Following the trio, the scherzo is repeated, just like a minuet. What is different with the Eroica's scherzo is that it is written out. Normally a composer would indicate 'da capo' in the score and the orchestra would simply go back to the beginning. Beethoven's written out repeat has a single but very important difference. At bar 381 he suddenly changes the meter to alla breve. This metric surprise is not the least bit ambiguous. He has actually switched to a double meter for four bars then resumes the triple meter. The resulting effect must have had the same impression on audiences as Stravinski's Rite of Spring more than a century later. |