CLASSICAL FORMS:

TERNARY AND
SONATA–ALLEGRO
• When we use the term form to describe a building, we refer to that
structure’s shape and the way it is positioned in physical space. The
forms of Classical architecture were consistent and widespread; around
1800, for example, buildings looked much the same in Vienna and in
Virginia. Moreover, the forms of Classical architecture are still very
much with us today. Consider, for example, the windows in the dance
auditorium at the emperor’s court in Vienna, where Mozart and his wife
often waltzed. Windows of precisely this design still can be found in the
U.S. Capitol (see this chapter’s opening photo), the concert hall of your
author’s university, and even his living room. Look for others next time
you walk around your campus.
• The musical forms of the Classical period were similarly uniform and well traveled. A
few musical designs shaped most Classical music, no matter who the composer or
where the concert. Indeed, in the Classical period, more than any other in the history
of music, a small number of forms—ternary, sonata–allegro, rondo, and theme and
variations—regulated almost all art music. Some of these forms, like rondo, predated
the Classical period, and some, such as sonata–allegro, were created during it. And
as in architecture, these forms have proved timeless, serving composers down to the
present day. But how do composers make a “form” out of music—something you hear
but cannot see? They do so, as mentioned in Chapter 3, by arranging musical events
into patterns over the course of a work, making use of four basic procedures:
statement, repetition, contrast, and variation.
TERNARY FORM

• In ternary (ABA) form, the idea of statement–contrast–repetition is obvious. Think of this design as a kind of musical “home–away–home” if
you wish. To demonstrate the point in the simplest possible terms, consider again the French folk song known to us as “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little
Star.” Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart came to know the melody when he toured France as a youth, and he composed a setting for keyboard that
begins as in the example below. Notice that both units (A and BA) are repeatedvvv . Observe also that A is in the tonic, B emphasizes a
contrasting key (here the dominant), and the returning A is again in the tonic (these harmonies are indicated by the roman numerals I and V). If
a piece in ternary form is in a minor key, the contrasting B section is usually in what is called the relative major.* Of course, most pieces in
ternary form are more complex than “Twinkle, Twinkle.” Most have more contrast of melody, key, and/or mood between the B section and the
surrounding units of A. †
MINUET AND TRIO IN TERNARY FORM
• Dance music generally has a clear beat and a symmetrical form, so
that the mind and body can more easily grasp and perform the steps.
During the Baroque and Classical eras, most dances were written in
simple forms, such as binary and ternary. The latter provides the
structure of the minuet, a stately dance in triple meter. The minuet
began life in the Baroque era as a popular dance, but during the
Classical period composers appropriated it for use within the high-art
genres of the symphony and the string quartet. In this case “dance
music” became domesticated as “listening music.”
• When the minuet appeared as a movement of a symphony or quartet, it was usually
presented in a two-part set. Because the second minuet of the pair had originally been
played by only three instruments, it was called the trio, a name that persisted into the
nineteenth century, no matter how many instruments were required. Once the trio was
finished, convention dictated a return to the first minuet, now performed without repeats.
Because the trio also was composed in ternary form, an ABA pattern was heard three
times in succession. (In the following, the ABA structure of the trio is represented by
CDC, to distinguish it from the minuet.) And, because the trio was different from the
surrounding minuet, the entire minuet–trio–minuet movement formed an ABA
arrangement.
• Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik (A Little Night Music), written in the
summer of 1787, is among his most popular works. It is a serenade, a
light, multimovement piece for strings alone or small orchestra,
intended for an evening’s entertainment and often performed outdoors.
Although we do not know the precise occasion for which Mozart
composed it, we might well imagine Eine kleine Nachtmusik providing
the musical backdrop for a torch-lit party in a formal Viennese garden.
The Menuetto appears as the third of four movements in this serenade
and is a grace and concision.
AS YOU CAN SEE, THE CONTRASTING B SECTION INTERJECTS RAPID MOTION BUT IS ONLY FOUR
MEASURES LONG, AND THE RETURN TO A DOES NOT REPRODUCE THE FULL EIGHT BARS OF THE
ORIGINAL BUT ONLY THE LAST FOUR—THUS, THIS PATTERN MIGHT BE VIEWED AS ABA’. FORMAL
SYMMETRY, OF COURSE, IS REFLECTED HERE ALSO IN A SIMPLE EQUATION: A (8 BARS) = B (4 BARS) +
A’ (4 BARS). IN THE TRIO THAT FOLLOWS, A LIGHTER TEXTURE IS CREATED AS THE FIRST VIOLIN PLAYS A
SOLO MELODY QUIETLY ABOVE A SOFT ACCOMPANIMENT IN THE LOWER STRINGS (C). THE D SECTION OF
THE TRIO IS DISTINGUISHED BY A FORTE STEPWISE RUN UP AND DOWN THE SCALE, AND THEN THE
QUIET MELODY OF C RETURNS TO COMPLETE THE TERNARY FORM. FINALLY, THE MINUET APPEARS ONCE
AGAIN, BUT NOW WITHOUT REPEATS.
