Page 143 - ESSENTIAL LISTENING TO MUSIC

SONATA–ALLEGRO FORM
Exposition Development Recapitulation
V (or III) IIII
Figure 8.4
Sonata–allegro form
thematic treatment. Again, think of a play or film with its setup, complication, and resolution. The initial A in sonata–allegro form is called the exposition, the B the development, and the return to A the recapitulation. Let’s examine each of these sections in turn and see what we are likely to experience.
exposition
In the exposition, the composer presents the main themes (or musical person- alities) of the movement. It begins with the first theme or theme group, which is always in the tonic key. Next comes the transition, or bridge as it is some- times called, which carries the music from the tonic to a new key, usually the dominant, and prepares for the arrival of the second theme. The second theme typically contrasts in character with the first; if the first is rapid and assertive, the second may be more languid and lyrical. The exposition usually concludes with a closing theme, often simply oscillating between dominant and tonic chords— not much is happening harmonically, so we must be near the end. After the final cadence, the exposition is repeated in full. We’ve now met all the “characters” of the piece; let’s see how things develop.
development
If sonata–allegro is a dramatic musical form, most of the drama comes in the development. As the name indicates, a further working out, or “developing,” of the thematic material occurs here. The themes can be extended and varied, or wholly transformed; a character we thought we knew can turn out to have a completely different personality. Dramatic confrontation can occur, as when several themes sound together, fighting for our attention. Not only are develop- ments dramatic, they are unstable and unsettling, the harmony typically modu- lating quickly from one key to the next. Only toward the end of the development, in the passage called the retransition, is tonal order restored, often by means of a stabilizing pedal point on the dominant note. When the dominant chord (V) finally gives way to the tonic (I), the recapitulation begins.
recapitulation
After the turmoil of the development, the listener greets the recapitulation with a sense of relief—indeed, double relief, because both first theme and tonic key
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