SEVEN FANTASIES (FANTASIEN) FOR PIANO, OP. 116
Recording: Martin Jones, pianist [NI 1788]
Published 1892.

Brahms’s plan to retire after publishing the G-major String Quintet in 1891 did not hold.  After the playing of clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld inspired him to compose the Clarinet Trio and Clarinet Quintet in 1982, but before the two clarinet sonatas, he was inspired to write and publish a total of twenty masterful short piano pieces, the first time he had composed solo music for his own instrument since the Op. 79 Rhapsodies in 1880.  Arranged in four sets and published in 1892 (Opp. 116-117) and 1893 (Opp. 118-119), the pieces are collectively known as the “late piano music.”  They are often described as “introspective” or “autumnal,” and while there is virtuosity, there is also much subtlety and hidden difficulty.  The obvious precursor would be the Eight Pieces, Op. 76 from 1879, which consists of four numbers called “Capriccio” and four called “Intermezzo.”  Those titles are used for the late music as well, but the former is only present in this first set, which is distinguished by the title “Fantasies.”  (For Opp. 118 and 119, he simply used the generic “Klavierstücke” [“Piano Pieces”], with Op. 117 set apart as “Three Intermezzi.”)  Although all four sets benefit from complete performance, Op. 116 is the most like a suite or even a sonata-like structure.  It begins and ends with Capriccios in the same D-minor key and agitated character, and the sequence of three E-centered Intermezzi (Nos. 4-6) could be seen as a sectional “slow movement.”  The central Capriccio, No. 3, has the definite character of a scherzo, and the melancholy Intermezzo No. 2 provides another slow movement.  The key structure is logical, staying within the circle-of-fifths orbit G, D, A, and E.  Nos. 4 and 6 are the only ones in major (both E).  The forms are more nebulous here than in the other sets, especially in the hauntingly beautiful No. 4, whose opening gesture is the most prominent formal marker.  No. 3 and No. 6 are the closest models for the straight ternary forms seen in the other sets (especially Op. 118).  The central episode of No. 3 is one of the last stretches of “heroic” music Brahms wrote.  No. 5 is a particularly strange piece whose look on the score page, if not its sound, appears unusually “modern” and austere.  Chains of thirds pervade the three Capriccios and are implicit through the Intermezzi, providing another binding link, and two-against-three rhythms are common, as are internal melodies.  Containing as it does the last three pieces called “Capriccio,” Op. 116 could be seen as a transition between the earlier Op. 76 and the remaining late sets.  Of those other thirteen late pieces, ten are titled Intermezzo.  Two pieces from Op. 118 have unique titles (“Ballade”--otherwise seen only in Op. 10--and “Romance”), while the closing piece of Op. 119 is a more extended “Rhapsody” akin to the two of Op. 79.

IMSLP WORK PAGE
ONLINE SCORE FROM IMSLP (First Edition from Brahms-Institut Lübeck)
ONLINE SCORE FROM IMSLP (Peters Edition, edited by Emil von Sauer [1910])
ONLINE SCORE FROM IMSLP (from Breitkopf & Härtel Sämtliche Werke--contains significant misprint in m. 30 of No. 3)

BOOK I:
1. CAPRICCIO.  Presto energico (Sonata-like form with “reversed” reprise).  D MINOR, 3/8 time.
First Section (“Exposition”)
0:00 [m. 1]--Theme 1.  The first measure establishes the “angry” fast repeated-octave pattern, with a rolled chord on the first beat, but already on the last beat of the 3/8 measure the left hand obscures the meter, holding its chord over the bar line.  The right hand plays a powerful sequence of descending thirds (the first inverted upward to a sixth).  The highly syncopated left-hand chords imitate the sequence.  To close off the phrase, the right-hand motion stalls on three-note descents, circling around “dominant” and “subdominant” harmonies reiterated in the left hand, both hands forcefully emphasizing the last beats of the 3/8 measures.  The right hand “leans” into the downbeats.  Finally, the “subdominant” is altered, adding the note E.
0:10 [m. 9]--The whole sequence is repeated, but the hands are reversed in the first four measures.  The right hand plays the former left-hand chords two octaves higher, while the left hand inverts the sequence of descending thirds to all ascending sixths, creating a much wider range than the previous right-hand statement.  The second half, with the “circling” harmonies and “leaning” into downbeats on three-note descents, restores the hands to their original positions.
0:15 [m. 17]--A short concluding extension is added to the second statement that restores the proper sense of meter.  The right hand has descending chords while the left alternates steadily rising low bass octaves on the downbeats with gestures in rising and falling harmonized thirds.  The altered “subdominant” with the E is heard again, creating a “diminished” harmony.  The extension closes with yet another alteration, transforming the “subdominant” on G to a “dominant” harmony that itself will lead into another “dominant” chord (on C) in the “relative” key of F major.
0:17 [m. 21]--Transition.  The quieter but surging transition begins with a chromatic rising sequence of left-hand octaves followed by right-hand chords at the distance of one short eighth-note beat, creating a “duple” alternation that disrupts the fast 3/8 meter.  It can also be heard as four 3/4 bars superimposed on eight 3/8 measures.  The left-hand octaves rise by half-step, as does the middle voice of the right-hand chords, the outer right-hand notes remaining static.  Halfway through, the right hand changes direction and has two separate downward gestures, its outer voices now active, and the left hand also separates into two gestures that move down after an initial half-step, the left hand octaves now expanded to chords.
0:22 [m. 29]--Another sequence is very similar, but now the outer voices of the right-hand chords also move up by half-step instead of remaining static.  The left-hand patterns now have low octaves leaping up and back down to two-note or three-note harmonies.  Despite the many chromatic notes, the key is easily recognizable as F major due to reiterations of the “dominant” note C in the bass.  The metric disruption is the same as before.  Halfway through, the downward gestures in the right hand begin from a higher level, incorporating more chromatic notes borrowed from minor.  There is still a strong pull toward F.
0:26 [m. 37]--Theme 2 (F major).  After a low bass C, a new four-measure pattern is established.  The right hand, in octaves and beginning off the beat, reaches up, then descends in syncopated longer notes.  The left hand follows it with a straight descent in eighth-note octaves outlining a colorful “diminished seventh” chord.  In the second statement, the right hand reaches to a higher top note, and the left hand begins a step higher.  In the third and fourth statements, which build strongly, the right hand (which had been less “chromatic”) again reaches higher, but continues to rise on the syncopated notes instead of descending, now also establishing the colorful “diminished seventh” arpeggio along with the left-hand descents.
0:35 [m. 53]--The top of the fourth pattern lands on the “dominant” chord, with the hands widely spaced.  This is reiterated as the hands leap inward, and then there is a powerful cadential downbeat arrival on the F-major chord, the hands leaping outward.  As forceful as it is, the arrival is brief, and it is immediately followed by another inward leap to a “half-diminished” (non-chromatic but unstable) chord, which is held for three measures to close off the “exposition.”
Second Section (“Development”)
0:39 [m. 59]--The “development” begins with a statement of the main Theme 1 sequence, but it begins with an A-major chord before the right hand leaps up a ninth to its original level.  The first four measures are newly harmonized with the “dominant” chord on A.  The last four measures return to the original notes.
0:44 [m. 67]--Beginning with a leaping octave on A, the harmonized Theme 1 material is tossed from hand to hand, spread over multiple octaves, beginning quietly and building.  The only breaks in the hand-to-hand tossing occur when the lower voice of the right hand moves from upbeat to downbeat in the second half of the phrase.  This statement establishes the key of A minor.  The patterns from the second half are then extended by four measures before both hands, the right following the left, land on a E-major chord.  This chord is held for two measures before the bass slides down a half-step and an inner voice of the right hand slides up.  This creates a new chord (G-sharp major with a dissonant held E), also held two measures.
