Harmonic Standards and their Doublings

One aspect of Harmony that is often neglected both in textbooks and in undergraduate theory courses is the topic of harmonic doublings and the related question of harmonic spacing. The careful understanding of these issues and their examination in masterworks can bring enormous insight into the compositional process not often available through standard harmonic analysis…

Beethoven’s Appassionata - Rethinking Movement 2

After examining the manuscript to the second movement of Beethoven’s Appassionata Sonata Op. 57, I have come to believe that there exist striking examples of manuscript misreadings in three passages from the famous second movement. The areas in question are mm. 6-7,  mm. 62-63 and mm. 86-87