Piano Sonata in F major Op.10 No.2 (1798)

The Sonata in F major has always been overshadowed by its two companions in the Op.10 set. And so, since it is clearly not the most ambitious of them, it should be. It has nothing to compare with, say, the dramatic continuity of the Allegro molto con brio of Op.10 No.1 in

C minor or the expressive abundance of the Largo of Op.10 No.3 in D. On the other hand, neither of those works has anything like its witty evasion of expectations. The modest little opening theme scarcely has time to make its presence felt as the first subject of the Allegro before the key changes for the more assertive second subject. Emerging from a briefly stormy C minor harmonies, the opening theme tries again but ony to be displaced this time by the comedy of the right hand crossing between bright octaves at the upper end of the keyboard and a rumbling trill at the other. It is excluded from the development, which concerns itself with less obvious material, and when it is recalled it is in the wrong key, which calls for hasty harmonic adjustment.

The Allegretto eludes definition. It is a scherzo in its ternary shape but not, in the uneasy F minor outer sections, in spirit. With hindsight focused on the easy-going D flat major middle section, it is difficult to avoid thinking of it as a Schubert impromptu. There is a stronger scherzo element in the closing Presto. It begins as a fugue but it is too inconsistent in texture to be anything more than a pretend fugue or joke fugue. On the other hand, it develops a comparaitvely serious contrapuntal and bravura intensity before, in the closing bars, good humour returns in the regular rhythms of yet another variant of the versatile main theme.