Form and the Large-Scale Connection: Motivic Harmony and the Expanded Type-1 Sonata in Dvořák’s Later Chamber Music

Abstract

Dvořák’s chamber music has received surprisingly little attention from Anglo-American music theorists of the modern era, despite a well-established place in the concert repertoire. Close readings of four movements demonstrate how the particulars of the expanded type-1 sonata support a diversity of individualized motivic-harmonic development. Dvořák recontextualized expanded type-1 practices with the same insight into Mozart’s approach that scholars have attributed to Brahms. The analyses illustrate Dvořák’s recourse to either recapitulatory/developmental conflation or developmental displacement in expanding the second part of his type-1 sonatas. They also exemplify his combination of these two methods of developmental expansion with episodic expansion, thereby supporting the claim that he followed the precise practice of Brahms and Mozart. Still, although both of these precursors (and others; for instance, Schubert) could have served as models for Dvořák, a number of Dvořák’s own compositional practices in his earlier sonata forms, such as the “tonic island” technique and secondary developments, may have been equally decisive. In addition to their compelling compositional attributes and supple engagement with Classical conventions, these expanded type-1 forms allow for further debate about how best to interpret such movements generally, whether by Brahms, Mozart, or now Dvořák.

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