Beethoven Waldstein first movement

The sonata opens with repeated pianissimo chords in a straightforward but anxious rhythm, devoid of melody for two bars. It then swiftly ascends, followed by a three-note descent in the middle register and a four-note descent in the upper. The rhythm rumbles on until the notes seem almost to stumble over themselves.

The second subject group, marked dolce, is a chordal theme in E major, the mediant key. Though the first movement of the Op. 31 No. 1 sonata has a similar second subject modulation, this was the first major work in which Beethoven moves to a comparatively distant key. Later he employed the same shift again (in the Hammerklavier Sonata, for example).

For the recapitulation, Beethoven transposes the second subject into A major, quickly changing into A minor and then back to C major for the coda.