Cadential Structure in Symphonic Composition: Sonata Movements |
| Music theory, in common with scientific theory, focuses on the common elements in diverse phenomena. In examining the cadential structure of various sonata movements, we find several recurrent patterns, variants on the [I-IV-V-I] framework using techniques of prolongation and elaboration. A common element found in diverse phenomena. |
| The customary conclusion of the opening section, the exposition, and its repetition, are, without fail, temporary diversions in a larger pattern of prolongation or elaboration. For example, in the first movement of Beethoven's piano sonata in f minor, opus 2 no. 1, the conclusion in A-flat major is part of a larger pattern of prolonging the opening structural tonic. This is discussed in the next section. In the first movement of the piano sonata in c minor, opus 13, the complex and dramatic conclusion of the exposition is part of an elaboration of the motion from the opening structural tonic to the structural subdominant (which Beethoven highlights with a characteristic sudden piano) in the midst of the development section. This is discussed later. |
[I-IV-V-I] Prolongation of Function Elaboration of Motion In Symphonic: Back / Next |
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Introduction The Chaconne Cadential Structure --- Unitary & Binary Structures Linear & Periodic Structures Riff Modalities Structural Counterpoint Modular Composition Appendices |
| RIFFS Cadential Structure In Symphonic Composition: Sonata Movements Lester Allyson Knibbs, Ph.D. |
| Sonata Movements Op. 2 No. 1 (I) Op. 10 No. 1 (I) |