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Beethoven's Hammerklavier: The Case of the Missing Dominant and Mysterious A#

A hallmark feature of the classical sonata is the conflict of the dominant key area and the grand return to tonic. But what happens when dominant is subverted at every opportunity? This case study of the first movement of Beethoven's longest piano sonata will explore how Beethoven, through triadic transformations and enharmonic reinterpretations, uses the subdominant instead of the dominant in all crucial secondary key areas. This leads to one of the most controversial passages in all of the piano repertoire: is the retransition supposed to be played with an A-sharp or A-natural? 

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