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1. A description of rondo form, by the author of this module.
Although pieces called "rondos"
arose in the Classical period (the late 18th century), the basic idea
behind the rondo has existed for almost the entire history of music: something
that stays the same alternates with things that change. In form notation,
a rondo looks like this: ABACA..., where A is the recurring
passage of music, and B and C are the contrasting sections.
The number of contrasting sections varies; two is a minimum, and more
than four would be unusual.
The A section of the rondo typically has its own formal structure. In
the works of Classical composers, this form is often aababa, where
a might be called the rondo's theme, and b, while different,
shares some of a's rhythmic and melodic patterns. When the A section
returns after contrasting section, it may be abbreviated to aba.
The contrasting sections (B, C, and possibly D and
E) often do not split into subsections as cleanly as does the A
section. They rush forward in a flowing stream, sometimes with rather
fiery material. In many cases, the A section sounds relatively
stable and balanced in comparison to the contrasting sections.
In the Classical period, rondos in multi-movement works were almost always
final movements. Because a typical rondo did not transpose, rearrange,
or otherwise "develop" its main theme (as found in the A section),
the rondo was considered a relatively "light" form, not too serious. Rondo
themes tended to be bouncy rather than stately. Haydn, a composer renowned
for his wit, would sometimes end a contrasting section with a dramatic
gesture, suggesting that some sort of grand entrance would follow; what
followed was the familiar A section, the very opposite of grand.
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2. A description of the
coda in sonata form, by the author of this module.
"Coda" refers to a section
of an instrumental movement that serves as an ending. (The term originally
derives from the Latin for "tail.") Not every section ending an instrumental
work counts as a coda: the coda must appear after the main business of
the movement is over, as a sort of clincher. What constitutes a coda will
thus depend on what the movement's "main business" is believed to be.
In the case of Classical-period works written according to formula, the
coda constitutes the music that is heard after the needs of the formula
have been fulfilled. The first movement of Beethoven's Symphony #5 follows
a formula later dubbed sonata form. A movement in sonata form consists
of three large sections: the exposition, in which musical material
is introduced (this section is often played twice); the development,
in which the material is twisted, fragmented, and recombined; and the
recapitulation, in which the material from the exposition reappears
in roughly its original form (but with some harmonic changes). The recapitulation
is held to end when it has covered all the material of the exposition;
anything after that is coda. On the recording presented here, the
recapitulation ends and the coda begins at 5:52.
While some codas are comprised of simple, repetitive ending gestures,
others are more complex, reusing musical material from earlier in the
movement and/or presenting new material that sounds important. Some music
theorists, influenced by Beethoven in particular, came to call the coda
of a sonata form the "second development," suggesting that the coda's
role in presenting and recombining the movement's melodies and rhythms
could earn it a place in the movement's main business. Is the coda then
still a coda? It is if the movement is still interpreted according to
the sonata-form formula, in which anything after the recapitulation is
extra.
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3. From the book Beethoven
Hero by Scott Burnham.
The coda of [the first movement
of Beethoven's Symphony #5] is the epitome of the struggling Beethoven,
for rarely does his music appear to work so hard in order to get nowhere
fast. Every step is now laborious, an effect ensured by the figuration
added to what are essentially descending and ascending C-minor scales....An
element of melodic construction that is often used as a means for a quick
and effortless sprint from octave to octave, the scale here becomes an
imposing staircase upon which some ponderous weight is hauled up and down,
step by step....
The excessive effort of this coda, expressed both in the violent outbursts
at its beginning and end and in the belabored figurations mentioned earlier,
can be heard as something like the forced assertions of bad faith. Consider
the very last bars of the movement: the first theme is referred to almost
nostalgically and then blasted away with far more firepower than is needed,
resulting in an almost churlish display of power. This juxtaposition emphasizes
the containment mechanism of closure, made to sound, at least in the immediate
context, like overkill. The effect is actually one of irony, for the emphatic
final bars do provide the commensurate degree of closure for the opening
phrase of the movement (and the entire ensuing process); only by immediately
appending these bars to a now wistful version of that opening does their
requisite closure become overwrought and forced.
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4. Teaching material written
by the author for Schumann's "Im wunderschonen Monat Mai."
Dichterliebe ("The Poet's
Love") is a song cycle written on poems by the German Romantic poet Heinrich
Heine. A song cycle is a sequence of songs meant to be performed as a
single, large work. Through the 16 songs that comprise Dichterliebe,
the singer/poet descends from hopeful love to bitter irony, disillusionment,
and despair. "Im wunderschonen Monat Mai" ("In the wonderfully lovely
month of May") is the first song, in which the singer still hopes that
the woman he loves can be his:
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Im wunderschonen
Monat Mai,
Als alle Knospen sprangen,
Da ist in meinem Herzen
Die Liebe aufgegangen.
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In the wonderfully
lovely month of May,
When all the buds were bursting,
Then it was that in my heart
Love broke through.
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Im wunderschonen
Monat Mai,
Als alle Vogel sangen,
Da hab'ich ihr gestanden
Main Sehnen und Verlangen.
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In the wonderfully
lovely month of May,
When all the birds were singing,
Then it was that I confessed to her
My longing and desire.
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This song is strophic, meaning that the same music is used for
each of the two verses. (Songs in which different verses have different
music are called through-composed.) The two verses are very similar
in their layout: each verse features two lines that describe a happy spring
scene, and two more lines in which the singer/poet describes his own love.
The second verse is somewhat more active, in that the singer not only
feels his love, but "confesses" it to the woman he loves.
A piano introduction precedes the singing of the first verse; this piano
music returns between the verses, and returns again to end the song. The
form of the song can thus be described as ABABA, where A
represents the solo piano music and B represents a sung verse.
(Granting the piano music a full capital letter reflects the point of
view that it is somehow important; my use of the term "introduction"
might be read as implying the opposite.)
The piano introduction puts us in a minor key, but never arrives on the
tonic chord, the "home base," of this key. You may be able to feel an
unresolved, floating, almost uncomfortable quality to this introduction;
this is a result of the avoidance of the tonic. Notice that the piano
introduction has both a melody and an accompaniment; the melody, in a
high register, sounds like something that could be sung.
When the voice comes in, it changes this melody to a different key, one
in major instead of minor. This change becomes apparent when the voice
ends the first line on the tonic chord of the major key. The major mode
suggests the happiness and optimism in the setting: "In the wonderfully
lovely month of May..." The second line has the same music, as the description
of the landscape continues.
The singer begins to reach higher during the third line. This reaching
upward in pitch accords with the singer's change from describing a peaceful,
static landscape to his describing the tumultuous longing in his heart.
The singer reaches his highest note near the end of the fourth line, the
line that directly refers to love. (The singer "breaks through" to a high
note just as love "breaks through" in his heart!)
Instead of coming down from his high notes and relaxing, the singer drops
out; the solo piano music takes over, carrying on the melody that the
singer left off. Because the piano's music is harmonically unresolved
and in minor, the mood darkens. Does the piano "know" that the singer's
love will be unrequited?
If so, the piano doesn't tell the singer, for the second verse follows
the same musical and emotional process as the first verse. The final solo
piano passage ends the song on a non-tonic chord. The end of a work of
music is the most typical place for the "home base" of the tonic chord
to appear; in this regard, "In wunderschonen Monat Mai" is quite
unusual.
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