The Shoe Horn Sonata Climax

The climax consists of four measures with basic harmonies in D-flat major before moving into the coda (Figure 3). The climax begins with a tonic triad in second inversion which leads to a vi then a I in first inversion before a ii minor seventh chord in first inversion gives way to the pinnacle harmony of the climax in mm. 60: a V chord with a suspended fourth that does not resolve until a measure and a half later giving us a V7 and resolves naturally to a I. During the Vsus4 harmony, there is a massive, sweeping arpeggio outlining the Ab, Db, Eb triad. During the climax we do not explicitly see the primary theme, but we do see an embellished melody that resembles the pitch sets in the original theme only with a little more motion and energy rhythmically. …show more content…
62 brings us to the piece’s coda which consists of a series of secondary leading-tone chords with a chromatically descending tri-tone melody. This series of diminished chords, each of which have a D-flat pedal to establish the fact that the work is still in D-flat major, gives us the sense of delaying resolution as they finally move to a V7 and then a I before going back and repeating the descending diminished chord progression with a slightly embellished repetition of the descending tri-tone melody. The beginning of the coda once again shows a notable delay in resolution before abruptly resolving, presenting a V7→I, and then moving back to the unresolved passage of diminished chords before finally resolving to a tonal passage which ends the