Composers
Rameau
Purcell
Haydn
Mozart
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".
Among composers of the classic
era, such as Haydn,
Mozart
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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