Sonata form is not a fixed mold
The textbook scheme (first theme – bridge – contrasting second theme – closing | development | recapitulation) is a nineteenth-century simplification (A. B. Marx, Czerny). Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century composers thought mainly in tonal terms: an exposition that goes from the tonic to a secondary key, an unstable central area, a recapitulation that brings everything back to the tonic. On this basis many variants exist.
Monothematic sonata
- The second group (in the key of the dominant or the relative) begins with the same theme as the first, transposed and often reorchestrated; the contrast is entrusted to key, instrumentation and closing ideas.
- It is typical of Haydn: an often-cited example is the first movement of Symphony No. 104 "London", where the main theme returns in A major at the beginning of the second group. Haydn uses it in many symphonies and quartets; hence the idea of "monothematicism" as economy of material.
- Effect: unity and a sense of "conversation" with a single topic seen from different angles; the second group often adds a new idea toward the end (closing theme).
- Lesson for composers: you can obtain contrast without new material, by changing key, register, instrumentation, dynamics and accompaniment. In pop it is the same principle as the re-arranged final chorus or the post-chorus that reuses the hook.
Sonatina
- Sonata form in miniature, with a very short or absent development (a simple retransition), short themes, often for teaching purposes (Clementi op. 36, Kuhlau, Diabelli).
Sonata form without development (Hepokoski–Darcy type 1)
- Exposition followed directly by the recapitulation, with at most a brief retransition.
- Typical of slow movements and opera overtures: the Overture to The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart (1786) goes from the exposition to the recapitulation without a development.
Exposition in three keys
- The second group passes through two keys before the closing. Schubert makes it a personal trait: in the String Quintet in C major D. 956 the second theme arrives in E♭ major before landing in G major. Brahms and the early Beethoven also experiment with expositions with multiple tonal areas.
- In nineteenth-century minor keys the second theme often appears at the major or minor mediant or at the flat sixth instead of the relative.
Inverted or "rewritten" recapitulation
- The themes return in reverse order (second theme before the first) or the recapitulation begins in a key other than the tonic (Haydn's "false recapitulation", or the recapitulation beginning on the subdominant, as in Mozart's Sonata K. 545, whose first theme returns in F major).
Hybrid forms
- Sonata-rondo (see the dedicated entry).
- Concerto sonata form (double exposition, see "Solo concerto").
- Double-function form (Liszt, Sonata in B minor, 1853): a single large movement in sonata form that also contains the four movements of a sonata.
Comparison table
| Variant | Exposition | Development | Recapitulation | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | P–TR–S–C | yes | P–TR–S–C in the tonic | Mozart, K. 550, I |
| Monothematic | P–TR–P′ (in V)–C | yes | in the tonic | Haydn, Symphony 104, I |
| Sonatina | short | minimal | yes | Clementi op. 36 |
| Without development | yes | no | yes | Mozart, Figaro Overture |
| Three keys | P–TR–S1 (key 2)–S2 (key 3)–C | yes | in the tonic | Schubert, D. 956, I |
Exercise
Write a 24-bar monothematic exposition in C major: an 8-bar theme (I), a 6-bar bridge that modulates to G with a half cadence on D7, the same theme in G with a different accompaniment (for example pizzicato strings instead of piano) and 4 bars of closing. Hear how the contrast arises only from key and timbre.
Related topics
Sonata form, Sonata form: Hepokoski and Darcy's Sonata Theory, Sonata form with a slow introduction, Sonata-rondo, Solo concerto, Ballade and Romantic free form.