The first movement of Beethoven’s Sonata No. 28, Op. 101, is a gently animated Allegretto in A major. Its melody grows out of a closely woven texture of moving inner notes, sustained bass tones, and overlapping phrases. Although the opening is restrained, fuller chords and more insistent exchanges create several stronger passages. The music returns to its familiar ideas before settling into a quiet, sustained close.

Opening texture: The right-hand melody moves above accompanying eighth notes within the same hand. The left hand combines held bass notes with a more mobile inner line, including small chromatic changes. Ties carry some notes across the beat while other voices continue moving. A brief slowing and fermata interrupt the opening phrase, after which Tempo I restores the original motion.

Expanding phrases: The upper part becomes more chordal and reaches into a higher register. Small turns and short running figures decorate the melody, while the lower line sometimes continues during rests in the right hand. The accompaniment does not stay fixed in one pattern: held notes, moving eighths, and short chord responses alternate. Crescendos are followed by softer replies, giving the phrases a flexible conversational shape.

Contrasting voices and stronger passage: A particularly clear change places the expressive melody in the lower part beneath short upper chords separated by rests. The upper texture then fills out into overlapping chordal eighth notes. A quieter passage holds upper harmonies while the lower voice moves through an answering figure. Later, displaced entries, repeated intervals, and low bass notes increase the tension. Sforzando accents and fuller chords lead to a fermata before the return of the main tempo.

Return and ending: The opening melodic shapes return with changes in the inner voices and bass line. Familiar turns, short upper flourishes, and lower melodic responses reappear. A broader sequence of full chords builds to a strong arrival, then subsides. On the final page, moving bass notes support an upper chromatic line before sustained chords begin alternating with rests. A short right-hand figure stands briefly on its own. The last phrase rises through upper chords above a held lower foundation, then closes under a fermata.

Interesting fact: The first page of this edition prints the sonata’s dedication to Dorothea Ertmann directly above the title.