Relation To The Three-part Song-form


In a former chapter (XIII) the

Three-Part form was defined as the type of perfect structural design,

upon which every larger (or higher) form is based. Nowhere is the

connection more striking, and the process of natural evolution out of

this germ more directly apparent, than in the sonata-allegro design.

See the diagram on page 124. The Exposition corresponds to the First

Part, so expanded as to comprise the two them
s and codetta, fused

into one larger division; the statement of a more comprehensive

thematic group than the ordinary Part contains, but no more, for all

that, than the usual initial statement. The Development corresponds

to the Second Part (proportionately expanded), and the Recapitulation

to the Third Part, or recurrence and confirmation of the statement.



Any Three-Part Song-form, the moment that its First Part expands and

divides into the semblance of two fairly distinct thematic sections,

becomes what might be called a miniature sonata-allegro form. Many

Three-Part Song-forms are so broad, and many sonata-allegros so

diminutive, that it is here again often difficult to determine the line

of demarcation between them. Example 55 (cited because of its

comparative brevity) is scarcely more than such a broadly expanded

Three-Part Song-form. An example which approaches much more nearly the

unmistakable Three-Part song, may be found in Mozart, sonata No. 12,

Menuetto:--



Part I, section one (embryo of a principal theme), measures 1-10,

period, extended; section two (embryo of a subordinate theme) measures

11-18, period, in different key.



Part II, group of three phrases, measures 19-30.



Part III, section one, as before, measures 31-40; section two, as

before, but in the principal key, measures 41-48.



This is, of course, a Three-Part Song-form; but the essential features

of the Sonata-allegro are unquestionably present, in miniature.



See also, Beethoven, sonata, op. 101, first movement; certainly a

sonata-allegro design, but diminutive.



* * * * * *



The superiority of the sonata-allegro form over all other musical

designs, is amply vindicated by the breadth of its thematic basis, the

straightforwardness and continuity of its structural purpose, the

perfection of its thematic arrangement, and the unexcelled provision

which it affords for unity, contrast, corroboration, balance, and

whatever else a thoroughly satisfactory structural design seems to

demand. Hence, while brief triumphs of apparent originality may be

achieved by simply running counter to this and similar designs, it

seems scarcely possible that any musical form could be contrived that

would surpass the sonata-allegro, the last and highest of the forms of

composition.



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