KUHLAU – GRANDES SONATES

Kuhlau here refrains from the huge, almost bombastic, introductory flourishes we encounter in several of his other first movements, especially the «Allegro molto con energia» of his opus 71 sonata with 20 bars of introduction and extensive thematic material. He begins opus 85 directly with a sober and somewhat hymnic 8 bar theme the mood of which prefigures the opening of the third movement, a florid adagio which quotes the «Marsch der Priester» from Mozart’s «Die Zauberflöte».