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.



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