Composers
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Rameau
![](../../comp_ic/purcell.gif)
Purcell
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Haydn
![](../../comp_ic/mozart4.gif)
Mozart
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Beethoven
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Rondo
An instrumental form based on a
repeating section, but between every appearance of this section, a new
composition is deployed. Therefore, it can
be described as a strophic form or an a-b-a-c-a... structure. The source
of its name is an ancient French
dance. The rondo form is one of the most widely
accepted forms in music, since it combines the reprise of a known section
with the diversity and novelty of new parts that keep coming. Thus it is
used in works by Rameau ,
Couperin
and other. A famous rondo is the one in Purcell's
drama "Abdelazer"![](../../play.gif) .
Among composers of the classic
era, such as Haydn ,
Mozart![Rondo alla Turca from Sonata No.11 in A, K.331 - Mozart](../../play.gif)
and Beethoven ,
it evolved into a form called "rondo-sonata"
which is a combination of the rondo principle
with the sonata (simply, it is a sonata with
an additional appearance of section 'A' before the development unit). The
structure of this form is a-b-a-c-a-b-a.
Note that many works are not titled
"rondo", yet they are built as one.
For example, different mazurkas ,
bagatelles ,
waltzes
and impromptus
were written in the rondo structure.
One must not confuse this with
the medieval
rondeau ,
a polyphonic song that lacked the structure that characterised the rondo
since the 17th century.
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