Development Of Second Movements (Slow Movements)

Second movements have changed a lot from the start of the Western Classical
period through to the end. The second movement of a symphony is usually
considered to be the slowest movement with the first being a big statement, the
third being a dance and the fourth being fast and loud.

In Stamitz Op.3 No.2, the second movement is in the sub-dominant key of D. The
second movement is in G and the movement is in Rounded Binary with a texture
made up of Melody Dominated Homophony. Rounded Binary was not particularly
common of second movements as seen in Mozart 41 where his second movement is
in Sonata Form. This second movement is also in the Sub-Dominant key of C which is
F. Mozart 41 is however a mature classical piece in comparison to Stamitz Op.3 No.2
which is very much Galant. Mozart uses more lyrical melodies and adds more
complex embellishments to this movement in comparison to Stamitz where his
harmonies are relatively simple. Further along the Western Classical timeline we see
Hadyn in Symphony 94 using once again the Sub- Dominant Key for his second
movement which he later takes into the Sub-Dominant minor. Haydn has his second
movement as a set of variations whereby he plays with his initial melody and creates
humor to himself by trying to make the audience jump at the end with a loud chord.
This was really the start of composers having a bit more fun with second
movements.

In later classical / romantic music, composers such as Beethoven really started to

mess around with what the second movement stood for. In Beethoven 3, he made
the second movement a somber funeral march. The movement was in a minor key
and overall was in Extended Ternary form. Being a romantic piece, it is really starting
to stray from strict ruling round in Mozart and Stamitzs music.
This much slower second movement becomes more common by the later romantic
period where composers such as Dvorak are creating more lyrical melodies and using
keys in lots of ways to express stories. In Dvorak 9 New World, he modulates through
many keys at the start of his symphony and ends up in Db which isnt related to the
main key of the first movement that is in E.
Much Later in the romantic period, composers such as Tchaikovsky threw spanners
in the works and really messed up the order to which movements went in. He had
the equivalent of the the common second movement (slow movement) as him finale
and a waltz like movement in the place of his second movement. This is a very
unusual structure to have especially as the metre of his second movement was 5/4