Tovey’s Analysis of Beethoven Sonata in F minor, op. 2, no. 1, mvt.

1
Tovey presents a thorough two-page narrative that serves as a guided listening
companion only when accompanied by a score of Beethoven’s first pianoforte sonata. Tovey
breaks down the theme (2-bar motive) into ‘a’ and ‘b’ and bases much of his analysis on the
transformation and appearances of these smaller ideas. Specifically mentioning each appearance
of ‘a’ and ‘b’ and their function within the harmony, melody, or form, Tovey guides the listener
to the motivic origin of much of the piece. In class, we follow a similar process, but only on a
larger level, grouping many measures together to find comparisons.
Additionally, Tovey draws careful attention to the sonata’s roadmap, much of his
emphasis being on the harmonic structure. Discussing the development, Tovey suggests, “In
three more steps this outlined sequence passes into F minor, and in two more bars (completing a
period) closes into its dominant-viz., the home dominant.” Whereas in class we neglected to
analysis bars 73-80 as anything more than a transition from the fragmentation of the original
motive to the final cadence of the development, Tovey suggests that these bars are a continuation
of the prior sequence (now without the theme) with a harmonic structure that leads to the final
cadence. Further, he specifies the role both the bass and the treble serve in this micro-transition
(bass being a syncopated outline with treble answering).
Unlike our analysis in class, Tovey also draws attention to the function of the
dynamics, namely the fortes and sforzandos that occur throughout the piece. Instead of playing a
role of mere excitement, Tovey suggests that the sforzando in bar 22, for example, was placed by
Beethoven in order to guide the ear back to the beginning of the four-bar phrases following an
overlap in phrases. By drawing attention to these other musical elements, Tovey helps guide a
pianist towards a more accurate performance of the piece.
With these strengths of Tovey’s analysis being said, I think Tovey misses the bigger
picture by getting so deep into the details. By using the score in our class, we were able to find
the large-scale connections between occurrences of the motive, an overarching harmonic
scheme, and clear breaks between sections of the sonata. Tovey breaks down the piece almost
measure-by-measure, detracting from the entire and whole form of the sonata.
As mentioned above, Tovey’s analysis could certainly be useful to performers, who must
do this thorough analysis to perform the sonata to a higher standard.