0:53 [m. 83]--The G-sharp-major chord becomes the “dominant” in a new and remote key, C-sharp minor, where the Theme 1 melody is again tossed from hand to hand at a higher level.  The “tossing” is now continual, with prominent echo effects between the hands.  After ten measures, the “sharp” notes are re-spelled as “flat” notes, helping to shift the key center to B-flat, in a mixture of major and minor.  The notes on the page are visually striking, but the close relationship of B-flat minor to D-flat major (the “major” version of C-sharp minor) makes the key change sound less distant than it looks.  It happens over another ten measures of steadily downward-moving hand tossing.  The whole passage is a very quiet pianissimo.
1:05 [m. 103]--Theme 2 is given an extended development in B-flat minor, over reiterated bass octaves.  As usual, the right hand begins off the beat and lands on a syncopated long note (now one note held over three measures) while the left hand plunges down on a “diminished seventh” arpeggio.  The right hand twice alternates between the familiar rising gesture and a new stepwise descending one.  The first right-hand gesture turns down to the syncopated note, and the third one turns up to it.  The left-hand arpeggios move up a half-step each time.  There is a buildup in volume over the last two gestures.
1:14 [m. 119]--The right hand, beginning high and forte, has a new version of its gesture, plunging down and changing its syncopation from one long note to the original three shorter ones.  The left-hand arpeggio again moves up a half-step.  A second statement of this new right-hand gesture begins a sixth lower, as does the left-hand arpeggio in response (still on a “diminished seventh,” as usual).  The right-hand syncopations are extended over five more measures, steadily moving down by half-steps, whole steps, or thirds, greatly diminishing in volume.  The left-hand arpeggio also continues down over this extension, holding notes for a full bar every other measure.  Over this extended statement, the right hand has reached into the bass range.
Third Section (“Reversed Reprise”)
1:22 [m. 132]--The reprise is “reversed,” with the transition and Theme 2 stated before the final return of Theme 1.  Here, the transition from 0:17 [m. 21] is stated in B-flat, moved down a fifth from the original F.  Both the left-hand octaves and the surging right-hand chords are transposed directly down.
1:27 [m. 140]--This is also a transposition from 0:22 [m. 29], but the right hand is moved an octave higher than the previous statement at 1:22 [m. 132], placing it above where it was in the “exposition” rather than below.  The left hand stays at the level where it has been, which is lower than it was in the earlier corresponding statement.  Thus, the hands are significantly farther apart than they were then.
1:31 [m. 148]--Theme 2 (B-flat major).  Instead of down a fifth, Theme 2 is transposed up a fourth.  The Theme 2 sequence from 0:26 [m. 37] is given at this higher level.
1:40 [m. 164]--As at 0:35 [m. 53], the top of the fourth Theme 2 pattern lands on the widely spaced “dominant” chord.  There is an inward leap and an outward leap as before, but with a major change.  The bass on the “inward” leap moves unexpectedly up a half-step, creating a “diminished seventh” instead of another “dominant” chord.  Then the outward leap moves not to a forceful cadence on B-flat, but “deceptively” to the chord of its “relative” G minor.  The next inward leap is to another new chord, with the bass moving up to G-sharp.  This is the so-called “augmented sixth” chord.  It will lead naturally to the “dominant” in the home key of D minor.  It is held three measures, like the earlier corresponding chord.
1:44 [m. 170]--As predicted, the unstable sustained “augmented sixth” chord leads forcefully outward to the widely spaced chord of A major, fortissimo.  After being held for a measure, both hands tumble down in alternation, moving to another “diminished” seventh and then to the D-minor chord before finally landing on another sustained “dominant” chord (now a more strongly preparatory “dominant seventh”) in the low register, with the left hand reaching to the A that is the lowest note on the keyboard.  It is held for two bars.
1:47 [m. 176]--Theme 1.  Beginning with a lower chord, the original eight-measure opening phrase begins, but at the seventh measure, there is a sudden extension.  Three more of the familiar three-note harmonized descending gestures are given, all starting on the last beat of the measure and continuing to obscure the downbeat.  The left-hand chords rise steadily with these right-hand gestures, and the volume builds.  Then the descending gestures are shortened to two notes against two-beat chords, completely obscuring the meter and continuing to rise.  After three of these, a fourth is suddenly held and restores the metric sense with another descent and a fifth two-beat left-hand chord.  Three “pre-dominant” chords follow on downbeats.
1:56 [m. 192]--Somehow, all of the metric disruption just heard resulted in a square sixteen-measure unit.  When the pure “dominant” chord finally arrives in the right hand after the previous “suspended” chord, the left hand begins the Theme 1 pattern, again utilizing the lowest A on the piano to start.  The right hand imitates it an octave above on the next measure.  The descending thirds are all inverted to rising sixths.  Each hand plays four three-note gestures, now without any metric disruption or emphasis on the last beat.  They reach from very low to very high.  After the sequence, with the right hand imitating the left on a final rising sixth, three “pre-dominant” chords are heard, set higher than before, the last a “suspended” chord.
2:00 [m. 200]--The “dominant” arrives again, and the pattern of the right hand imitating the left on rising sixths is heard again, this time beginning on C-sharp.  After each hand again plays four three-note gestures and the right hand again imitates the left on a final rising sixth, the arrival chord is the “subdominant,” the left hand leaping down to create very wide spacing.  This leads to a classic final cadence from the “dominant” to the final D-minor chord, the left hand leaping back up, but adding a low rolled grace-note octave to the last held chord.  Everything from the three chords preceding 1:56 [m. 192] is indicated as accelerating, stringendo, to toward the rising sixth imitations and the final D-minor cadence.
2:12--END OF PIECE [207 mm.]

2. INTERMEZZO.  Andante - Non troppo presto - Andante (ABA’A or expanded ternary form).  A MINOR, 3/4 and 3/8 time.
A Section--Andante, 3/4 time
0:00 [m. 1]--Most of this piece is at a quiet level.  The halting, melancholy main theme in the right hand begins with two eighth notes on the first beat, harmonized in thirds, then lands on the second beat with a chord, usually stalling for the rest of the measure (except for the third measure of each phrase).  The left hand accompanies with widely rising triplet arpeggios that clash with the right-hand rhythm, also holding on the second beat.  After the thematic gesture moves up, then down, it pushes forth over the third measure to an arrival on the “dominant” in the fourth. 
0:14 [m. 5]--In the “answering” phrase, the first two gestures push higher.  There is then a descent to a cadence.  The right hand begins the descent in the third measure, then the left hand, dropping its triplets, continues the descent more than two octaves below, echoing the main rhythm and supporting the right-hand cadence.  The drooping cadence is reiterated in an extra fifth measure, both hands moving an octave lower.
0:29 [m. 10]--The first phrase is presented in varied form, beginning with four eighth notes instead of two and landing on the third beat instead of the second.  The left hand also expands its triplet rhythm to two beats and two arpeggios.  The third measure, as before, pushes through without the pause, the left-hand triplets becoming wave-like.  The measure with the “dominant” arrival is as before.
0:40 [m. 14]--The “answering” phrase is also varied in a similar way, but even the first two measures now push forth without the pause in both hands.  The descent in the third measure retains the continuous motion, as does the rhythmic echo in the left hand.  In the reiteration of the cadence an octave lower, the left hand drops the first note of its descent.  Brahms marks that this reiteration should slow down, ritardando.
