Rondo (music)

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Compositions that can be described using ideal-typical form models are referred to as rondo . These form models have a recurring section (A) in common, which alternates with other musical designs (B, C, D, E etc.).

History and demarcation

It was assumed that the roots of the instrumental rondo lie in the old French rondeau of the 13th to 15th centuries or in textual / musical refrain forms of this time (an example of this form is shown by Guillaume de Machaut's rondeau "Coment puet on mieus ses mans dire" with the form ABAAABAB). However, “there is a direct connection between the medieval refrain song and the one since the 17th / 18th. Vocal and instrumental rondeau / rondo (with the likewise 'round' abaca building… a) […] not proven ”. Examples of rondo compositions from later times can be cited from different genres (in polyphonic vocal music, piano pieces, arias, concerts, sonatas, symphonies and chamber music), whereby geographical (French / Italian) and genre-specific names are used for the respective sections (e.g. B. Refrain / Verse, Refrain / Couplet, Ritornello / Episode):

“In Italian, the French term 'refrain' is referred to as 'ritornello', the same one that was later introduced for tutti sections in concerts. And 'ritornello' and 'refrain' actually apply to similar phenomena. 'Ritornello' is derived from the Italian 'ritorno' ('return'), extended by the diminutive '-ello' and therefore means 'little return'; The French 'refrain' generally means something like 'signal', besides - especially musically - also 'repetition verse' or 'refrain' and finally also hangs (based on its Latin root 'refringere') with verb forms such as' break up something 'or' inhibit 'together. A chorus 'interrupts' the musical flow with a 'recurring verse' that has something 'signaling' attached to it. "

Couperin Clavecin Livre 1

The piano pieces by the French clavecinists of the 17th century (e.g. von Chambonnières , Louis Couperin , d'Anglebert and others) as well as in the French operas of JB Lully are the first blooms for instrumental compositions in rondo form . In the keyboard books of François Couperin (1668–1733), today's most famous representative of the Couperin family, numerous rondo shapes can be identified, for example in the first volume of his harpsichord works published in Paris in 1713, the suite movements “La Badine” (ABACA), “La Voluptueuse ”and“ La bandoline ”(ABACADA),“ L'Enchanteresse ”(ABACADAEA) and“ La Favorite Chacone ”(ABACADAEAFA). Unlike today's theory of forms, F. Couperin has also subsumed the ABA form under the rondo forms, as the instrumental piece "Les Abeilles" from the Premier Ordre of the aforementioned collection, called Rondeau, shows. While ritornelles usually appear in different keys in the concerts and arias of the first half of the 18th century, the A part (refrain) always sounds in the original key in piano music of this time. Couperin, for example, did not write out repetitions of this section, but marked them with repeat signs between the couplets. J.-Ph. Rameau (1683–1764) chose the five-part ABACA shape for many of his rondos, which is now also referred to as the “small rondo shape” in the theory of shapes. An example of this is Rameau's Rondeau “La Joyeusse” from the suite in D major by the Pièces de clavecin (1724), the most prominent example today is probably the Bagatelle in A minor WoO 59 (“ For Elise ”) by Ludwig van Beethoven .

Hermann Erpf distinguished series and equilibrium forms in his theory of forms. According to him, the baroque rondo belongs to the series forms (for which the term chain rondo has also prevailed), while the classic rondo belongs to the equilibrium form (for which the term arch rondo is used). In general, it can be said that one can speak of an equilibrium shape if the impression of a symmetrical shape is in the foreground, whereas a row shape, if the impression of an asymmetrical sequence of sections predominates. Since rondos that begin and end with a refrain usually have an uneven number of sections, the arch shape is not only determined by the number of sections, but also by motivic-thematic correspondences, proportions of the intermediate parts and the key sequence.

Heinrich Christoph Koch , however, pointed out in his composition theory towards the end of the 18th century that the "intermediate clauses" in a rondo have no motivic-thematic references:

“In music, the rondo differs from all other musical pieces mainly in that the various periods or intermediate movements of the same do not have such a community of melodic parts as the periods of the other musical pieces; for each period of the same constitutes for itself a special combination of its peculiar melodic parts. The first of these, or the so-called rondo movement, consists only of a single complete melodic part, which is first presented as a fifth paragraph, but when it is immediately repeated is transformed into a final movement of the main note. In the aria, this rondo movement is first performed by the instruments as a ritornello [...] "

From Koch's quotation, it can also be seen that the musical structure of the A section (refrain) usually takes place as a period (the correspondence between the fifth paragraph and the final movement ; the term period mentioned in Koch's quotation is different from the current use of the term) as well as the cross-genre Use of the rondo set. A description of the sonata rondo can also be found in Koch.

Sonata rondo is a hybrid between sonata and rondo form. Ulrich Leisinger's criticism that such “attempts, mostly originating from the theory of composition (e.g. BC Czerny [1849], AB Marx [1845] and in almost all more recent form theories) only codify the design possibilities observed in individual cases”, formulates a reservation that is opposed to any Allows model constructions to be collected, but fails to recognize the value of ideal-typical constructions in the sense of Max Weber for musical analysis. The following figure shows the models of the sonata form and sonata rondo form in a comparative representation:

Models of the sonata form and sonata rondo form in comparison

With the exception of concert finals, the rondo shape lost its importance in instrumental music (symphonies, chamber music) in the 19th century, but remained popular for the formation of virtuoso pieces and salon music. Typical names that can illustrate this development are individual works for piano such as B. Beethoven's Rondo a capriccio op. 129 (1795, “ Anger over the lost penny ”), F. Mendelssohn's Rondo capriccioso op. 14 (1830), JN Hummel's Rondeau brilliant (1825), Liszt's Rondo di bravura (1824/1825) uv a. With the exception of this development, even after the individualization of traditional form concepts at the beginning of the 20th century, examples of the most varied of rondo shapes can be found in contemporary composing.

literature

Footnotes

Remarks

  1. cf. See also Koch 1793, p. 248, § 185: “The second form of the aria, which is used in modern singing pieces, is the form of the rondo. [...] "

Individual evidence

  1. Fritz Reckow: Rondellus / rondeau, rota . In: Concise dictionary of musical terminology , volume 5. Wiesbaden 1972 ( dig. Edition in the BSB ). (Page?)
  2. ^ Konrad Küster: The concert. Form and forum of virtuosity (= Bärenreiter study books for music. 6). Bärenreiter, Kassel 1993, p. 25 f.
  3. ^ Hermann Erpf: Form and Structure in Music . Mainz 1967. pp. 50 and 102.
  4. Heinrich Christoph Koch: Attempting instructions for composition (3 parts). Rudolstadt / Leipzig, 1782–1793. Facsimile reprint. 2nd Edition. Hildesheim 2000, digit. Issued in: Music Theoretical Sources 1750–1800. Printed writings by J. Riepel, H. Chr. Koch, JF Daube and JA Scheibe . Berlin 2007. p. 248 f.
  5. Heinrich Christoph Koch: Attempt at a guide to composition . Rudolstadt / Leipzig, 1782–1793. P. 110 f.
  6. ^ Ulrich Leisinger:  Rondeau - Rondo. C. The instrumental rondo. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Second edition, material part, volume 8 (flute suite). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 1998, ISBN 3-7618-1109-8 , Sp. 552 ( online edition , subscription required for full access)