Beethoven’s Division of the Notes Between the Staves 2

[John Ruggero]

Like the composers before him, Beethoven allows the hands to move between the staves freely to preserve musical continuity. It can also bring out hidden relationships.

One of the most beautiful examples occurs in the first movement of the Sonata op. 101, where we see a new idea played by the left hand grow out of notes in the previous one played by the right:

op 101 MS.jpeg (63.06 KiB) Viewed 8658 times

This was preserved in the first edition:

op 101 Steiner.jpeg (59.85 KiB) Viewed 8658 times

But the Breitkopf Complete Works has already succumbed to the mania for segregating the hands on the staves, creating a barrier between the sections that obscures the relationship:

op 101 B&H.jpeg (77.68 KiB) Viewed 8658 times