Sonatina in C: Allegro (Op. 20 No. 1, 1st movement)

Background

Friedrich Kuhlau (1786–1832) was born in Uelzen, in northern Germany. In 1810 he settled in Copenhagen, where he spent the rest of his life and became one of the leading musicians in Denmark. His music for the play Elverhøj (1828), which draws on Scandinavian folk melodies, is still performed there as a national classic.

Pianists, though, know him best for his sonatinas. A sonatina is a small sonata: the same plan of contrasting themes and keys, but shorter, simpler and written with learners in mind. Kuhlau's Three Sonatinas, Op. 20, in C, G and F major, were published around 1820 and became a standard step between easy pieces and the sonatas of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. This Allegro is the first movement of the first sonatina; the Andante and the Rondo follow it.

The movement is a complete sonata form in miniature. The first theme, in C major, climbs boldly up a broken chord; a second theme follows in G major, decorated with running scales; a short middle section adds tension over a held bass; and both themes return in C major to finish.

How to practise it

The movement is in 4/4 and has 80 bars. It opens with the right hand climbing a C major chord while the left hand plays broken chords around middle C:

Practise the left hand alone until the four-note pattern is even and quiet, with the thumb's repeated G the softest note. It returns in many bars with different chords, so a relaxed, rotating wrist pays off throughout.

The scales are the main technical challenge. The first big ones come in bars 24 to 29, in G major:

Break each run into groups of four and practise with a stop on every first note: stop, play four, stop. Then join pairs of groups, then the whole bar. Move the thumb under early, so there is no bump when it lands. Similar runs in C major close the movement (bars 73 to 78), climbing to the C three octaves above middle C.

Also look out for:

• bars 9 to 12, where the right hand alternates a G with two-note chords above it over long left-hand notes;
• bars 13 to 16, the same idea in C minor, in triplets (three notes to each beat);
• the middle section (from bar 39), where the right hand repeats two-note chords in eighth notes over a deep held bass.

Tempo ladder: 60, 80, 96, then the full 112. Aim for a bright, clear sound, the left hand always quieter than the right, and scales like strings of pearls, every note the same size.

The step from sonatina to sonata is the subject of the toward the sonatina unit.