help about beethoven sonata 1 f minor

[AFarPlace]

hi (new here, 1st post ),
I'm studying beethoven sonata 1 in f minor, and I was wondering if someone could help me find neapolitans and or augmented 6 chords in here.

it's truly beginning to confuse me...

thanks!

-a far place

[stevel]

Originally Posted by AFarPlace

hi (new here, 1st post ),
I'm studying beethoven sonata 1 in f minor, and I was wondering if someone could help me find neapolitans and or augmented 6 chords in here.

it's truly beginning to confuse me...

thanks!

-a far place

Hmm. It's exam week at our university - could you be cheating???

On other theory boards regular posters often see a huge increase in theory-related questions during exam time!!!

But let's assume you're doing this for your own meritorious study :-)

Still, I'm not going to tell you directly, I'm going to tell you how to find them, so you can also find them in other works:

First, the thing to do is to go through the piece and look for key centers.

It begins in F minor right? So, what interval spells the +6 in f minor?

Db - Bn (or Bn to Db spelled as a o3 in some cases). Look for this interval occurring simultaneously and it's likely an +6 chord.

The next thing to do, if you're uncertain about the key centers, is to look for LIKELY key centers. Minor key pieces will most likely modulate to the Relative Major, and minor Dominant.
This means:
cm
fm - Ab

Other common key centers include the minor subdominant and the relative Majors of the others, so:
cm - Eb
fm - Ab
Bbm - Db

Then you look for the +6 interval in each of those:
cm - Ab-F#
Bbm - Gb - En

+6 chords are *somewhat* less common in major keys, but I'll let you figure out the ones for Eb, Ab, and Db.

Now, for Neapolitans - do you know what scale degree Neapolitans are built on? b2.

So, for fm, you'd be looking for Gbs. for all the related keys:
cm - Dbs
fm - Gbs
Bbm - Cbs

Again, Neapolitans are more common in minor, but you should figure out the major key ones just in case.

as a side note, you need to make sure you're aware of the key - for example, in fm, Db is a diatonic note. But in cm, it's the note of the Neapolitan. So there will be plenty of Db chords in fm, but none of those will be N - only when the key center is cm will the Db represent N (be careful though, you have to make sure it spells a bII chord, and not something like E-G-Bb-Db - viio7/iv)

Now, something you should know: Beethoven used Enharmonic Modulations. An Enharmonic Modulation is where a chord in one key is reinterpreted as a chord with a different function in some other key. For example:
Db-F-Ab-Bn is a Ger+6 in fm.

Db-F-Ab-Cb is a V7 in Gb Major (Gb minor too)

Composers (like Beet) would spell a chord as a Ger+6 for example, but resolve it as if it were a V7 of some other key to modulate to that key. Interestingly, the I chord of the key that a Ger+6 moves to when being reinterpreted as a V7 is the key of bII - or - you guessed it, the Neapolitan!!!

So you have to be careful - you can be in Fm, see a Ger+6, and it lead to a Gb chord, but not be an actual modulation, and the Gb be the N. Or, you could actually modulate to the key of Gb!

So I'll make a deal with you (since it is exam time :-) - you tell me where you think a Ger+6 or N is, and I'll tell you if you're on the right track or not.

If you need more clues, let me know.

Fair?

Best,
Steve