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Sonata Form and the Problem of Second‐Theme Beginnings
Author(s) -
Richards Mark
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
music analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.25
H-Index - 18
eISSN - 1468-2249
pISSN - 0262-5245
DOI - 10.1111/musa.12011
Subject(s) - chord (peer to peer) , theme (computing) , harmony (color) , melody , philosophy , musical , musical expression , literature , teleology , musical form , linguistics , art , epistemology , computer science , visual arts , distributed computing , operating system
Although the second theme (ST) group is a crucial landmark in Classical sonata form, where it is usually articulated with great clarity, in many instances its beginning cannot be so easily discerned, especially in Beethoven. The problem is that no matter how powerful a single rule may be, none by itself can identify all those locations which may be considered an ST beginning. This article therefore proposes that an ST beginning depends on the presence of several musical signals, each of which contributes to its expression. These include: (1) tonic harmony of the new key, (2) beginning and end functions in the manner of one of Caplin's theme types, (3) preparation by a phrase‐ending chord, (4) the textural gap of Hepokoski and Darcy's medial caesura (MC) and, at the ST beginning itself, (5) a change in texture, (6) a change in dynamic and (7) characteristic melodic material. A sonata deformation in any of the first three signals sets off a teleological ST process , which attempts to compensate for the deficiencies of the signal. By contrast, the deformation of an absent MC gap can produce an integrated ST or, if combined with an absent preparatory chord, a spontaneous ST .