Structural, Apparent, or Parenthetical? The Tonic Chord in the First-Movement Recapitulation of Beethoven's Piano Sonata Op. 106

Abstract

Much ink has been spilled regarding whether mm.224–26, which conclude the first-movement development section of Beethoven's Piano Sonata, Op. 106, the Hammerklavier , should contain A♮ or A♯. By contrast, what happens at the onset of the recapitulation, immediately after the A♮/A♯ controversy, has been taken for granted. Yet the beginning of the recapitulation features another, less obvious controversy: that of the structural role of the B♯ major chord in m. 227. This article discusses three different Schenkerian ways of interpreting the B♯ major chord that begins the recapitulation: structural, apparent, and parenthetical. It considers how these readings reflect the musical effect at the onset of the recapitulation, both locally and in the larger context. The essay favors the interpretation of a parenthetical tonic, arguing that it provides the best account of the multi-layered web of associations at the beginning of the recapitulation.