B Section--Non troppo presto, 3/8 time
0:57 [m. 19]--The faster middle section retains the key of A minor.  Brahms indicates that the quarter note in the previous “Andante” should equal a full 3/8 measure here.  In the first five-measure unit, a melody emerges in broken octaves from the right hand in the high treble, molto piano e legato.  It is written so that ascending octaves alternate with descending ones, which is difficult to execute.  Brahms provides an easier ossia alternative with all descending octaves, resulting in a less broken-sounding melody.  The left hand has two voices in the lower treble, the top voice in a rising long-short rhythm (echoing the rhythm of the A section?) and the lower arching up and down.  The melodic arrival on A pauses and is reiterated.
1:02 [m. 24]--The same pattern continues for a contrasting phrase, also five measures.  It hints at a motion toward E minor, but never arrives there.  The top voice of the left hand adds a third “lead-in” note in the third measure.  The fifth measure is a transition back to the original phrase and is in fact the same as its first measure except for the direction of the broken octaves.  There is a buildup in volume and rising melodic pitch to this point.  After this, the first five-measure unit is repeated, quieting back down.
1:14 [m. 34]--The first four measures of the contrasting phrase are played again, with the buildup.  At the fifth measure, there is a new continuation that turns toward D minor.  It reaches higher, reiterating its first measure, then breaks into a downward zigzagging pattern (complicated by the alternating directions of the broken octaves).  This creates a two-beat pattern that goes against the 3/8 meter, and this is also reflected in both voices of the left hand.  As the pattern descends, the volume diminishes.  The sense of 3/8 meter returns after three measures of the “zigzag,” with an extended, stretched-out arrival back on A minor.  At the point of that arrival, the left-hand patterns echo the “zigzag” and turn toward major, quieting greatly.
A’ Section--Andante, A major, 3/4 time
1:35 [m. 51]--The identity of this new major-key section as a variant of the main theme is subtly concealed.  It is primarily evident in the left-hand arpeggios, which are largely the same, except for a straight-rhythm ascent in the fourth measure.  But in the right hand, the voices are inverted, giving the melody a different contour.  The repeated eighth notes are omitted from the first beat, and on the emphasized second beat of the first two measures, a limpid, halting short-long descent is added, along with rolled harmony, giving it even more weight.  The major key completely transforms the character, and it is played with fuller volume.
1:47 [m. 55]--The second phrase is structurally the same as the first, but both hands are moved an octave higher, creating an ethereal dolce sound, and the downbeats of the first three measures return to the familiar repeated eighth notes, creating a clearer connection to the original theme.  The emphasized second beats now have the short-long descents notated as grace notes, and there is no rolled harmony.
1:59 [m. 59]--Moving back down to the lower octave, the last two measures are given a varied repetition, with the right hand beginning off the beat and breaking into continuous motion.  In the second of these varied measures, on the “dominant” E-major harmony, the hands work back up to the higher register, building strongly in volume to the only true forte of the piece.  The next measure introduces a “zigzagging” harmony over a held “dominant” E, the harmonies moving down from B to A to G and quickly transitioning to the minor key.  The following measure concludes with a descent of four parallel chords in first inversion (“sixth” chords), leading back to the “dominant” harmony.
2:09 [m. 63]--The next transitional measures are remarkable.  The left hand emerges into a wide descending arpeggio, leaping down by fifths until reaching the bass and finally turning up a fourth.  These bass notes support harmonies in the right hand that create unstable “seventh” chords moving through the “circle of fifths.”  The second measure repeats the harmonic pattern, but the bass notes arch up and back down.  The right-hand chords also turn back up after descending.  The volume reduces drastically, and the speed increases, then slows.  The measure’s last chord “resets” the motion, creating a circular repetition of four chords that mildly disrupts the metric flow.  A second sequence leads directly into the main theme.
A Section
2:17 [m. 66]--The conclusion is mostly an exact repetition of the original A section with just a couple of striking variants and expansions at the end.  It is best to simply label it as A.  The arrival from the previous transition has the two right-hand voices moving out by half-step, resembling the modal “Phrygian” cadence.  The first four measures are as at the beginning of the piece.
2:28 [m. 70]--“Answering” phrase with reiterated cadence in an “extra” fifth measure, as at 0:14 [m. 5].
2:44 [m. 75]--Varied, more active version of first phrase, as at 0:29 [m. 10].
2:55 [m. 79]--This ending portion is the only spot where there is deviation from the original A section.  The first two measures of the “varied” answering phrase from 0:40 [m. 14] are expanded to four measures.  This is done in the first original measure by slowing the right-hand harmonies after the two initial eighth notes to two rising quarter notes, still over triplets, then giving an entire three-beat measure to the enriched last harmony.  In the second original measure, expanded to the third and fourth, the forward-pushing eighth-note motion is retained, and new harmonies are introduced, including a new “diminished seventh.”  These push to another full measure chord, with delayed left-hand motion to a dissonant “diminished seventh.”
3:07 [m. 83]--The closing measures are as they were before, with the descent in the right hand and the rhythmic echo in the left, but in the reiteration of the cadence an octave lower, the slowing of the left-hand descent with the harmonies above it is written out, expanding it to two measures.  Thus, the original five-measure “answering” phrase has been expanded to eight total measures.
3:26--END OF PIECE [86 mm.]

3. CAPRICCIO.  Allegro passionato - Un poco meno Allegro - Tempo I (Ternary form).  G MINOR, Cut time [2/2].
A Section--Allegro passionato
0:00 [m. 1]--The right hand begins with a forceful downward descent, two thirds then a step, holding the top G.  That note becomes the top note of a “diminished” chord as the left hand enters with an arpeggio.  The melody in the right hand continues with rising notes, punctuated underneath by off-beat chords as the left-hand arpeggio becomes jagged.  The pattern is given again more than an octave lower, with the top note on B-flat.  The rising notes in the continuation now begin with an upward leap. 
0:07 [m. 5]--This two-pattern sequence is repeated, but after the initial descent and chord, the right hand reaches up and plunges down with melodic notes.  The left hand changes the direction of its arpeggio, and it plays the original rising melodic notes an octave lower (alternating with a reiterated D below) under the new plunging notes in the right hand.  The second, lower pattern is similarly changed, but now after the chord, the right hand melody descends by step against the original upward gesture (again an octave lower, alternating with a reiterated bass D) in the left hand.
0:12 [m. 9]--In a contrasting passage, the hands join in unison octaves.  They play an arching pattern beginning with descending thirds, also turning up on rising thirds.  The first note is held throughout until the last, which is indicated as being melodic.  The pattern is repeated.  A third statement of this arching pattern is a step higher.  The fourth measure also begins a step higher, but instead of the arching pattern, the initial descent is given twice (with the top note held), leading into the restatement of the initial theme.
0:16 [m. 13]--The opening gestures are played again, but with an important and striking change at the beginning.  The initial downward descent stretches its original eighth notes to quarter notes, as the left hand plays another downward descent continuing from the contrasting passage.  The chord, which had taken up three beats and was held over a bar line, is shortened to the first beat of the second measure so that the overall length is not changed.  From that point, both hands match the statement of the two initial gestures.
0:21 [m. 17]--The second statement of the two-pattern sequence, with the new right-hand melodic notes against the original ones in the left hand, is given as at 0:07 [m. 5].
0:26 [m. 21]--Another contrasting passage in unison octaves begins, with the arching patterns starting a step lower than before.  The first one is repeated, as before.  The third one now begins a half-step lower (repeating the last note of the previous pattern).  The fourth measure also moves down a half-step and features two descents, as before, but now there is a subtle alteration to the second arpeggio, whose last note is a half-step lower.
