ANALYSIS, INTERPRETATION, AND THE CHROMATICTHIRD RELATIONS OF BEETHOVEN’S NO.8, OP.13 PATHETIQUE SONATA, ADAGIO CANTABILE

This paper suggests a reading of Beethoven’s No. 8, Op. 13 Pathetique Sonata Adagio Cantabile that provides a pedagogical model. This analysis offers ways for students to interpret the compositional organizations and engages them with what happens in the music, why it happens, how it happens, and what is achieved. Thus, the paper does not attempt to hierarchize the major constructs as a Schenkerian approach would, interpret the extra musical content, or search for a hermeneutic meaning of the music, even though music analysis is a multi-dimensional activity. Rather, the paper considers “how does it work?” (Bent, 2001) and looks at the structural functions and interprets them during the process. In doing so, it provides a pedagogical tool to show how to read a musical piece linearly and examine the structural elements to aid understanding, performance, and interpretation. This paper also shows the chromatic major third relations of the piece and how Beethoven used the borders of the tonality of his time in the light of Riemannian theories. Beethoven’s chromatic major third relations, particularly (A♭- [C] – E) collections, pushed the borders of the tonality because of the contemporary tuning practices; as well, they were significant because the nineteenth century composers used these relations as a model. Keywords: Beethoven, Pathetique Sonata, Chromatic Third Relations, Riemannian Analysis, Hexatonic Cycle.