(Second Movement) C minor, 2/4 time

The Andante movement, marked "Absence." The leaping motif woven into the dotted-rhythm theme is none other than the leaping motif used in the first movement. While the first movement blurred the sense of tonality by lowering the sixth scale degree by a semitone and composing primarily around the main subdominant, in this movement, the theme's "absence" of the tonic chord and the use of non-harmonic tones obscure the sense of tonality.

The theme finally settles on the tonic chord in measure 8, but immediately proceeds to F minor via a VI chord.

Following passages of single-note scales and arpeggios, a theme in G major (the parallel major of the dominant key) appears, accompanied by chordal tremolo figures (measures 15ff). The fragmented chordal soprano voice, appearing above the staccato arpeggiated accompaniment, descends by a third, revealing the motif from the first movement here as well (measures 19-20).

The opening theme is recapitulated a major second lower (measures 21ff), followed by the second theme, which also appears a major second lower in F major (measures 31ff).

Finally, the opening theme appears once more, but the bass chromatically shifts (B natural to B flat) from a harmonization reminiscent of the C minor dominant (D-B natural-F-A flat) to the E-flat major dominant (B flat-D-F-A flat), transitioning seamlessly into the third movement.