0:30 [m. 25]--The next measure begins with the same top note (C) and another descent, again with the arpeggio altered.  From there, a rising sequence of descending arpeggios follows, with each held top note rising a half-step.  This continues over seven total arpeggios (including the first one), rising from C to F-sharp.  At that point, they cut off, leaving the second half of the fourth measure empty.  Although the level has been loud and forceful throughout, there is a crescendo through this rising sequence.
0:35 [m. 29]--The first half of the next measure is also empty.  After this pause, the descent from the opening is stretched out again as a final cadence, now not only to quarter notes, but to half notes.  The descent is heard as an internal voice under a reiterated G.  Against it, the left hand plays two arpeggios in triplet quarter notes, each leaving out the first note of one triplet and the last of another.  (NOTE: There is a misprint here in the Breitkopf & Härtel complete edition, reprinted by Dover--the middle-voice note in the right hand at the beginning of measure 30 should be C, not a tied E-flat.)  Another similar descent is now heard in bass octaves, leading down to low G, punctuated by the “triplet” arpeggios in the right hand.  A held G-minor chord, punctuated by another low G, closes out the A section, completing a six-measure unit.
B Section--Un poco meno Allegro, E-flat major, rounded binary form
0:46 [m. 35]--Part 1.  The slower major-key B section is concerned with generally rising figures in quarter-note triplets that fit into a melodic shape reminiscent of the main melody from the A section.  Beginning quietly, these rising triplets are first heard in the bass under right-hand chords, then imitated in a middle voice of the right hand.  As the melody rises in the right hand, the triplets are heard together in both hands, in parallel, then contrary motion.  The triplets emerge into the melody itself, reaching high as the volume builds.  They then move to the plunging left hand, creating a two-against-three cross rhythm with the right-hand melody before moving back to the middle.  This last pattern is the intensified at a higher level.
0:57 [m. 41]--The character has become noble and heroic, and the key has moved toward the “dominant,” B-flat.  Now the triplets surge forth in rising right-hand chords, expanded to a full six-note group before reaching the top, forte, and working back down in another six-note group, all creating two-against-three cross-rhythms with the leaping left hand, which plays octaves and rolled chords in “straight” rhythm.  After this climax, the triplets pass between rising left-hand octaves and falling right-hand harmonies, the latter reaching higher in a second exchange.  The left-hand octaves settle into a cadence on B-flat.  In the first ending (m. 46a), the triplets move to an inner voice, and B-flat is converted back to a “dominant” harmony.
1:10 [m. 35]--Part 1 repeated.  Introduction of the quarter-note triplets and the melodic shape derived from the A section, as at 0:46.
1:21 [m. 41]--Climax settling down to B-flat cadence, as at 0:57.  The second ending (m. 46b) still changes B-flat back to a “dominant” harmony, but the triplets now continue through the measure, propelling the music toward the abrupt harmonic shift that begins Part 2.
1:33 [m. 47]--Part 2.  The key suddenly changes to G major, and there, triplet figures in the rising bass frame a triplet descent in right-hand chords.  These right-hand chords then arch down against an upward arch in the left hand.  Finally, the right-hand chords leap up and down in “straight” rhythm against a downward triplet arch in the bass.  A steady buildup begins.  The whole pattern begins again at a louder level and still building.  The right-hand chords are higher and have different orientation.  After the first alternation, the right-hand chords reach high, plunging down against the left hand, which leaps from rolled chords to low octaves in “straight” rhythm.
1:47 [m. 54]--Another plunging descent at the climax makes an artful harmonic shift with a C-minor chord, again against the leaping bass in “straight” rhythm.  This leads to the area of C minor and its “relative” key E-flat (the home key of the B section).  Both hands descend in alternation in the triplet rhythm.  After two measures, the left hand continues and reiterates its descent under right-hand chords in the next two measures, and the harmony begins to favor C minor.  This is confirmed in the two transitional measures that follow, as both hands slow to “straight” rhythm and the volume diminishes.  While these transitional bars are in C minor, they lead smoothly to E-flat for the succeeding return of the Part 1 material.
2:01 [m. 61]--The material from Part 1 returns, and its first two measures are given as at 0:46 and 1:10 [m. 35].  The third measure, where the triplets were heard together in both hands, begins as before, but then diverges, with the triplets shifted higher.  A rising sequence of triplet chords in the right hand, like those heard at 0:57 [m. 41], builds to a full-hearted climax in E-flat.  The right-hand chords leap down in “straight” rhythm against triplets in the left hand.  The right hand then joins the triplets.  That pattern, with the downward right-hand leap, is then heard an octave lower (though the left hand only drops at the end).
2:14 [m. 67]--As the volume settles down, a mildly chromatic, but rich and full E-flat-major cadence is heard in the middle register, with triplets trailing in the left hand.  The cadence is then reiterated in a higher octave, but the left hand now stretches its trailing triplet figure to a full measure in “straight” rhythm, a written-out slowing.  The last chord is held for a measure before the return of the A section.
A Section with slight variation--Tempo I
2:22 [m. 71]--Two statements of opening melodic pattern with arpeggios, unvaried from the opening except for an initial rolled chord in the left hand.
2:27 [m. 75]--Repetition of the two-pattern sequence with new orientation of the melody and arpeggios, unchanged from the presentation at 0:07 [m. 5].
2:32 [m. 79]--The contrasting passage with arching patterns is given as at 0:12 [m. 9], but instead of doubling the right hand in octaves, the left hand now begins lower, in contrary motion, and plays continuously upward, joining the right hand in unison octaves on the second half of each arch.  In the fourth measure, the left hand again plays a continuous upward arpeggio against both right-hand descents.
2:37 [m. 83]--Opening gestures with initial downward descent stretched to quarter notes, as at 0:16 [m. 13].  The only change is the left hand under that stretched opening descent, which now has a more powerful rising arpeggio using triplet eighths and sixteenth notes and has lower bass notes on the last beat of the first measure and the first beat of the second measure.  From there, the passage matches the earlier statement.
2:42 [m. 87]--Second statement of two-pattern sequence, matching its previous three appearances but specifically analogous to 0:21 [m. 17].
2:47 [m. 91]--Second contrasting passage with arching patterns, as at 0:26 [m. 21].  Again, the left hand now plays continuous rising arpeggios against the right-hand arch figures, joining the right hand an octave below on the “rising” part in the first three measures.  Again, the left hand also plays a continuous rising arpeggio against the two right-hand descents in the fourth measure.
2:51 [m. 95]--Rising sequence of arpeggios, analogous to 0:30 [m. 25].  This is the most ingeniously altered passage.  The hands now both play arching figures, but in contrary motion, down-up in the right hand and up-down in the left.  The sequence of seven descending arpeggios rising by half-step is still present, but they alternate between the hands as each one has the “descending” part of its arch.  As before, there is a crescendo and a cutoff, leaving the second half of the fourth measure empty.
2:55 [m. 99]--Final cadence, analogous to 0:35 [m. 29].  The stretched-out melodic descent is now in doubled octaves in the outer voices of the right-hand chords, with the chords played an octave higher than before.  The reiterated G is now in the inner voice.  The left-hand arpeggios in triplet quarter notes are replaced by low bass octaves leaping up to off-beat chords.  The following bass octave descent is punctuated by off-beat chords instead of the triplet arpeggios.  The final G-minor chord is also intensified, adding a roll in the left hand, and moving the right hand an octave higher.  The low G is not reiterated.
