Vous êtes sur la page 1sur 2

Martjie Burger 16962516 In this essay I will be describing the three types of motivic thematic structure of the Classical

Style. This may be regarded as its main forms. I will explain the similarities and differences between them and I will use Beethovens Sonata, Opus 2 Nr. 3, the second movement, to support my arguments. I will start by giving the definitions of the three motivic structures, namely period, sentence and small ternary form. Period A musical period is a group of phrases consisting of antecedent phrases (questions) and consequent phrases (answers). Antecedents usually end with half cadences and consequents usually end with authentic cadences or plagal cadences. The antecedent and the consequent may have many similarities, but they can also differ greatly. In this Adagio the beginnings of the antecedent and the consequence has the same idea, but they differ in pitch and harmonies. Sentence According to Macpherson (1930:25) a musical sentence is the smallest period in a musical composition that can give in any sense the impression of a complete statement. It may be defined as a period containing two or more phrases, and most frequently ending with some form of perfect cadence. A musical sentence consists of 2-3 phrases. A cadence is the completion of a sentence and when being compared to common speech, the cadence can be seen as the full stop or question mark of a sentence. Small ternary form Another name for ternary form is song form. It consists of three parts. The schematic layout of ternary form is A-B-A. The first and third parts are almost identical and the second part creates a contrast between these two parts. Sonate Opus 2 Nr. 3 Beethoven (Adagio) The theme of this movement is melancholic. The period in this piece is from bar 1-8 and consists of an antecedent and a consequent. The antecedent and the consequent has a lot of similarities. The first two bars of each of them has the same melodic idea, but they differ in pitch and harmony. The antecedent ends in a half cadence and the consequent ends in an imperfect authentic cadence. The sentence stretches from bar 1 to bar 10. It ends in a half cadence, which is different from the usual ways of the classical composers. In this cadence, Beethoven changes the key to the parallel minor of E major, e minor. The piece then changes character and becomes really beautiful. This piece is in small ternary form. A is from bar 1-10 and is in E major. B is from bar 1142 and it is in e minor and then A2 is from bar 43-52, which is an exact repetition of A. After that a coda starts which continues until the end. In the coda there are some variations on the main ideas of the piece, like key signatures changing and pitches change. List of references Ternary form. 2012. [Online]. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php? title+Ternary_form&oldid=479976567 [2012, March 17]. Period (music). 2011. [Online]. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php? title=Period_(music)&oldid=464452819 [2012, March 17]

Martjie Burger 16962516 Sentence (music). 2011. [Online]. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php? title=Sentence_(music)&oldid=464452286 [2012, March 17]. Ilya Schepikhin. Music sentence. Cadence. Period. [Online]. Available: http://ababasoft.com/music/compose/period.html [2012, March 17]

Vous aimerez peut-être aussi