Page:Rolland - Beethoven, tr. Hull, 1927.pdf/169

 typical Beethoven one, evolved from a short figure of two bars. Some brilliant passage work then occurs. It was certainly Beethoven's custom at this early period to regard such passages in a more physical sense. The second subject enters with a dominant minor section, followed by a major section, in which appears some fine canonic work. The minor part of this subject, which was adapted from an early pianoforte quartet which Beethoven had written in his youthful period, abounds in the turns and trills characteristic of that time. The broken octaves in the coda are frequently rendered now-a-days by alternate double octaves between the two hands in demisemiquavers.

The development is much more Beethovenish, containing some striking double octave cataclysms. There is also a very fine enharmonic change from an F minor chord to F sharp minor. The Coda is noteworthy as it includes some fine arpeggio effects and a striking slow cadenza.

The second movement, Adagio in E major, opens with one of Beethoven's dignified slow themes, which is sandwiched in Rondo fashion with disturbing episodes throughout. The first episode (in E minor) contains conversational work between the bass and the treble, the left hand crossing the right for the latter. At the end of the return of the first theme, there is a very striking example of an interrupted cadence—the dominant chord of E major being followed by the tonic chord of C.