3:14--END OF PIECE [104 mm.]

BOOK II:
4. INTERMEZZO.  Adagio (Four-part form with sonata, variation, and ternary elements).  E MAJOR, 3/4 time.
Part 1
0:00 [m. 1]--The distinctive opening gesture is stated seven total times, always with the right hand crossing below the left to the bass.  Four of the seven statements help demarcate the sections.  It begins on an upbeat, with a gently swaying triplet-rhythm figure in the left hand.  This figure dips from the top two notes of the E-major chord to the bottom one.  On the following downbeat, the right hand reaches over to play a low bass E while the left hand rises by half-step, always from B to B-sharp (C) to C-sharp.  After this first gesture, the right hand moves back up high to play two downward leaps, then a gentle long-short descent, dolce, against rising triplet arpeggios beginning off the beat in the left hand. 
0:15 [m. 5]--As the gentle right-hand descent stretches out its suspended arrival, the second statement of the opening gesture already begins on the upbeat.  This time, the following two downward leaps (which have faint echoes of the opening theme from the Fourth Symphony) point toward the “dominant” B major.  The gentle long-short descent is replaced by a longer yearning, arching line in B, with a very slight minor-key tinge provided by the note G-natural, against rising triplet arpeggios in the left hand.  The “straight” rhythm of the arching line creates a two-against-three rhythmic clash with the left-hand arpeggios.  The arching line closes with a broad suspension against a wide and “straight” B-major arpeggio.
0:33 [m. 10]--A second “theme” begins, espressivo.  The right-hand note B is held over from the previous measure.  The left hand plays two-note harmonies in the treble range as the right hand emerges into upward-reaching triplets.  These move back toward E, but now a more austere E minor.  A second held B, followed by the same upward-reaching triplets, leads into a more continuous descent in both hands, the right hand decorating its descent with the “reaching” triplet figures.  The right hand moves all the way down to the middle range.  Upon reaching the “dominant” harmony, the inner melody slides up by half-step (using the note F-double sharp) to lead into the third statement of the opening gesture, which begins Part 2.
Part 2
0:48 [m. 15]--The third statement of the opening gesture is analogous to the first.  The two dolce downward leaps are now stretched out and decorated with lower-voice arpeggios in “straight” rhythm, against the same off-beat triplet arpeggios in the left hand.  The right-hand arpeggios have the same shape as the opening descent from the previous Capriccio (No. 3).  The following gentle descent is stripped of the long-short triplet element, and its suspended arrival adds a lower voice (continuing from the held bottom note of the preceding arpeggio), which also descends in “straight” rhythm.   
1:01 [m. 19]--The fourth statement of the opening gesture initially appears analogous to 0:15 [m. 5].  The lower-voice arpeggios in “straight” rhythm seem to follow the previous direction with a motion toward B major, but the upper melodic voice now moves down, using shorter connecting notes, and by the second “straight” arpeggio the key has veered toward G-sharp minor (“relative” to B major).  The continuation retains the two-against-three clash between the right hand (which is still in two voices) and the broad triplet arpeggios in the left hand.  A brief upward surge is followed by descending figures dovetailing in the two right-hand voices.  Another surge settles to a full cadence in G-sharp minor over a “straight” arpeggio.
1:23 [m. 26]--The espressivo second “theme” with upward-reaching triplet figures against left-hand harmonies begins with the expected two “reaching” figures, and the left-hand harmonies indicate a motion to C-sharp minor.  After these initial gestures, the continuation is greatly expanded.  Remaining in C-sharp minor, the right hand leaps up and descends to a swaying pattern, adding a lower voice, as the left hand now also moves to undulating triplet figures.  The right hand then has three more gestures.  A steady crescendo is indicated.
1:36 [m. 30]--All voices remain in triplet rhythm.  The upper voice of the right hand twice reaches up and then comes down in swaying motion.  Both the lower voice of the right hand and the left hand move to heavily syncopated patterns, still in the triplet rhythm.  Each note is held for two triplet eighth notes, creating a highly irregular metric orientation.  Both voices sway back and forth in this strong syncopation.  Finally, at the climax of the buildup, the right hand’s top voice settles into the syncopated pattern, offset from the other voices, and all three of them murmur in alternating notes, emphasizing the “dominant” harmony in G-sharp minor as the volume greatly diminishes, smorzando, leading to a breath pause.
1:45 [m. 33]--The fifth statement of the opening gesture is the first of two to be given in altered form.  The upper notes of the triplet-rhythm figure on the upbeat are the same, but the lower note is D-sharp instead of E, creating the chord of the current key, G-sharp minor.  The right hand already has its crossover reach against the opening triplet and continues it through the extension and cadence, providing the bass.  The melodic rise to B-sharp and C-sharp is preserved.  The gesture then expands to a stretched-out full cadence and close in G-sharp minor with low bass and harmonic reiterations, the bass still played by the right hand.
Part 3
2:01 [m. 37]--This contrasting passage is the closest thing in the piece to a B section.  Back home in E major, the right hand plays a sequence of bell-like chords, dolce and with the soft pedal depressed.  After an upbeat chord and a longer downbeat one, the bell-like figures work their way down in a shorter three-note group, two chords framing a lower note.  A second longer downbeat chord and another three-note group continue to work down.  The alternation between chords and lower notes takes up the whole of the third measure before landing on a longer chord in the fourth.  The left hand accompanies with sixteenth-note arpeggios, faster than previous notes, beginning in the low bass and holding to “dominant” harmony on B.
2:13 [m. 41]--The next upbeat chord, which adds a lower rolled element from the left hand, shifts toward the “subdominant” key of A major, where the whole four-measure sequence is heard again.  The pattern is a third higher than before, not a fourth, but the harmonization is clearly in A, and the left-hand arpeggios, adding a very low bass E, remain anchored to the “dominant” harmony in A (which is based on E), until the third measure, where the arpeggios shift down over a repeated E.  Unlike the arrival chord in the previous passage, which remained on the “dominant” in E, this one actually lands on an A-major chord, but in the unstable “six-four” position with the bass holding stubbornly to the E.
2:24 [m. 45]--Now a series of high upbeat chords (which use the chromatic note C-natural/B-sharp) jumping to lower downbeat chords alternates four times between E major and A major (E, A, E, A), but all of the left-hand arpeggios have E as the low bass note, shifting the patterns above it.  On the last A-major chord, which diminishes to pianissimo, the bass arpeggio slows to triplets.  It continues to the right hand and the upper register, crossing the held chord.
2:42 [m. 50]--Now comes the sixth statement of the opening gesture as the soft pedal is released.  It resembles the fifth one at 1:45 [m. 33], with the extension and cadence, but it begins with the E-major chord on the triplet-rhythm upbeat, with the right hand already crossing below to the bass E.  As before, it remains crossed over to provide the bass through the extension.  Under the melodic rise to B-sharp and C-sharp, the harmony shifts toward C-sharp major (using a colorful so-called “French augmented sixth” chord), and the cadence is in that key, avoiding the descent toward the darker minor key and obtaining a more “noble” character.  A reiteration is omitted, making the statement a measure shorter than the fifth one.
Part 4
2:54 [m. 53]--The material of Part 2 returns, specifically resembling the passage from 1:01 [m. 19] after the opening gesture.  As in that passage, the downward leaps are decorated with arpeggios in a lower voice, their “straight” rhythm played in a two-against-three clash with triplet arpeggios in the left hand.  These are longer than before, but still begin off the beat.  The first two gestures, beginning on an upbeat, shift from C-sharp back to A.  Moving then toward E, the descending figures dovetail between the right-hand voices in two statements of nearly canonic imitation, and the lower voice even incorporates notes from the left-hand arpeggios.  The volume builds, and the harmony moves to a “diminished” arpeggio over a reiterated E.
