Page 159 - ESSENTIAL LISTENING TO MUSIC

phrases; Example 9.1). Yet an unusual sense of urgency is created immediately by a throbbing accompaniment and the repeating, insistent eighth-note figure in the melody. This melodic motive, the most memorable aspect in the move- ment, is a falling half step (here E♭ to D), a tight interval used throughout the history of music to denote pain and suffering.
Example 9.1 > first theme: antecedent-consequent phrase structure
LiSTeN TO . . . Example 9.1 online.
œœœœœœŒ
Molto allegro antecedent œ œœ œ œœ consequent œ œœ #œ œ & 2 pviolins
bb2ÓŒœœœœœœœœœ Œ œœœœœŒœœœœœœœœœ Œ
Less immediately audible, but still contributing equally to the sense of ur- gency, is the accelerating rate of harmonic change. At the outset of the move- ment, chords are set beneath the melody at an interval of one chord every four measures, then one every two bars, then one every measure, then two chords per measure, and finally four. Thus, the “harmonic rhythm” is moving sixteen times faster at the end of this section than at the beginning! This is how Mozart creates the sense of drive and urgency we all feel yet may be unable to explain.
After this quickening start, the first theme begins once again but soon veers off its previous course, initiating the transition (0:30). Transitions take us some- where, usually by means of running scales, and this one is no exception. But a new motive is inserted, one so distinctive that we might call it a “transition theme” (Example 9.2).
Example 9.2 > transition theme Æ Æ Æ w.ÆœœÆÆœ
bb ˙‰œœ Œœœ &fJ
LiSTeN TO . . . Example 9.2 online.
LiSTeN TO . . . Example 9.3 online.
The transition concludes with a strong cadence (0:44) that clears the musi- cal stage for the entry of the soft second theme appearing in a new, major key (0:47; Example 9.3).
violins violins
Example 9.3 > second theme
clarinets œœ œ œ œ œ
b˙.nœb˙œ. œœ Œ. . œ. &bŒÓœœJŒ
For his closing theme (1:07), Mozart simply alludes to the feverish motive of the first theme.
development (download 25 at 3:34)
Here Mozart employs only the first theme, but subjects it to a variety of musical alterations. First he pushes it through several distantly related keys, next shapes
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