Exposition, Development, Recapitulation: How Learning Sonata Form Can Dramatically Improve Learning Classical Piano Music
- Jack Mitchell Smith
- 2 days ago
- 10 min read
The sonata. One of the most widely used forms in all of classical music (including the Baroque and Romantic periods!).
I have played a fair few sonatas in my time and - as with any piece - I have delved head first into learning them from the beginning through to the end and, whilst I have always been aware of a certain structure, I have often found it difficult to exemplify the sections of a sonata.
Here’s where the Internet is very useful: I can look up blogs, articles and YouTube videos on the matter and surely they can explain to me using simple terminology what the sections of a sonata are? And give examples?
Wrong!
So in this blog I hope to alleviate any concerns you may have yourselves as to what each of the definitions encompassed by ‘Sonata Form’ means.
But first: a word of warning:
Sonata Form and Sonata Cycle Are Different!
Many of us when we think of sonatas will think of Beethoven (‘Moonlight Sonata’) or Mozart (‘Piano Sonata in C Major’), yet if we actually look at these in any drawn out capacity we will realise that both of these have actually got several extremely different movements.
Therefore, the classical / romantic definition of a sonata is actually there to refer to a bigger body of work for a solo instrument / duet / small group. These are typically in three or four movements and on the whole this is referred to as the ‘Sonata Cycle’.
Typically you will find that this is the most common layout of a three movement sonata:
Allegro: This movement is normally allegro, i.e. fast. Structurally, this is the movement that is in Sonata Form. Read on to find out exactly what this is!
Adagio / Andante: A slower movement, usually in what we call ‘Ternary Form’. Ternary Form in its simplest form is A - B - A, where A is one section of music and B is a different section. Therefore, the piece starts and ends with the same music (variations are, of course, permitted!) but with an interjection of a section that flows beautifully from and into section A but isn’t the same. This second movement can also be expanded into a rondo (see next bit!).
Allegro / Vivace: The third movement is back to being fast or lively (vivace). These often take a Rondo form, which expands on the ternary form structure by adding a C section (and D, E, F etc. - however long the composer wishes) to create a structure of A - B - A - C - A - D - A etc., ultimately with one distinctive theme / section returning (again, variants are permitted!).
This cycle isn’t set in stone, however. This is just a typical and fairly standard structure that composers would follow. And seeing as this blog is just going over the basics for you, I won’t even get into the infinite idiosyncrasies of what can become when additional movements are added, structures of certain movements change etc…
Because we’re focussing our attention on Sonata Form today:
So…getting your history caps on for a moment, it wasn’t until what we now recognise as the Classical Period that the Sonata Cycle developed, and originally a sonata - such as a Baroque era sonata such as those defined by Scarlatti or early Haydn - was a piece of music that followed the sonata form (as the opening movements of our Sonata Cycle ought).
Which begs the question: what is the Sonata Form?
Sonata Form Broken Down
The Sonata Form can be broken down into three key components: Exposition, Development and Recapitulation.
Before you read on about Sonata Form, it might be best to have a quick recap of some terminology and tonality phraseology:
Tonic: Tonic refers to the home key - or the root key. Note how sonatas typically title themselves “… Sonata in … major / minor”. Well, that major / minor refers to the key signature.
Dominant: The dominant note / chord is the fifth note / chord in a scale. So if you take the key signature of a piece of music and work out five notes up the scale, you find your dominant. For example, in the key and its corresponding scale of D major, D = 1, E = 2, F# = 3, G = 4 and A = 5. Therefore, in the key of D major, the dominant is note A and dominant chord is A major.. In classical musical theory, the dominant is always major, so even if this were in D minor, the dominant would still be A major.
Relative Major / Minor: This refers to the key signature that shares the same sharp / flat notes with another. Each major key has a relative minor, and each minor key has a relative major. A relative major key sits 3 notes up on the corresponding minor scale. For example, in A minor, the corresponding scale of A minor reads A = 1, B = 2 and C = 3. Thus, C major is the relative major of A minor. This works counting down from a major, of course, or you can count six up in a major scale to find the relative minor. For example, the relative minor of E major would mean finding the corresponding scale of E and counting up six: E = 1, F# = 2, G# = 3, A = 4, B = 5, C# = 6. Therefore, C# minor is the relative minor of E major.
Now that we have refreshed our minds a little on those terms, let’s explore the separate sections of Sonata Form. To exemplify, I shall use examples from the first movement of Mozart's Piano Sonata in C Major (K 279):
Exposition
If the Exposition could talk, it would literally say “oh hey, it’s me!” - or words to that effect. Exposition is the part of sonata form where we introduce not one, but two themes (you can actually introduce as many as you like, but two is standard and three is often done - any more might drag!).
These two or more themes or ideas can be introduced and shown off (exposition by definition, see!) however the composer wishes. They can be as drastically different as the composer wishes, or they could in fact, if the composer wished, be identical except for one fundamentally crucial difference: they are in a different key!
And here’s where out little recap of terminology comes in useful:
Let’s say you are playing piece in Sonata Form that is in C major and your exposition introduces two themes. Theme One must always be in the tonic. Therefore, theme one must be in C major.
Theme two, by contrast, should be in a different key. And is there a rule to this? Yes! Is it a rule that’s frequently broken by many composers across the centuries? Also yes! But the general consensus is that your next theme should be in the dominant key. That means your first theme is in C major, your second theme in G major.
If you were in a minor key - C minor, for example - you would simply stick to the tonic for the first theme - C minor - and your second theme would be in its relative major: E♭ major.
Are you with me so far?
Marvellous! Let’s talk about the development!