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART, EINE KLEINE NACHTMUSIK (A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, 1787
THIRD MOVEMENT, MINUET AND TRIO FORM: TERNARY
SONATA–ALLEGRO FORM
• Most stories, plays, and films have a stereotypical form: setup, complication, resolution. So, too, with sonata–allegro form, which, like a
great play, has the potential for dramatic presentation (A), conflict (B), and resolution (A). Sonata–allegro form is the most complex of all
musical structures, and it tends to result in the longest pieces. Yet it is also the most important: In the Classical era, more movements of
symphonies, quartets, and the like were written in this form than in any other, and its popularity endured throughout the nineteenth
century as well. But first, an important distinction: the difference between the genre called sonata and the form called sonata–allegro. A
sonata is a genre of music usually featuring a solo instrument; sonata–allegro, however, is a form giving structure to a single movement
of any one of several genres: sonata, string quartet, serenade, symphony, even a one-movement overture. To see how this works,
consider the movements in two different compositions in two different genres, Mozart’s serenade Eine kleine Nachtmusik and Haydn’s
Symphony No. 94. Each work comprises four movements, and each movement has its own form. We get the term sonata–allegro form
from the fact that most sonatas employ this form in the first movement, and the first movement almost always goes fast, or “allegro.”
THE SHAPE OF SONATA–ALLEGRO FORM
• To get a sense of what might happen in a typical first movement of a
sonata, string quartet, symphony, or serenade, look at the example
below . Although not every sonata–allegro movement follows this ideal
scheme, the diagram provides a useful overall model for the listener.
• In its broad outline, sonata–allegro form looks much like ternary form. It
consists of an ABA plan, with the B section providing contrast in mood,
key, and thematic treatment. The initial A in sonata–allegro form is
called the exposition, the B the development, and the return to A the
recapitulation. In the early Classical period, the exposition (A) and the
development and recapitulation (BA) were each repeated, as in ternary
form. But Haydn and Mozart gradually dropped the repeat of the
development and recapitulation, and composers of the Romantic period
eventually dispensed with the repeat of the exposition. Let’s examine
each of these sections in turn and learn what we are likely to hear.
EXPOSITION
• In the exposition, the composer presents the main themes (or musical personalities) of the
movement. It begins with the first theme or theme group and is always in the tonic key. Next
comes the transition , or bridge as it is sometimes called, which carries the music from the
tonic to the dominant (from tonic to relative major if the movement is in a minor key) and
prepares for the arrival of the second theme. Often the transition is composed of rapid figural
patterns—scales, arpeggios, and melodic sequences—giving us a feeling of movement. 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 (or group of themes), 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” in 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.
The contrapuntal possibilities lurking within a theme might emerge, with the composer using
that idea as the subject of a brief fugue. (A fugue within a movement of a sonata is called a
fugato.) Not only are developments dramatic, they are unstable and unsettling with the
harmony typically modulating 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 return of the first theme and the
tonic key of the exposition with relief and satisfaction—we’ve returned to the familiar. Though
the recapitulation is not an exact, note-for-note repetition of the exposition, it nonetheless
presents the same musical events in the same order. The only change that regularly occurs in
this restatement is the rewriting of the transition, or bridge. Because the movement must end
in the tonic, the bridge does not modulate to a new key as before, but stays at home in the
tonic. Thus, the recapitunlation imparts to the listener not only a feeling of return to familiar
surroundings but also an increased sense of harmonic stability, as all themes are now heard in
the tonic key. We’ve gone on a great musical (and emotional) journey and are now back home
safe and sound.
• The following two elements are optional to sonata–allegro form, functioning something akin to
a preface and an epilogue.
INTRODUCTION
• About half the mature symphonies of Haydn and Mozart have brief
introductions before the exposition begins. (That the introduction is not
part of the exposition is shown by the fact that it is never repeated.)
These “curtain raisers” are, without exception, slow and stately, and
usually filled with ominous or puzzling chords designed to get the
listener wondering what sort of musical drama he or she is about to
experience.
CODA
• As the name coda (Italian for “tail”) indicates, this is a section added to
the end of the movement to wrap things up. Like tails, codas can be
long or short. Haydn and Mozart wrote relatively short codas in which a
motive might simply be repeated again and again in conjunction with
repeating dominant-tonic chords. Beethoven, however, was inclined to
compose lengthy codas, sometimes introducing new themes even at
the end of the movement. But no matter how long the coda, most will
end with a final cadence in which the harmonic motion slows down to
just two chords, dominant and tonic, played over and over, as if to say
“the end, the end, the end, THE END.” The more these repeat, the
greater the feeling of conclusion.
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART, EINE KLEINE
NACHTMUSIK (1787) FIRST MOVEMENT, ALLEGRO (FAST)
• What we have just heard is an example of sonata–allegro form in miniature. Rarely
has this design been produced in less time, or space, and almost never as artfully. In
the Classical era, sonatas, quartets, symphonies, and serenades typically began with
a movement in sonata–allegro form. So, too, did operas. That is, a Classical opera
often commenced with an overture, performed by full orchestra, composed in
sonata–allegro form. A case in point is Mozart’s overture to Don Giovanni (1787).
Mozart begins this dramatic overture with a slow introduction in a minor key that
incorporates some of the musical motives we hear later in the opera. This slow,
ominous beginning soon changes to a fast tempo and a major key at the start of the
exposition. Because this is an overture to an opera, and not a symphony, the
exposition is not repeated.
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART, OVERTURE TO THE OPERA DON GIOVANNI (1787)
GENRE: OPERA OVERTURE
FORM: SONATA–ALLEGRO