Ultimately, the musical momentum and unity of the Menuet may be traced to its tonal structure-- the large-scale, contrapuntal unfolding of the tonic E major triad that takes place over the course of the piece's twenty-four measures. The following sketch represents the essential elements of the Menuet's tonal structure:
As this reveals, the large-scale bass motion of tonic to dominant and back to tonic (I-V-I) supports a fundamental line which descends stepwise from scale degree 3 to scale degree 1. Together they express the tonic triad of the Menuet at the deepest level of its structure and provide the framework for all of the composition's musical events. It is this contrapuntal framework which supports the easily- perceived melodies at the musical surface and helps make the Menuet intelligible as tonal music.
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