Analysing Classical Sonatas – The Sentence

The Sentence
Welcome to the second article in this series on William Caplin‘s formal theory. Today we will talk about the sentence. Throughout the article, we will explain what it is, what is its structure, and we will analyze various pieces belonging to classicism to see how to apply this analysis tool to works from that period.

 

What is a Sentence?

 

The Sentence is, in Caplin’s words:

 

the most important theme type in classical music

 

Its importance is due to the fact that most of the thematic units in the classical repertoire are structured as sentences or in ways that closely resemble the sentence.

We must take into account that the term “theme” has several meanings in musical terminology. In order to avoid ambiguity, here it will refer to a complete formal unit, which includes its particular melodic-motivic content, its accompanimental texture, and its supporting harmonic progressions.

 

 

The Sentence Structure

 

The sentence is an 8-measure structure. Its internal grouping is 2 + 2 + 1 + 1 + 2.

 

  • Bars 1 and 2: a tonic prolongation occurs. We will call these bars, where the material is presented, the basic idea.
  • Bars 3 and 4: A repetition of the basic idea occurs. We must be careful with the term “repetition” since we are not necessarily going to find an exact repetition. The repetition of the basic idea could contain the same harmonisation of the basic idea (tonic version), or it could start with dominant harmony (dominant version). We could even find a sequential repetition, which happens when the melody and the harmony are transposed by the same interval and direction.
  • Bars 5 and 6: It is common to find a fragmentation that appears in measure 5 and is repeated, with variations or not, in measure 6. At the same time, an acceleration of the harmonic rhythm occurs.
  • Bars 7 and 8: In these measures, we find a cadential idea which brings closure to the entire sentence. 

 

Below is a diagram that shows us a possible structure for a sentence:

 

the sentence

 

If we look at the diagram carefully, we will see that the basic idea and its repetition combine together to make a 4-measure presentation phrase, indicated by a dotted bracket.

The second phrase is called “continuation phrase”, and It ends with a cadential idea which brings closure to the entire sentence.

 

 

 Next, we will analyze three works belonging to musical classicism to see how the sentences are built.

 

 

Minuet in F – Notenbuch für Maria Anna (Nannerl) Mozart

 

the sentence 2

 

The basic idea presents a material that consists of two well-defined motifs. On the other hand, the three-note ascending stepwise motion, with the following rhythm:

 

On the other hand, the motif of the ascending triplet followed by three descending crotchets:

In the repetition of the basic idea, an exact repetition is produced, with the same harmony and even with the same notes. It should be noted that this does not necessarily need to happen in this way in all sentences, since we could find the design adapted to another harmony, such as the dominant harmony.

 

In measure 5 there is a fragmentation. Here we find a design that is not derived from the materials presented above. That is, it is a new material:

 

 

In measure 6, the same design is repeated over the dominant harmony. There is a slight transformation of the motif as, this time, the design consists of three crotchets instead of two crotchets and two quavers.

In measures 7 and 8 we find the cadential idea, which, in essence, consists of the following contrapuntal scheme:

 

Violin Sonata No. 23 in D, K. 306  (Allegro con spirito)

 

 

This piece has a greater degree of complexity than the example seen previously. However, the harmonic structure of the sentence remains simple since the repetition of the basic idea contains almost exact repetition. The only difference is given by a slight change in the melody of the violin (and in the left hand of the piano) in bar 4.

 

In measures 5 and 6 we find a fragmentation where an acceleration of the harmonic rhythm is produced, as William Caplin proposes. The acceleration is evident since, in the first four measures of the piece, each chord lasts 2 measures, however, in the measures where the fragmentation occurs, we find two chords in each measure.

 

In measures 7 and 8 we find the cadential idea. Which contains, in essence, the following scheme:

 

 

Minuet in G, BWV Anh. 114 – C. Petzold

 

 

In this famous minuet, we can see the structure of the sentence very clearly.

In this case, the repetition of the basic idea begins in the subdominant. It is a repetition, even though the notes and the harmony are different, because the texture, the design, and the rhythm are maintained. 

Here we are using the term repetition because it is the immediate restatement of prior musical material, without any intervening material between the statement and the restatement. In other contexts, where a restatement occurs following some intervening, contrasting material can be termed a return.

