Piano Sonata No. 6 in F major, Op. 10 No. 2 — complete

D.2 Pace a complete three-movement sonata

Learn all three movements of Beethoven’s F-major Sonata, Op. 10 No. 2. Map the first movement’s key areas and compare corresponding passages before planning the contrasts and pauses across the complete sonata. Rehearse the finale’s independent entries without letting every new entrance become a heavy accent. The galant keyboard task is phrase-building practice of its own; it is not the sonata’s bass. The C-major voicing warm-up trains balance in an easy key; then bring that balance into the sonata. The card’s C-minor Neapolitan example shows the chord and how it leads to the dominant; call a chord in the sonata Neapolitan only when its notes are those.

Ideas

• Sonata form
• Large forms and cycles
• Legato, staccato and slurs
• The Neapolitan sixth

Theory cards

• A cycle's key plan
• Explaining a rewritten return
• The Neapolitan sixth

Technique

• F major scale, hands together, 4 octaves
• C major moving top voice above held chordal voices, hands together