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CHAPTERfi31 Expanding the Conversation: Mozart,
Chamber Music, and Larger Forms
D. The first movement: sonata- allegro form
1. first movement usually in a fast tempo (Allegro)
2. longest in multimovement cycle
3. sonata- allegro (sonata) form: drama between two
contrasting key areas
a. exposition: first section
i. statement of themes: two opposing keys
and themes
ii. theme 1: home key (tonic)
iii. bridge: transitional passage, modulates
iv. theme 2: contrasting key
v. closing section; often a closing theme
vi. exposition repeats
b. development: second section
i. conflict and action: building of tension,
drama
ii. themes varied, expanded, contracted
iii. foreign keys, frequent modulations
iv. activity and restlessness
v. bridge leads back to tonic
c. recapitulation: third section
i. psychological climax: return to first theme
ii. restatement of themes in tonic
iii. coda: extension of closing idea
iv. final cadence in home key
E. The third movement: minuet– and- trio form
1. Baroque– era origins: court dance
a. stately, triple meter
2. A– B- A, pair of dances
a. B section: originally three instruments (trio)
b. da capo (“from the beginning”): first dance
repeated
3. internal structure
a. binary (a- b), or rounded binary (a- ba)
OUTLINE
I. Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik
A. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)
1. Mozart’s life:
a. Austrian composer, pianist
b. son of Leopold Mozart, esteemed court
composer– violinist
c. most extraordinarily gifted child in the
history of music
d. rebelled against patronage system; age 25,
freelance musician in Vienna
2. Mozart’s music:
a. elegant, songful melodies
b. contrasts of mood, drama
c. peak of career, three comic operas: The Mar-
riage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte
d. prolific composer of all genres: chamber music,
keyboard works, symphony, concertos, opera
B. Mozart’s chamber music
1. divertimento and serenade
a. lighter genres
b. performed at social functions
2. Eine kleine Nachtmusik (A Little Night Music)
a. serenade: string quartet and double bass
b. public entertainment; outdoor per for mance
c. four movements: compact, intimate, beauti–
fully proportioned
C. Structural conventions: forms provide framework
1. use of sonata- allegro form
a. more complex, intricate
b. supple framework: infinite variety
c. more profound musical conversation
d. favorite of instrumental composers
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where you have paused in the model. If— when pausing at
places with impor tant key changes (second- theme state–
ments) and/or thematic shifts (first, second, and closing
themes)— students are unable to detect a new structural
area, try comparing the area in question with a previous
impor tant structural area. For example, if students are
unable to hear the second theme in the exposition, try
comparing it with the theme and key of the first theme.
2. While listening to the minuet and trio from Mozart’s
Eine kleine Nachtmusik, instruct the class to diagram the
phrase structure of the movement using uppercase As
and Bs to denote large sections and lowercase as and
bs for shorter eight– or four– bar phrases. After the class
arrives at a solution, ask students to compare minuet–
and- trio form with sonata- allegro form. Students should
recognize the correspondence between the overall ter–
nary design of minuet- and- trio and the exposition-
development– recap formula of sonata- allegro, as well as
the presence of two themes within the larger thematic
sections that begin and end both forms (the As of minuet–
and- trio, and the exposition and recap of sonata- allegro).
ASSIGNMENT SUGGESTIONS
1. Recall from Chapter29 that the Classical era embraced
absolute music, music that relies on abstract formal
designs without any connection to a specific narrative
program (such as a story or poem). Consider Mozart’s
Eine kleine Nachtmusik, an example of absolute music.
Does the structure of the movements provide meaning
for this piece? If so, what are these meanings and how
does the music provide them?
2. Why do you think composers of the Age of Enlighten-
ment used the sonata- allegro form so pervasively
throughout the eigh teenth century? What connections
can you find between this “enlightened” age and the
designs standardized in the sonata- allegro format?
3. Discuss the dif fer ent approaches to instrumentation,
form, and composition in Mozart’s Eine kleine Nacht–
musik and Raga Bhimpalasi, performed by Anoushka
Shankar. How does the logic of form contribute to a lis-
tener’s sense of expectation and arrival? What do these
dif fer ent formal traditions suggest about the musical val–
ues that they represent?
TEACHING CHALLENGES
b. subsections repeated (e.g., a- a- b- b, or
a- a- ba- ba)
c. return of A section (minuet) played without
repeats (a- b, or a- ba)
d. symmetrical: four– and eight– measure phrases
F. LG 21: Mozart: Eine kleine Nachtmusik (A Little
Night Music), K. 525, I and III (1787)
1. mvt. 1: Allegro; sonata- allegro form
a. theme 1: disjunct, ascending “rocket theme”
b. theme 2: graceful, descending
c. closing theme: high energy
d. short development
e. recapitulation: brings back all themes
f. vigorous coda in home key
2. mvt. 3: Allegretto; minuet- and- trio form
a. strong, triple meter
b. regular four– bar phrases, rounded binary
c. minuet: bright, decisive
d. trio: expressive, conjunct, lyrical contrast
OVERVIEW
This chapter examines sonata- allegro form and minuet- and-
trio form in closer detail through the first and third move–
ments of Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik. The chapter also
compares Eu ro pean Classical forms with the formal designs
of North Indian classical music.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. To understand the formal structure of first- movement
sonata- allegro form
2. To understand the formal structure of third- movement
minuet- and- trio form
3. To recognize the models of sonata- allegro form and
minuet– and- trio form in Mozart’s Eine kleine
Nachtmusik
4. To understand the basic formal features of the North
Indian classical music tradition
LECTURE SUGGESTIONS
1. Guide students through a first listening to the sonata-
allegro form of the first movement from Mozart’s Eine
kleine Nachtmusik. Make an outline of the form avail-
able either on the board or on a worksheet (or use Lis-
Expanding the Conversation: Mozart, Chamber Music, and Larger Forms | 121
the background. