out of the ordinary for an early or middle period Beethoven sonata – the next sonata movement I can think of that has a whole series of slow-downs is the first movement of op. 90 – so I think their presence in two different movements of op. 31 no. 3 can be thought of as a unifying device. Not the sort of thing the listener is meant to be conscious of, but a detail which works subliminally and helps the work cohere. So I mentioned that this was nominally a sonata form, partially on account of there being a repeated exposition, with first, second, and closing themes. One way in which this is NOT a conventional sonata form is that the various themes are not set up to provide contrast: the second theme is everything that the first was – bustling with controlled but constant motion, playful, a bit sly – but more so. ♫ And the closing theme takes these same qualities and simply ratchets them up further: ♫ To my ear, anyway, this is the most purely operatic – opera buffa – moment in the piece, maybe in all of Beethoven. It is Susanna, singing her excitement about her upcoming wedding, or Zerlina, batting her eyelashes. It really is a bit atypical for Beethoven: in Mozart’s instrumental music, when I say that one can hear the influence of the opera, I mean that there is a sense of dialogue, that the melodic lines evoke the dramatis personae of a play. Beethoven, who is much more focused on concepts and ideals, does not generally work this way; this scherzo is an exception.
