I was remembering the fact that in such a revolutionary work as the 3rd symphony, the second movement is written in C minor, a tonality much related to E flat major, as it is its relative minor. So I tried to remember the tonalities of the slow movements of the other symphonies, trying to see in what degree Beethoven moved away from the common practice of his predecessors. In the 8th, we have the perfect model of Haydn and Mozart symphonies (F major - B flat major), along with the 1st. In the second, a weird thing happens. The second movement is written in A major, which makes the key to jump a fifth above instead of a fifth below. Here B seems to have done this in order to defy tradition. Again in the 5th symphony, another landmark in the history of the symphony, he seems to approach his predecessors: the key is A flat major, a fifth below E flat major, which is the relative of C minor. I don't remember well, but I think these are the only ones in which the second movement tonality keeps a simple relationship to that of the first.
By the way, in the Seventh, the key is the same as in the first movement. Only the mode changes, which I don't think was common practice in his days (or was it?).
By the way, in the Seventh, the key is the same as in the first movement. Only the mode changes, which I don't think was common practice in his days (or was it?).
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