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5.11: Rondo Form - Sonata Rondo

  • Page ID
    62193
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    A sonata rondo (ABACABA) features the same refrain-episode alternation that we find in the five-part rondo, but certain aspects of sonata form are infiltrate this alternation.

    Exposition Development Recapitulation

    Refrain 1 Episode 1 Refrain 2 Episode 2 Refrain 3 Episode 3 Refrain 4

    1. Refrain 1 and Episode 1 form a sonata exposition that is recapitulated in Refrain 3 and Episode 3. As is the case in sonata form, the recapitulation contains a “tonal adjustment” so that it ends in the tonic key. That is, Episode 1 and 3 will be the same thematically, but Episode 3 will occur in tonic.
    2. Because it resembles sonata form, the first and third episodes are always constructed as “second-theme” complexes.
    3. Episode 2 (C in the short-hand diagram above) may be a development—possibly containing a prep-zone, CAZ, and retransition—or it may be a simpler interior theme.

    This page titled 5.11: Rondo Form - Sonata Rondo is shared under a CC BY-SA license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Robin Wharton and Kris Shaffer eds. (Hybrid Pedagogy Publishing) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.