# Cyclic Structure and C.P.E. Bach's Prussian 3



## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

This was prompted by a discussion with "Funny" about Haydn's innovations.

There are several ways in which Prussian 3 is a more interesting and important essay in cyclic structure than Haydn 46. First, it was almost certainly more influential, as that set of sonatas was widely published and known, whereas the Haydn was for internal consumption at Esterhazy. Second, the Haydn, as you probably know by now, pretty much does exactly what the Bach C minor Concerto does. The main reason it is more important, however, is that its cyclic connection between movements is not just an interesting experiment, as in the Haydn; The slow movement's connection to the opening movement in the Bach is a necessary response to issues and imbalances left unresolved in the first movement. There is therefore a genuine organic, structural reason it is based on the first movement. (And the fact that it does not reprise the first movement theme, but instead quotes its pitches precisely but in varied form, makes it a stronger example of cyclic integration that a mere quotation.) To what issues and imbalances does it respond? The answer requires a closer look at the first movement than I can give here. But: the principal theme of this sonata anticipates one of Beethoven's most important innovations by 65 years, in that it is a dramatic scene that cannot be literally recapitulated. It contains an internal contrast of mode (parallel minor in m. 9!) and a strong antagonistic element that disrupts its progress (16-22), and these elements play out at a structural level. Note that the development asserts the dark minor mode branch of the principal theme, ending with a tense onsalught in C# minor. The recap of the principal theme is then severely truncated and fragmented, almost as if the onslaught shattered it. The original 29 measures are cut down to 8. More important, those 8 measures starkly dramatize the modal conflict. First the opening in major mode is stated, and then immediately, after an uncomfortable pause, its antithesis in minor mode. In this way, the minor mode branch dominates the end of the movement, a single lonely phrase of the opening theme in E major surrounded on both sides by dark statements in minor mode. In this way Bach creates a dramatic imbalance that demands a response later in the cycle. The second movement is that response, which is why it both incorporates the first movement theme wholesale and uses the key (C# minor) in which the dramatic onslaught of the first movement development takes place.

My conclusion is that Prussian 3 is arguably the most important experiment in dramatic sonata form before Beethoven, in that its thematic structures and their implications at the cyclic level are governed by expressive considerations with psychological implications.

P.S. - Measures 16-22 are a prime example of irregular phrase structure of the kind you noted in Haydn 44.[/QUOTE]


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