The Second Repeat in Beethoven's Sonata-Form Movements: Tonal, Formal and Motivic Strategies

Abstract

Around the middle of the Classical period, there was a paradigm shift concerning sectional repeats in sonata-form movements. Whereas previously the repeat of both halves (exposition and development/recapitulation) was virtually pro forma, by the late 1700s composers typically only indicated the first repeat. When composers began to indicate the second repeat infrequently, this decision took on greater musical significance.<br/> Whereas Haydn and Mozart indicated the second repeat frequently, even in their late works, Beethoven indicated this repeat rarely (nineteen times in works with opus numbers). This infrequency is noteworthy and prompts the question: Are there issues of formal balance or tonal/motivic connections that would be lost if performers omitted this repeat? I will examine these works in depth, noting similarities in formal balance, motivic content, tonal procedures, and large-scale design. Although many of these movements date from Beethoven's early period, he also indicated the second repeat six times after 1800, including the finale of his last quartet, Op. 135. We can conclude that repeating a sonata-form movement's second half remained an option for Beethoven late in life, even after he had ostensibly broken definitively with the formal conventions of his Classical predecessors.