Classification Of The Larger Forms
The Sonatine form is the smaller
variety of two practically kindred designs, known collectively as the
Sonata-allegro forms. In order to obtain a clear conception of its
relation to the latter, and also to the Rondo-forms, it is necessary to
subject the entire group of so-called higher forms to a brief
comparison.
The larger, broader, or higher designs of musical composition are
divided into
two classes: the three Rondo-forms, and the two
Sonata-allegro forms. The latter constitute the superior of the two
classes, for the following reasons:--
In the first place, the rondos rest upon a narrower thematic basis,
centering in one single theme--the Principal one--about which the other
themes revolve. Further, their most salient structural feature is
nothing more significant than simple alternation (of the Principal
theme with its one or more Subordinates) the Principal theme recurs
after each digression with a persistence that lends a certain
one-sidedness to the form,--only excepting in the Third (and highest)
Rondo-form, which, by virtue of its broad Recapitulation of the first
Division, approaches most nearly the rank of the Sonata-allegro design,
as will be seen.
In the Sonata-allegro forms, on the other hand, the leading purpose is
to unite two co-ordinate themes upon an equal footing; one is to
appear as often as the other; and the two themes together constitute
the thematic basis of the design. These are, as in the rondos, a
Principal theme (called principal because it appears first, and thus
becomes in a sense the index of the whole movement), and a Subordinate
theme (so called in contradistinction to the other),--contrasting in
character, as usual, but actually of equal importance, and of nearly or
quite equal length. To these, there is commonly added a codetta (or
concluding theme as it is {122} sometimes called, though it seldom
attains to the dignity of a theme),--sometimes two, or even more,
codettas, which answer the general purpose of a coda, rounding off and
balancing this Division of the design. This union of the two or three
thematic components that are to represent the contents of the design,
is the Exposition, or first Division, of the Sonata-allegro forms.
It indicates a point of contact between the latter and the rondo,--in
the Third form of which we also find an Exposition. Careful
comparison of the two types of exposition reveals the significant
difference between the two classes, however; in the Third Rondo, the
exposition was an alternation of themes, with decided preference for
the principal one; in the Sonata-allegro it is a union of themes,
without preference, resulting in a broader thematic basis.