3:05 [m. 57]--The seventh and final statement of the opening gesture is again like the first four, but with a surge to forte.  The volume diminishes greatly for a new extension, and the una corda soft pedal is again indicated.  A sighing gesture in right-hand chords, played over a low bass E, lands on an A-major chord, briefly suggesting that key.  Brahms then asks the right hand to cross over to the bass again as the left hand presents a rising gesture derived from the opening, with a D-natural to D-sharp slide indicating a final motion to E major.  The right hand then leaps back up to very high chords, playing a gentle descent that leads into the Part 3 material over an A-minor triplet arpeggio, highlighting the tension between E and A.
3:22 [m. 61]--The bell-like chords from Part 3 return in a single statement.  It is on the level of the second statement from 2:13 [m. 41], but now it is harmonized in E major and sounds utterly magical, an effect that is enhanced by the left-hand arpeggios in sixteenth notes being placed in the treble register instead of the bass.  They now move in flowing, arching wave-like patterns.  Despite the new harmonization in the home key, the arrival chord is the same as before, A major in the six-four position, and the left-hand arpeggio also moves back to the original ascending pattern starting in the bass.
3:33 [m. 65]--As at 2:24 [m. 45], a high upbeat chord leaping to a lower downbeat chord moves from the last A-major harmony to E major, but now the alternation does not continue.  Instead, the next upbeat chord is a “diminished seventh” that leaps down to the “dominant” chord, further confirming the final arrival on E major.  Under this “dominant” chord, the left hand plays another arpeggio, now beginning on the downbeat and in slower triplet rhythm instead of sixteenth notes.  The right hand reaches up from the chord for a stepwise descent from A to E, which clashes two-against-three with the bass arpeggio and leads into a deeply satisfying cadence.
3:43 [m. 67]--As a coda, the last word is given to the long-absent “second theme” with the upward-reaching triplets.  That melody is now heard in a pure major-key version against rolled tenor-range chords in the left hand that alternate with a low bass E (heard on the second beat of the measure).  Three statements of the long note followed by the upward-reaching triplets are heard, with both the triplets and the implied inner melody moving steadily downward.  The first and second statements both begin with E, and the third has moved down to a lower A.  After the three statements, the “inner” melody begins the final cadence, and the right hand jumps up to conclude it.  The wide, rolled, and held E-major chord is punctuated by a last low E.
4:18--END OF PIECE [71 mm.]

5. INTERMEZZO.  Andante con grazia ed intimissimo sentimento (Rounded binary form).  E MINOR, 6/8 time.
Part 1
0:00 [m. 1]--The long, specific tempo description and the dolce expressive marking seem incongruous with a sparse, yet systematic texture that seems almost a precursor of atonality and other later techniques.  A series of upbeat-downbeat (or weak beat-strong beat) figures provides all the material in Part 1.  Chords lean into single notes in both hands, but the hands move in opposite directions, first with the right hand up and the left down, then reversed, in continual alternation.  In the first four measures, there are eight of these figures, and only the fourth and eighth have leaping instead of stepwise motion.  The first four establish the E-minor key, and the next four begin to emphasize dissonant “diminished” harmony, here on F-sharp.
0:13 [m. 5]--The next eight figures emphasize more “diminished” harmonies based on G-sharp, F-sharp, A-sharp, and E-sharp, with general motion toward the “dominant” area of B.  It is an unusually modern sound.  The second, fourth, and fifth figures have leaping motion.  The sixth through eighth figures break the pattern.  All of them have the right hand moving down and the left up (the seventh should be the other way around).  The right hand moves to a two-note harmony instead of a single note on the sixth and seventh, both have leaps, and the sixth has a crunching half-step dissonance.  In the eighth, only the left hand moves on a strong beat, but inner voices in both hands resolve down to a “dominant” harmony on F-sharp.
0:26 [m. 9]--A final series of four figures is a sort of “codetta.”  The shapes resemble those of the last four in the previous passage, both in directionality and type of motion, but the notes and harmonies are different.  Major-key harmonies on A and G provide unexpected brightness.  Both hands move on the strong beat in the fourth figure.  It resolves to the “dominant” harmony on F-sharp, seeming to confirm a motion to B.
0:32 [m. 11a]--The two-measure first ending averts the expected arrival on B.  The persistent pattern breaks.  The right hand holds after its upward motion from the upbeat.  The left hand plays a swinging short-long arpeggio, diverting the key back to E minor.  The second measure (m. 12a) lands on the leading tone “diminished seventh” harmony, providing a smooth transition to the repeat of Part 1.
Part 1 Repeated
0:38 [m. 1]--First series of eight figures, as at the opening.
0:50 [m. 5]--Series of eight figures with “diminished” harmonies and motion toward B, as at 0:13.
1:02 [m. 9]--Four-figure “codetta,” as at 0:26.  The second ending directly begins Part 2.
Part 2
1:08 [m. 11b]--The right hand lands in the second ending as in the first, but it immediately begins the dolce short-long swinging motion, creating two voices, with the lower voice imitating the upper in canon a fifth below.  The left hand moves lower than it had and helps to establish B major.  The imitation fits with the swinging 6/8 motion, the voices alternating to create a continuous rhythm.  The left hand doubles this rhythm with its arpeggios, but they provide harmonic support and are not part of the canon.  The first three of the short-long figures played in imitation are a rising third, with a drop to the middle tenor register after the second one.  The fourth figure trails down, closing the canon with a minor-key inflection.
1:19 [m. 15]--The lower voice of the right hand drops out, and each hand now plays wide arpeggios in alternation.  The sparse texture looks “modern” on the page.  At first, these figures are also in canon, with a two-note upbeat on a rising octave leading into a rising third (passed to the right hand in the lower voice), and the melody mirrors the first canon.  The left hand also provides a “pedal point” outside the canon with a reiterated upbeat-downbeat bass octave on B.  This continues for the first three exchanges.  On the fourth, the canon breaks, although the alternating broken octaves continue.  The right hand reaches yearningly up a fifth instead of a third, and the left, now a sixth below, has a dissonant “tritone.”  There is a buildup to forte.
1:28 [m. 19]--At the climax, the right hand has a sighing gesture after its octave, still in B major.  The lower voice (passed from left to right hand) responds with a rising third after its octave (which is now an octave below).  In the next exchanges, the right-hand broken octaves move down from F-sharp to D-sharp before settling on A.  The reiterated A alternates between falling a third to F-sharp and rising a third to C.  The left-hand responses are broken sevenths and fifths instead of octaves, but they too become static, leading to a reiterated “sighing” motion in the middle of the texture, from E to D-sharp split between the hands.  The bass moves the “pedal point” B to the middle of the measure, wandering to C and A on the downbeats.
1:38 [m. 24]--The reiterated A octave and the “sighing” motion from E to D-sharp have signaled a motion away from B major and back to E minor.   Now the right hand reaches a held C, which creates a “diminished” harmony with the arpeggios below it.  The volume diminishes rapidly from forte to piano.  With another dolce marking, the patterns of Part 1 return, but in this re-transition, they are only in the right hand, which reiterates the “dominant” harmony, alternating downward leaps to F-sharp with an upward step to C.  The left hand punctuates the breaks between the familiar upbeat-downbeat patterns, alternating between a B-A seventh and a higher B.
