Brennan Meier

Prof. Jason Yust

Graduate Analytical Techniques - MT601

24 October 2019

The Formal Significance of Beethoven’s Op. 9/3: Finale

Beethoven composed his Op. 9 String Trios in 1798 in Vienna, and at this time early in

his compositional career, Beethoven himself regarded these commissions as some of his finest

work. All three of the trios in this opus contain four movements, however I would argue that in

Trio No. 3 in C minor, Beethoven most freely explores harmonic and thematic tropes that would

become so characteristic of his later work. Not only does he utilize sharp dynamic contrasts, and

a driving rhythmic motif, but he also explores more distant elements of harmony and form that

were uncharacteristic of other compositions of the period. Beethoven uses unique motivic and

harmonic elements to expand on his own realization of sonata form by visiting distantly related

keys in all sections of the form, as well as extended mode mixture, sequential elaboration on the

subdominant harmony, fragmentation and cadential deferral, to create a strong sense of cohesion

and conclusion throughout the work.

Beethoven developed a very specific voice throughout this trio, often by the way he treats

phrase structure. He builds the melodic material of the main theme on a sentence structure, with

a angular presentation phrase in m. 1-4 ending with a HC and contrasts this with a legato,

chorale-like continuation phrase characterized by a PAC. However he expands on this standard

sentence structure by once again repeating the presentation phrase directly a second time and

leaving us with a HC to begin the transition at m.13 (almost given the phrase structure of this

theme feelings of an ABA/rondo form). His subordinate theme differs from this and is
characterized by period structure however, the antecedent phrase (m. 29) and consequent phrase

(m. 34) differ in phrase length, in addition to traveling to the distantly related key of Eb minor on

the way to the relative major, both of which create a more loose-knit thematic motif during the

transition. This leads us to a bit of an odd PAC at m. 50, which is a harmonically strong cadence

but lacks significance in the overall form due to the fact that it is metrically weak, and also gives

us no sense of resolution as the upper voices immediately pick up again with a continuation of

melodic material. He most prominently uses closely related keys of C minor, Eb Major, and F

minor all of which are conventional for sonatas of the time. However, he also explores a number

of distantly related keys including G minor, Bb minor and Db major, especially in the

development section, which are much more unconventional. In addition, the development uses

heavy fragmentation of the thematic material from the main theme. During the pre-core, he

fragments the original triplet melody in the subordinate key and also directly following, employs

our previous continuation phrase from m. 5, this time transposed to F major and just a few bars

later sequenced down by 3rd to Db major. Beethoven uses this thematic material to transition us

into the new melodic material of the core (which also later explores this theme in another

unconventional key, Bb minor), beginning with the PAC at m. 90.

Another place that Beethoven expands on standard notions of sonata form is in his

recapitulation. While he still uses it to create a feeling of return to the original theme, however he

does this while still exploring new harmonic content under the veil of the same melodic contour.

One example of this occurs at m. 143, when, after restating the recap’s main theme, instead of

going directly into our transition, he fragments and restates the theme in the parallel major (C, an

extended example of mode mixture). He utilizes C major to get us all the way to our transition,

and then continues this harmonic trend by tonicizing the relative minor of this (a minor) to lead
us into our subordinate theme at m. 167. He does not abandon all his original main theme

material in the recap however, there is some that he stands by the most significant being the

triplet figure and half cadence at m. 132-133, which is directly copied from the first two bars of

the piece and is fragmented both in it original key, and many distantly related keys throughout

the piece, teasing us each time with the thought that we might get to hear that melody again in

it’s entirety (examples of this include the sequential modeling at m. 57 and the home key

fragmentation at m. 121.) In addition, uniquely in Beethoven’s subordinate theme in the

recapitulation is in the closely related key of G minor, while in the exposition he uses the a

distantly related key of Eb minor.

He also is very specific in the recapitulation about where he puts his cadences and uses

standing on the dominant (m. 187) and a long cadential deferral process (m. 200) to avoid any

cadences until we get to the strongest PAC of the piece at m. 206. Thus, creating a very strong

sense of resolution leading into the closing section and codetta in the major home key.

Beethoven uses this technique, in my opinion, to emphasize his ability to (in many ways) build

on the standard classical sonata form, both in terms of form and harmony, and still create a

strong sense of unity and resolution for the listener. Although he expanded on or downright

broke many of the formal rules of the time, we are still left with a work that has very clear

themes and is a fantastic representation of Beethoven’s composition voice during this period of

his life.