A Discussion of Sonata Form

Well, I feel that before I delve into the Classical period, I must insert a post here to sort of lay down some important ideas.

If you remember the Baroque post, you'll remember I said that the crowning achievement of the Baroque period, when it came to musical forms, was the fugue. Well, the glory of the Classical period's forms was the sonata form.

I feel that a discussion of this is very well merited, because with a proper knowledge of sonata form, understanding Classical music, and even the music of today, is made much easier. And when you understand it, you enjoy it more. :)

Before we begin, though, I must add this: do not confuse sonata form, with a sonata, something which also came into being during the Classical period. There is a difference between the two. And the difference is really fairly simple. The word sonata means "something that is played", as compared to a cantata, or "something that is sung". A sonata is basically a piece for a solo instrument, consisting of generally three to four different movements. But when I say sonata form, I am referring to something else.

Sonata form is a way of composing, and, in turn, of listening to a piece of music. It is the form a piece of music takes. This could be any piece of music. A concert piece for three oboes and a cello could be written in sonata form; or the third movement of a symphony; or the first movement of a concerto. Anything. What's important is that you understand that sonata form doesn't really mean a sonata, and generally only refers to one piece of music, like one movement of something. An entire symphony is not written in sonata form. At least not that I know of...

The easiest way to understand sonata form is to think of writing a paper. In school, they tell you that the best way to write is to have a good outline to follow. Well, when we're writing music, we have many pre-set outlines to choose from; and one of them is called sonata form. And, like an outline you would use to write something in school, sonata form is flexible. "Don't let your outline be too rigid," teachers tell you, "but use your outline as a tool to help you write. You can change your outline." Sonata form is the same.

The outline of sonata form consists of five main points: Introduction, Exposition, Development, Recapitulation, and Coda. These are the backbone of the sonata form. And they all serve a distinct purpose. So you can better see these purposes, let's pretend that we've decided to write a piano concerto in C major. We're just starting into the first movement, we've looked at possible ways to write it, and we have chosen to put it in sonata form. We've fiddled around on the piano, and come up a few good tunes we want to put in our piece. It's going to be good.

We start with the Introduction. This has an obvious function. It introduces the piece. It doesn't necessarily have to introduce the themes of the music, though often it does, and it helps to add weight to the piece. It generally serves to capture the attention of the audience and set the key and mood of the music. However, even though our theme is bright and quick, we decide to make our introduction slow and quiet, but with a slight anticipatory feel; it will make a good contrast, and lead well into the theme.

Now the Exposition comes, and with it comes the best part: the themes of our piece. Themes in sonata form are divided into theme group A and theme group B. These are the tunes we came up with, the ones we want the audience to remember; the actual themes of our movement. So when the orchestral introduction is over, our lively theme group A comes trumpeting in on the piano. Generally these themes are stated in the key of the piece. Since our key is C major, the first theme plays through in C major. We have played around with our main tune long enough to know that it leads well into another smaller tune that we like, and so that also comes in as a part of group A. We are still in C major, and the feel of our piece has not changed; it's still bright and cheery.

It is now time, however (so our piece won't get boring), to shift a little. We've gone through our happy, group A themes, and now, for the sake of contrast, we want to go into something slower and prettier. We have come up with a couple of great tunes for this part. But we also don't want the audience to get tired of C major. So we have to modulate to a new key. Now for a long time, the rule was that you modulated from I to IV when you got to this part in sonata form. (If you don't know what that means, just know that the Roman numerals are the common way of notating chordal relationships in music. If 'I' represents the home key of the piece, in this case C, then 'IV' must be four steps up from that, or F. If we were in E, we'd go up four steps to A.) This was the proper relationship to make between the keys of your group A themes and your group B themes. So, not wanting to go against the wisdom of the men who laid down such rules, we decide to make our slow, pretty theme in F. We manage to modulate to F, and our pretty theme plays on the piano, with gentle woodwinds in the background, and it is followed by another smaller tune that we think works well after it. These is theme group B. And the Exposition is now complete. All of our themes have been played. We have had our main group A theme, plus a secondary A theme, and our main group B theme, plus a secondary B theme.

It is customary (but of course not mandatory) to repeat the Exposition. This way, the audience can really digest the themes. If they know they've heard something before, they'll listen to it, and enjoy it more. They know they're beginning to learn the themes. In some cases, the Introduction is included in the repeat. We decide not to do that, because our introduction carried no real thematic material, and the quiet ending of our slow theme already provides the contrast with our first theme that the intro did. So we repeat the Exposition.

Now that all of our tunes have played through twice, we can have some fun with them. The next part of sonata form is called the Development. This section will develop the themes we have just stated. Since we ended in F major, our development will start in that key. We look at what we have done so far. Our exposition has ended after the B themes have died softly away, and now, to add contrast, and to open up the Development, we take the first few notes of our primary A theme, and let the trumpets blare them out. But, instead of having them continue and play the rest of the theme, we decide to stop them suddenly, and have the piano interrupt them with a large, unexpected chord. The trumpets, not willing to take such a rude interruption, begin again, this time in a different key perhaps. But the piano answers back with another chord. And so on. We are now developing the first few notes of our theme. Playing around with them.

However, this pattern might get old quickly, so we decide to give the audience the satisfaction of finally hearing that whole main theme. The trumpets get to have their say. Now the expected thing is for us to go into that secondary A theme that worked so well after our main theme. We do so, but this time, we change the time signature, and give it a more dance-like feel. It'd be really great if, while this is happening, the strings came in every now and then with the first opening chords of our main B theme.

See? Now we're really starting to develop things. We can take any part of our tunes, or the whole thing if we wish, and see what happens when we do such-and-such to it. If the audience is attentive enough, they'll catch these subtle references and it makes it a lot of fun for them.

Well, our development has been getting pretty tense. We've messed around with all our themes, and now we're building up and looking forward to the next section, the Recapitulation. This is where all of our themes will be reassembled and played through for the last time. We just have one task: we've got to get back to our home key, C major. So we work out a clever modulation from the key we've found ourselves in, and the development finally gives way to the Recapitulation, and our exuberant, primary A theme.

Everything in this section happens the same way it did in the Exposition. This means easy work for us. We just copy everything over. There is, however, one thing that must change. Everything now has to stay in C major. We've come home to this key, and our themes are here to stay. This means a few minor alterations... The biggest change to be made is obviously where we go to F major for our B themes. That can't happen. So we alter our modulation so that it actually doesn't go anywhere, but remains in C. Our B themes can now play through, like they did the first time, but now they stay in C.

This is really great so far. We've introduced the piece, played the themes, developed them, and now we're tying up all the loose ends with a final statement of the themes in the home key. But since all good things must come to an end, we have to write the last section, the Coda.

The Coda is really just the ending. It can be long, short, however we want it. We want it to be big and happy. We add a little alteration to the ending of our B themes, so they don't just die away, but they now lead into the Coda, a small section that builds and builds in an exciting crescendo, and finally comes crashing down with a massive chord from both the piano and the orchestra.

And there's our piece, written in sonata form. I know that was really lengthy, but it was worth it if you tried to understand it. And it's fairly simple really. Sonata form is just a way of organizing your music. And what's better, if you listen to a piece already knowing it's in sonata form, you know how to listen to it. And that leads to a better appreciation for the piece. Knowledge of sonata form will probably help you when reading my blog too, as I might refer to it here and there.

So thanks for sticking with me through this post. I'll get into the actual Classical period next time, so be sure and check back every now and then. :)