<Li> Scherzo: Allegro, 3 / 4 </Li> <Li> Allegro assai, 6 / 8 </Li> <P> The first movement follows the Sonata - Allegro format of the classical period, and borrows thematically from Beethoven's Piano Quartet No. 3 in C major, WoO 36, from a decade earlier . The movement opens with the main theme in the tonic key, beginning with a double - thirds trill - like pattern . This opening passage is infamous for pianists to play, and Arthur Rubinstein even used this passage to test pianos before performing on them . This pattern leads into an energetic outburst of a broken - chord and broken - octave section . The second theme of the exposition begins in the key of G minor, and is repeated in D minor at m . 33 . It is not until m . 47 that the traditional dominant key is finally reached, where a subsidiary theme in the second thematic group appears, marked "dolce ." A forte shows later, leading to a very rich melody with left and right hand . Then a similar outburst of a broken - chord and broken - octave sections appears in fortissimo . Then it ends with some difficult trills and an octave scale . Beethoven opens the development by improvising on trill patterns introduced in the end of the exposition, which are much more difficult to play . Following a broken - chords section filled with harmony changes, the main theme is restated in D major (pianissimo), the supertonic key of C major . Then a fortissimo and Beethoven's very common syncopations appears in the music giving a rhythm, this continues on to the resolution . The recapitulation is a key change from G major to C major, which is finished by a cadenza, which begins with a sudden A-flat major chord . The cadenza is very light and vibrant and it ends with a long trill and descending chromatic scale in the right hand . The first movement is about 10 minutes long and is one of Beethoven's longest movements from his early period . </P> <P> The second movement is marked Adagio and written in the key of E Major . It is in Rondo form, A-B-A-B-A - coda, written in the style of a string quartet, as there are four clear voices . The middle section, in E minor, contains numerous examples of Romanticism, and is considered a prelude to the master's later sonatas . Later in the movement, the E minor passage is repeated in E Major . </P>

Sonata in c major opus 2 no. 3