2. CAPRICCIO. Allegretto non troppo (Arch-like Rondo form). B MINOR, 2/4 time.

0:00 [m. 1]--Theme 1 (A). A skittish tune with detached staccato notes. Bass n
otes leap up to higher chords in the left hand, a continuing pattern. There are
accented, longer chords on the second beats of the second and fourth bars. The
fifth bar introduces a harmonization in thirds that will become more prominent.
This phrase is extended to double length by a reiteration of a long-short-shor
t pattern that oscillates, then gradually descends, mixing major and minor. It
moves to the dominant key, F-sharp, before a single-line transition to the repeat.
0:18 [m. 1]--Theme 1 (A) repeated. The single-line transition in the last two b
ars is altered to move to D major for Theme 2.
0:35 [m. 13]--Theme 2 (B). This new tune uses the harmonization in thirds heard
earlier. It is in D major, the relative major key to B minor. It descends to
some mid-range figures in the long-short-short rhythm. These lead to another si
ngle-line transition similar to those at the end of each repetition of Theme 1.
0:47 [m. 21]--Theme 2 (B) repeated, with the closing transition altered, then ex
tended. The extension, five bars in length, adds a second voice in the left han
d. It is a steady ascent heard twice. The second statement is initially shifted
up a half-step, then continues past the mark of the first. Motion back to B mi
nor.
1:05 [m. 34]--Theme 1 (A). Theme 1 returns in slightly varied form. The right
hand contours in the first two bars are changed, and add syncopated accents. Th
e left hand patterns reverse direction, and are now descending leaps in the firs
t four bars. The bass notes leaping to chords return at the fifth bar with the
harmonization in thirds. The arrival at the long-short-short pattern is differe
nt, and is now more unambiguously in major. The transition is very different, a
static murmuring that gradually calms.
1:22 [m. 46]--Theme 3 (C). Brahms marks this central section pi tranquillo and e
spressivo. A rhapsodic melody in C major--a key whose arrival is surprising--it
has several striking chromatic notes. Ingeniously, the skittering staccato of
the main themes is transferred to a middle voice that moves down to the bass as
the melody descends. It begins with the murmuring from the preceding transition
.
1:36 [m. 54]--The C-major melody is repeated and extended. It begins in a simil
ar manner, but cuts off the downbeats and adds grace notes. The melody diverges
after the fourth bar, propelled by light syncopation. Moving first to B-flat m
ajor, it is again diverted, this time back home to B. It is, however, unambiguo
usly the major-mode version of that key. Highly decorated lines with turning fi
gures mark a gentle, tranquil transition back to the main themes. The staccato
notes slow down over a huge arching arpeggio at the end.
2:01 [m. 67]--Theme 2 (B), in the main tempo. It is heard in its entirety, now
in B major. The left-hand accompaniment is different. The steady pattern is ab
andoned in favor of short, detached rising arpeggios. The transition is again v
aried, essentially changing direction. It remains in the low register and conta
ins large leaps.
2:12 [m. 75]--A large extension to the transition from Theme 2. It gains intens
ity and reaches the only real climax in the piece. The culmination is a large c
hromatic scale (skipping no notes), suggested earlier in the transition and exte
nsion, split between the hands. Every second note of this scale is punctuated b
y upper harmonies of narrowing, increasingly dissonant intervals. A the end, th
e scale is arrested. The notes, with narrow, dissonant harmonies still on every
second one, oscillate for one bar as they quiet down from the climax. Then the
chromatic scale resumes, now interrupted by the dissonant intervals, for a final
four notes.
2:23 [m. 83]--Theme 1 (A). The arrival from the chromatic scale is very fulfill
ing. The music is still in B, but now again in minor. In a very ingenious vari
ation, Brahms places the melody in an inner voice, under sets of repeated notes,
then sets of repeated chords. The melody itself shifts down an octave in the t
There are accented syn
hird bar. The passage must be played with wrist staccato.
copations held between the second and third, then the fourth and fifth bars. Th
e left hand now leaps up not to a chord, but to the top of a descending arpeggio

, filling each beat with four notes.

2:28 [m. 87]--The continuation of Theme 1 from the fifth bar is also varied. Al
l is still an octave lower than before. The upper voice continues for two bars
with syncopations. The last note of the left hand figures is cut off, leaving o
nly three. In the next bar, the previous long-short-short pattern is replaced b
y three equal short notes following a downbeat rest. The left hand figures now
widely ascend. The transition has the right hand crossing over into the bass a
nd alternating with punctuating mid-range left hand chords.
2:39 [m. 95]--Theme 1 (A) in another very creative variation. The first four ba
rs are recognizable as the theme, but they follow the pattern of the previous tr
ansition, alternating right hand leaps with left hand chords in two large ascent
s up the keyboard from bass to treble.
2:44 [m. 99]--Continuation of Theme 1. It is similar to what was heard from the
fifth bar of 1:05 [m. 34], but the longer note at the beginning of the first tw
o figures is cut in half, leaving rests at the beginnings of the first two bars.
The leaping long-short-short figure returns in major, with a more active chrom
atic middle voice. The passage itself is extended three bars, forgoing the tran
sition and reaching down the keyboard, growing steadily quieter.
2:57 [m. 108]--Coda. Two statements of the opening bar of Theme 2, interrupted
by the leaping long-short-short figure from Theme 1. The second statement of th
e Theme 2 opening is an octave lower than the first.
3:02 [m. 111]--The parallel response to the second reference to Theme 2 is also
the leaping long-short-short figure from Theme 1. This response, however, launc
hes an extended meditation on that figure with a highly chromatic middle voice.
The figures remain in the same range, slowing and softening until the very end,
where two isolated descending leaps are placed higher. The third and final iso
lated leap is slower and firmly establishes the major key (B major) that has ess
entially been in force since the beginning of the coda. It is, however, a somew
hat inconclusive and questioning gesture.
3:30--END OF PIECE [119 mm.]