Development
The Development is chaos. And this is marvellous for everybody - for the performer, the composer, the listener. Many people get as far as learning - or even composing - the exposition in a Sonata and then panic when it gets to the Development section because now all your rules are literally out of the window. Like literally.
Except for one…
DO NOT USE THE TONIC!
The whole purpose of the Development is to create a sense of distance and longing for where we’ve come from, thus the Exposition themes are very nice and grounded, whether major or minor, whereas the Development will not be so much. For this reason, any key is permitted with the exception of the tonic. So, if the composer wants to work up the keys chromatically and never resolve any of them, let them get on with it! It’s all part of the sense of creating a sense of unease or tension which will be resolved (just you wait for the Recapitulation!), but in terms of what’s actually happening at this moment in time and where it’s going before it gets there - it’s anybody’s guess!
I should point out, however, that Development does point just a little bit more to the idea of developing our mood in this respect: there is a much more musical mindset behind it too. Themes are borrowed from any or all themes in the Exposition section and incorporated in some way, often with jarring non-resolve or discordance. This is, of course, all part of the composer’s master plan to make the re-establishing of the original themes so much more satisfying!
And just like that, here they are…
Recapitulation
And…back to beginning!
Sort of!
Whatever theme or themes were established in the Exposition now come back with a vengeance.
Well, not so much the first theme because - whilst slight variations are always permitted - we’ve already heard that bit!
But the second theme. Oh yes, here’s where it gets super fun!
The second theme was not in the tonic, remember. According to good practice, it was either in the dominant key for a piece in a major key, or the relative major for a piece in the minor key, thus giving stark contrast to the first theme and also leaving a sense of non-resolve before leading into the Development.
However, the Development section took care of that by making a weird and wonderful journey back to the original key. We’re now finishing the piece - we don’t want to finish the piece in a weird place that makes us sit on the end of our seats because we’re not back where we started - back ‘home’, so to speak.
So what do we do?
We transpose the second theme back down to the original key!
Thus, everything finishes with a nice resolve, often punctuated by a grand perfect cadence to really finalise the deal!
Does That Account For Every Bar?
…noooooo, that would be too straightforward, wouldn’t it?…
Introduction
Remember that the first theme in the Exposition doesn’t have to be introduced right from the off. This sometimes happens, such as the first movement in Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight Sonata’, but it isn’t the only way of establishing it. Take the below example of a Scarlatti Sonata in D minor:
Eagle Eyed readers may have noticed something extraordinary: yes we are notated as being in the key of D minor, however it takes literally 30 bars to get to that key. If you were to play this with the flats and sharps notated, you would realise that we are much closer to G minor up until bar 23, and even then we have a fair few bars until we establish D minor.
So a further interesting rule of a notated sonata: you always score in the home key!
But back to the point, this is all introductory!
Transition (Bridge)
The purpose of the Exposition is not to be particularly jarring - the themes should be cleanly put across. Because they are in different keys (especially major keys being a tonic - dominant difference), it doesn’t sound right to just suddenly play one after the other. A transition to the new key (a modulation) is usually found. This is another section that can be a free for all for the composer: it can be quick or prolonged and often draws influences from previous or upcoming themes within the piece as opposed to being entirely fresh material.
That said, have a look at the first page from the first movement of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata in C minor (no. 5 - Op. 10 No. 1). At the end of the page begins the second theme which is in E♭ major (the relative major of C minor!). However, he has taken us on an exciting journey of discovery to get there, and what with the amount of accidentals and natural signs in that passage, they often jump out of the paper like this!
Closing Themes
Closing themes don’t tend to find their way in all sonatas as a rule, but can be very useful in creating a much more satisfactory piece of music for both performer and listener. When they appear, they do so towards the end of the Exposition and / or the end of the Recapitulation. Often inspired by the already established themes, they pave the way for a conclusive ending.
Coda
The coda is the absolutely last thing that you will hear, although not all pieces have one! To identify a coda, note more so the tempo and whether or not the music appears to have drastically increased / decreased tempo or paused prior to a final blast of music. If so, the very last bit that played was it!
Why Does Learning Sonata Form Help You To Learn Classical Piano Music
So, back to the original title of this blog - how can learning Sonata Form help you to learn classical piano music?
Here is the short answer (believe it or not!)…
Because so much classical music (not just piano music) follows it!
Do you remember how I said earlier that it wasn’t until the classical period that Sonata Cycle became a thing and we developed three or four movement sonatas?
Well, these were expanding on much earlier sonatas - such as the Baroque Scarlatti one - which were really developing the form that we know and love today. And this Sonata Form was, at one time, so widely loved that it was used across the board.
So just because a piece of music isn’t a sonata doesn’t mean it’s in Sonata Form. Symphonies, Rhapsodies, Concertos and Overtures. Brahms even wrote a Rhapsody in Sonata Form!
But anyway…that’s all well and good. How can it help your understanding when you learn a piece of piano music:
Transposition and Tonality
Obviously learning by the book will improve your transposing skills anyway because you’ll be reading the same themes in different keys, but if you stop and think about it then you can actually use your own understanding of key to your advantage. Just think about it: Sonata Form depends on the recycling of the same themes in different keys, so work on your transposition skills and think about what notes to play and where rather than just reading them. Improving on your transposing skills will really help you to learn pieces quicker in this form as you will be able to tick off more bars at once because of how much the same bars repeat in different keys!
Telling a Story
Playing a piece that you recognise as being in this form will help you to tell a story at the piano, literally!
Exposition = Introducing your Characters. Development = Conflict / Tension. Recapitulation = Resolution.
Use this understanding to your advantage to create a wonderful soundscape.
To hear everything in practice, have a watch of my video below and be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel!
Jack Mitchell Smith is a piano teacher based in Congleton, Cheshire. Click here to find out more.
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