In measure 5, we observe a fragmentation. The fragmentation material is derived from measure 1, since the same rhythmic motif is used, and it is shown the inversion of the four stepwise ascending quavers.

In measures 7 and 8, we find the cadential idea. In this case, the harmonic goal is a half-cadence. In the cadential idea of the sentences of classicism, it is very common to find half-cadences because, in this way, continuity is favoured.

 

 

We hope this article has been useful to you. The next article in this series will discuss how to compose an original piece using the sentence structure.

 

In case you have missed our first article of this series, click here.

 

 

 

 

    SUMMARY by Juan Rezzuto

OVERVIEW

Schoenberg was the first theorists in forging the concept of sentence. The Sentence is a type of theme. Themes are made up of phrases. The sentence according to Schoemberg contains two phrases:

  1. Presentation
  2. Continuation

, but uses three functions:

  1. Presentation
  2. Continuation
  3. Cadential

The sentence, by definition, comprises 8 real measures and begins with a presentation phrase. The presentation phrase starts with a basic idea which is then repeated. The basic idea’s repetition can be labeled as:

  1. Exact
  2. Statement – response
  3. Sequential

The main harmonic progression of the presentation is tonic prolongational.

The presentation phrase is then followed by a continuation one which is made up of a continuation plus a cadential functions.

 

PRESENTATION

The basic idea

With 2 measures, the basic idea is:

  1. Big enough to contain motives
  2. Small enough to build up phrases

The melodic content used for a basic idea should be described as characteristic. Melodic content can be:

  1. Characteristic: it uniquely defines a theme as an individual
  2. Conventional: used for passage work

The basic idea is much more than its tunes. To correctly identify the basic idea, it is important to check if all its main features are present.

 

TYPE OF REPETITIONS

Exact: The harmonic support is kept intact. The melodic line can be transposed.

Statement- response: The statement and response can also be termed a tonic version and a dominant version respectively.

 

Sequential repetition / model-sequence technique: Both the melody and the harmony are transposed by the same interval and direction. Because the overall harmonic support of a presentation phrase must be tonic prolongational, sequential repetition (with its implied sequential progression) is rarely used at the beginning of the sentence. When it is, the sense of a broader tonic prolongation usually emerges at some later point within the theme.

 

To define the type of repetition used both the harmony and the melody should be assessed.

Harmonic sequence is a particular way of arranging a succession of harmonies according to a consistent root motion (such as descending fifths, or ascending steps). Model-sequence technique is a form of repetition: a given unit (model) is repeated through a complete transposition of its content (sequence).

Tonic prolongation

The presentation phrase always involve a tonic-prolongational progression. If the response version of the basic idea is supported by the dominant, then we will find the recapping tonic later on in the theme.

 

CONTINUATION FUNCTION

We can identify and differentiate the continuation phrase from the presentation phrase mainly due to one, some or all the following 4 features:

  1. Fragmentation: The process of making the 2m unit (basic idea) shorter. These fragments will be made clearer through repetition.
  2. Acceleration of the harmonic rhythm
  3. Acceleration of the surface rhythmic activity: Particularly effective in the absence of harmonic acceleration
  4. Sequential harmonies: Are very rarely used in simple 8m sentences. They are more commonly used in extended sentences.

 

CADENTIAL FUNCTION

Cadence types

Perfect Authentic Cadence (PAC): it ends in the tonic

Imperfect Authentic Cadence (IAC): it ends most commonly on the third

Half Cadence (HC): it ends in the dominant

 

The melodic contour of the cadence is typically descending as opposite to the presentation one which is ascending.

During the cadential function, the liquidation process will become prominent. The liquidation process affects the characteristic melody in particular

Expanded cadential progression (ECP)

An ECP occurs when the cadential function takes over the continuation one. It most commonly happens when a cadential progression starts on m. 5.

It is notated with ECP at the lower right of the first harmony in the progression.

 

Modulating Sentence

Sometimes the sentence can modulate to a neighbouring key region, most commonly the dominant.

This article is one in a sequence of summaries about Classical Music analysis. All the information is taken from William Caplin’s “Classical Music Forms”. After careful analysis, I have choosen his work as my main source of information and paradigm-to-follow for my haydn Sonata analysis.

 

 

Do not miss our next chapter of this series by clicking here.

 

#Haydnproject #HaydnProject #musictheoryatwkmt #Caplin

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