1:44 [m. 27]--The patterns in the right hand move from the “dominant” harmony to more dissonant chords and motion emphasizing the “leading” motion from D-sharp to E, alternating with leaps down from D-sharp to A.  A reiterated C in the middle of the chords provides the dissonance.  The left-hand “pedal”-like punctuations on B continue.  With the colorful marking smorzando, the volume diminishes to pianissimo.
1:50 [m. 29]--The original patterns from Part 1 return, dolcissimo, with the hands in contrary motion, beginning with the right hand moving up and the left hand moving down.  They are a fourth higher than they were at the beginning for the first four figures, suggesting A minor.  A new “diminished” dissonance on the fourth figure leads to a shift for the next four, which are now a step above the original.  They reiterate major harmony on G instead of “diminished” harmony on F-sharp, although the outward motion has a minor-key inflection and there is a striking shift to the “diminished” harmony on the last one.
2:02 [m. 33]--The second series of eight figures is skipped in favor of a new four-figure “codetta” that moves to the distant key area of F major.  The first two figures more up in the right hand and down in the left, and the next two reverse this motion.  The stepwise outward and inward motion is dissonant, including half-steps, whole steps, and even a minor third notated as an “augmented second.”  There is a crescendo toward the first ending.
2:08 [m. 35a]--The first ending uses inward motion to gradually shift from the distant F-major area to the “dominant” harmony on F-sharp, which leads into the B-major opening of Part 2 for the repeat.  A ritardando stretches it out.  The last beat of m. 36a is the upbeat lead-in to the canon in swinging motion.
Part 2 Repeated
2:15 [m. 11b]--First B-major canon in two right-hand voices with left-hand accompaniment, as at 1:08.
2:26 [m. 15]--Second canon with arpeggios including rising octaves, “pedal point” B, and buildup to forte as the canon breaks, as at 1:19.
2:34 [m. 19]--Climax settling on reiterated A octaves and “sighing” E-D-sharp motion, as at 1:28.
2:43 [m. 24]--Held C, diminishing volume, and beginning of re-transition with Part 1 patterns in the right hand on “dominant” harmony, as at 1:38.
2:49 [m. 27]--More dissonant smorzando chords diminishing to pianissimo, as at 1:44.
2:55 [m. 29]--Original patterns from Part 1, now emphasizing A minor and G major, as at 1:50.
3:08 [m. 33]--Codetta emphasizing F major, as at 2:02.
3:15 [m. 35b]--The second ending becomes a dolce coda.  The first “inward” motion from the F-major harmony in the right hand is held for a full measure and a half.  The harmony is a colorful “major seventh” on F, which uses the note E.  After the held chord, the continuation is also stretched out with similar motion to the first ending, but the next harmony has a subtle adjustment to create a “dominant” harmony on B.  This of course leads back home to E, but to E major instead of minor, emphasized by a gently descending internal melody.  The bass drops to a low B octave, then finally to low E before the major-key cadence is reiterated and the internal melody reaches the final E, bringing this strange piece to a close.
3:36--END OF PIECE [39 mm.]

6. INTERMEZZO.  Andantino teneramente (Ternary form).  E MAJOR, 3/4 time.
A Section
0:00 [m. 1]--In a rich texture, dolce e ben legato, starting on an upbeat, the active, chromatic melody is in the middle, at the bottom of the right hand, under descending harmonies, usually thirds, in contrary motion against the melody.  The left hand plays actively moving bass octaves on each beat.  The inner melody turns down in faster notes.  It leaps up to the top of the harmonies to close the phrase but does not quite complete a cadence after a pungent dissonance and another descent.  A second phrase begins in a similar way in F-sharp minor.  After the first downward turn, the melody does not go to the top, but there is a slowing to a cadence in the “relative” C-sharp minor, with a sudden turn to C-sharp major on a held chord with fermata.
0:24 [m. 9]--In C-sharp major, a contrasting phrase begins with similar texture, the inner melody now framed by octaves and enhanced with internal harmonies, again mostly thirds.  There is a steady buildup.  The faster notes now have a turning shape.  The left hand moves from solid octaves to other harmonies and arching triplet arpeggios that clash two-against-three with the right hand.  The melody moves to the “framing” outer octaves against the wide-ranging left-hand triplets.  The harmony makes a sudden turn toward A major.  The arrival on A is diverted at the forte climax by an extension with chromatic motion and “diminished seventh” harmony, slowing to another fermata and rapidly diminishing in volume.
0:40 [m. 15]--Returning to E major, a new phrase combines the second half of the first original phrase in E major with the first half of the second phrase in F-sharp minor (restating mm. 3-6).  The end of this phrase has a dramatic crescendo.  Instead of the expected turn to C-sharp, there is a striking turn to the remote B-flat major/minor, with the right hand now in block chords against the leaping bass octaves, forte.  Just as suddenly, the right hand moves down to the tenor range and turns back to E major while slowing and diminishing, the left hand turning away from octaves.  After a held E-major chord with G-sharp on top, a pianissimo chord uses that top G-sharp to change the harmony to G-sharp minor, the key of the B section.
B Section--G-sharp minor
1:05 [m. 25]--The melancholy but dolce melody begins on an upbeat and is played over descending triplets.  These are in groups of six split between the hands, crossing the 3/4 meter.  Some of the melodic notes also double as the first note of a descending triplet.  The melody has sighing two-note descents in straight rhythm that clash with the triplet accompaniment.  These two-note groups are always against a left-hand triplet, which shows careful planning.  The first melodic segment generally descends, but then works up toward the second segment, which begins higher (and a metric beat earlier).  The phrase closes over a forte “diminished seventh” arpeggio.
1:22 [m. 33]--The first segment of the melodic phrase is given again, but now it is an octave lower and in the middle of the texture.  The triplets now ascend, still in the six-note groups, beginning with the left hand and more widely spaced, but the one under the initial upbeat is isolated, beginning with the first melodic note and played by the right hand. The second segment returns to the original orientation over descending arpeggios.  Building up, it is twice interrupted by rising gestures (over rising arpeggios), the second over another “diminished seventh.”  Finally, the extended phrase reaches a climax and full conclusion, holding its final note over arpeggios in alternating direction and hands, slowing and quieting to a full close.
A’ Section
1:48 [m. 43]--The first phrase is played as at the beginning, pianissimo.  The second phrase begins as before in F-sharp minor, but halfway through, it is diverted to B-flat (now purely major), as it had been at 0:40 [m. 15].  Having made this detour and merging two previously unconnected phrases, the diverted second phrase now makes the incomplete cadence motion that had concluded the first phrase, with the left hand harmonizing the descending motion.
2:05 [m. 51]--The cadence motion is new to the material from 0:40 [m. 15] that had moved to B-flat.  Now there is a brief turn back to the original material before yet another statement of the cadence motion.  But this is now extended over three full measures, slowing down, diminishing in volume over the “dominant” harmony in B-flat (based on F).  After this striking extension, a turn back to E major follows that is like the one at the end of the first A section, with the right hand in the tenor range.  As there was at that point before, the E-major chord is followed by a G-sharp-minor chord, but that key will not follow as before.
2:24 [m. 58]--The coda uses the material of the B section, transformed to a mildly chromatic E major.  The initial melodic descent, beginning with the upbeat, is played over descending right-hand triplet arpeggios.  Broad left-hand triplet arpeggios leading to chords preserve the two-beat units that cross the 3/4 meter.  This left-hand motion with triplets and chords continues as the right hand moves to the two-note descents.  These are now continuous, passed from a lower voice to an upper voice, the lower ones creating a two-against-three clash with the left-hand triplets.  The character is expressive and gentle, with a slight buildup.  After two measures of the “straight” two-note descents, the motion is arrested on “dominant” harmony.
