Page 142 - ESSENTIAL LISTENING TO MUSIC

Sonata–Allegro Form
Most stories, plays, and films have a stereotypical form: setup, complication, resolution. So, too, with sonata–allegro form, which, like a great play, has the potential for dramatic presentation (A), conflict (B), and resolution (A). Sonata– allegro form is the most complex of all musical stories, and it tends to result in the longest pieces. Yet it is also the most important: In the Classical era, more movements of symphonies, quartets, and the like were written in this form than in any other, and its popularity endured throughout the nineteenth century as well.
First, however, an important distinction: the difference between the genre called sonata and the form called sonata–allegro. A sonata is a genre of music usually involving a solo instrument; sonata–allegro, however, is a form giving structure to a single movement within any one of several genres: a sonata, string quartet, serenade, symphony, even a one-movement overture.
To see how this works, consider the movements in two different works in two different genres, Mozart’s serenade Eine kleine Nachtmusik and Haydn’s Symphony No. 94 (see Table 8.2). Each work is comprised of four movements, and each movement has its own form. We get the term sonata–allegro form from the fact that most sonatas employ this form in the first movement, and the first movement almost always goes fast, or “allegro.”
table 8.2 Two Works Using Sonata–Allegro Form
Haydn, Symphony No. 94 (1791)
Movement 1 2 3 4
Tempo Fast Slow Minuet and trio Fast
Form Sonata–allegro Theme and Ternary Sonata–allegro variations
The Shape of Sonata–Allegro Form
Let’s say you’ve just arrived at a concert hall, the orchestra is about to play the first movement of a symphony, and you are wondering how things will unfold. Likely the music will proceed along the lines suggested by Figure 8.4. Not every sonata–allegro movement follows this model in all particulars, but having this template in mind will add to your listening enjoyment—it will al- low you to understand what has happened and anticipate what might come next.
In its broad outline, sonata–allegro form looks much like ternary form. It consists of an ABA plan, with the B section providing contrast in mood, key, and
120 chapter eight classical forms
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Mozart, Eine kleine Nachtmusik (1787)
Movement 1 2 3 4
Tempo Fast Slow Minuet and trio Fast
Form Sonata–allegro Rondo Ternary Rondo
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