Form Notes

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1. Traditional Forms: It’s All About Repetition and Variation!

  • Binary: A B
  • Ternary: A B A
  • Rondo or Ritornello: A B A C A D A…
  • Theme and variations: A A’ A” A”’ A”” A””’…
    • A straightforward demonstration of how a theme could be varied: click here
    • Rachmaninoff, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (1934; skipping the introduction)
    • Is a 12-bar blues form related to theme and variations?
  • Song form:
    • Alternating verses & choruses with a bridge, solo, or breakdown near (but not at) the end.
    • Tin Pan Alley song form refers to an a a b a pattern, but that comprises one chorus, which is generally repeated (like 12-bar blues form), sometimes with a verse functioning as an introduction.
  • Sonata: AB C AB’
    • A: Theme 1 (strong)
    • transition…
    • B: Theme 2 (weak, different key)
    • transition…
    • closing theme.
    • Then repeat everything above…
    • Development/fantasia/free form exploration of motives and keys
    • retransition…
    • Recapitulation:
      • A: Theme 1 (strong)
      • transition…
      • B’: Theme 2 (now strong, same key)
      • transition…
      • closing theme!
  • Sonata form example: Mozart, Piano sonata No. 16, K. 545 (1788)

2. …and it’s about stabile versus unstable moments!

Listen again: Mozart, Piano sonata No. 16, K. 545 (1788) and think about how each section is stable or unstable. How do the textures and gestures and motives contribute to the stability/instability?

And now for something different: Wishart, Tongues of Fire (1993). Here is a walk-through of key points in the form. What role does pitch play?

3. Form=shape/pattern. Structure=reasons for having that shape.

Xenakis, Pithoprakta (1956) uses the behavior of colliding particles to inspire its structure. Listen to the first minute or so to get the idea. How do you think Xenakis generated these sounds?

Now look at the sweeping curves of the Philips Pavilion Xenakis helped design for the 1958 World Fair in Brussles…

…and see how their structure was applied to music in Xenakis, Metastasis (1954)

HOWEVER, not all music is that literal or narrative. You might describe the structure of a typical sonata as a struggle between two contrasting ideas, ending with both ideas becoming the same. (Okay, but did one beat the other up? Did they just settle on some common ground? Or is it more like logical reasoning, e.g., “There’s A, but on the other hand there’s B, so let me toss A and B around a bit… aaaand Oh! There’s A, and then there’s B, therefore: Conclusion!”?) Sometimes the music is elucidating relationships between the main musical ideas that can’t be put into words.