2:39 [m. 62]--The final cadence, with an aching internal melodic suspension, is stretched out over a wide E-major arpeggio played over two measures and five octaves, slowing as it goes, before the final punctuating bass E and sustained rolled chord.
3:00--END OF PIECE [64 mm.]

7. CAPRICCIO.  Allegro agitato (Ternary form, with rounded binary middle section).  D MINOR, 2/4, 6/8, and 3/8 time.
A Section
0:00 [m. 1]--The melody, such as it is, consists of two-note descents, first steps, then leaps, but the primary interest is in the decoration with rapid arpeggios in contrary motion, the descending right hand alternating with the ascending left hand.  These arpeggios are mostly over colorful “diminished seventh” chords, and both hands land on block chords after the arpeggios (those in the right sustaining the “melodic” descent).  A repeated two-measure unit ends with the “dominant” harmony.  Then a third two-measure unit lands on the “relative major” chord.
0:07 [m. 7]--The alternating arpeggios cease.  The right hand “melody” settles on general descending motion over arching arpeggios, now played together with inward contrary motion between the hands.  The melody incorporates the last notes of these arpeggios in a long-short rhythm, with implied downward leaps interrupting the straight descent.  A very brief hint at the major key is followed by a wide arching arpeggio in both hands, staggered with the right hand just following the left a mere sixteenth note behind.  This arpeggio is also over a “diminished seventh” that asserts D minor and the “dominant” bass A that it follows.
0:11 [m. 11]--The initial phrase is presented in a new version with the arpeggios shortened to three notes beginning off the beat and following the or chord on the beat.  They are still in contrary motion, the left hand following the right.  The harmonic structure is the same.
0:16 [m. 17]--The continuation as heard at 0:07 [m. 7] is also varied, with the “melodic” right hand beginning off the beat and creating syncopation.  The abbreviated right-hand interjections minimize the effect of the “inward” contrary motion.  The “staggered” arpeggio is changed to a general downward trajectory, now with a full motion toward A, not the expected “dominant” A major, but to its minor version, and with a rapid decrease in volume.
B Section--A minor, 6/8 time, rounded binary form
0:21 [m. 21]--Part 1.  The texture is sparse, but the inner melody is a true rhythmic and metric tour de force.  At a quiet volume, the left and right hands alternate on wide ascending and descending arpeggios in the new 6/8 meter.  The left hand confirms the key of A minor, but the right hand always plays “diminished” arpeggios (which then also show up in the left hand).  The internal melody is played in quarter notes, which already clash with the 6/8 meter, but they begin on the second eighth note of each measure, disrupting things even more.  These quarter notes (some notated as two eighths tied across a bar line) create an implied 3/4 (or even an implied 2/4) meter superimposed upon and offset from the 6/8 of the arpeggios.  The melody surges down and back up, incorporating the last note of each arpeggio, moving to a half-close.
0:30 [m. 21]--Part 1 repeated.
0:40 [m. 29]--Part 2.  In the contrasting phrase, the internal melody, still displaced by an eighth note and still played in quarter-length notes, is thickened with chords and octaves.  The descending right-hand arpeggios still focus on “diminished seventh” harmony.  The melody itself isolates a half-step relationship that was present in Part 1, but less pronounced.  The rising left-hand arpeggios are harmonically active, moving up by whole step to B minor and then to C-sharp minor.  In the last two measures, after a buildup to forte, the fully harmonized melody suddenly leaps high to the “outside” of the texture as a rising arpeggio on a “diminished seventh” leads back to A minor.  As the melody dips back to the middle, that arpeggio continues upward in the right hand (breaking the pattern of right-hand descents) on the “dominant” chord.
0:50 [m. 37]--The return portion of the “rounded binary” begins like Part 1, but the arpeggios and then the melody rapidly obtain alterations, with the goal of leading to a full cadence in A minor rather than a half-close.  To that end, the colorful “diminished seventh” arpeggios are mostly abandoned in favor of the A-minor chord, along with its “subdominant” D minor and, in the first ending (mm. 43a-44a), the “dominant” on E leading into that full cadence after a buildup.  The melody again consistently incorporates the last note of each arpeggio, which it did not do with all the descending ones in the contrasting phrase.  The cadence is completed with a sudden restoration of the melodic downbeat and a second straight left-hand arpeggio.
1:00 [m. 29]--Part 2 repeated.  Contrasting phrase, as at 0:40.
1:10 [m. 37]--Returning phrase and cadence, as at 0:50.  The second ending extends the cadence and buildup, with the “dominant” arpeggio in the left hand arching back down in the second measure (m. 44b).  There is no sudden restoration of the melodic downbeat during the slowing, quieting extension in mm. 45-46, but the arrival does unexpectedly shift to A major, emphasizing this with C-sharp in the top voice.
Re-transition
1:23 [m. 47]--With the return of D minor and 2/4 meter, this re-transition is not structurally necessary, but it creates an extended buildup to render the actual return more satisfying.  It is like a brief inserted toccata in a single-voice texture, with isolated notes played by the left hand.  The descending and ascending arpeggios, along with the consistent sixteenth-note rhythm, immediately bring back the character of the A section.  After two similar patterns, the second moving higher at the end, a third leads into a melodic long-short rhythm and a strong buildup that rises in pitch, then stalls.  Strong accents give way to stronger ones marked sforzato.  Finally, approaching the climax, chords are added above an implied internal trill.
1:32 [m. 58]--At the climax, a top chord begins a plunging arpeggio punctuated by two more chords.  At the bottom, the hands join an octave apart and turn back around for a powerful upward swoop.  These cut off with a brief quarter-length rest before the delayed return of the opening material.
A’ Section
1:36 [m. 62]--The first six measures are stated as at the opening.
1:42 [m. 68]--As at 0:07 [m. 7], but there is a slight intensification, with the long-short rhythms and the inward contrary motion already beginning in the first measure (previously, they had not really started until the second).  The arching “staggered” arpeggio follows as before, but it continues with an extension.  The first two bars of this extension retain the “staggered” motion of the right hand following the left.  The right hand obtains a lower voice.  There are reiterations of G-minor and A-minor harmonies before an assertion of D minor.  Suddenly, the meter shifts to 3/8.  The first two measures of this meter are an implied 3/4 measure, with a strong forte suspended motion to the “dominant,” preparing the final statement in 3/8.
1:49 [m. 76]--Six powerful measures in 3/8 time strongly resemble the main theme as heard at the opening, but now compressed into the fast triple meter and with the arpeggios changed to block chords.  The left hand has bass octaves and notes on the downbeats, and the right follows each downbeat with two chords, using the same “diminished seventh” and other harmonies as would be expected.  The left hand leaps up to join the second of these chords in each measure.  The expected pattern is broken in the last of these six measures, which rises and again reiterates the “dominant” instead of moving to the “relative major.”
1:53 [m. 82]--Now there is a series of four implied 3/4 measures over eight notated 3/8 measures.  In the first three of these implied 3/4 bars, each marked with a sforzato, there are three quarter-length chords with internal downward motion under the last two.  These move up, emphatically confirming D minor with a reiterated bass D under the first chord of each implied 3/4 measure.  The fourth implied 3/4 measure reiterates the previous downward motion without the static initial chord, building strongly.
1:59 [m. 90]--The main 2/4 meter returns for a joyous turn to D major with four chords to close the piece and the set.  A widely spaced chord and two shorter, partly rolled ones precede the lower final held chord.
2:23 (runoff after 2:07)-END OF PIECE [92 mm.]
END OF SET


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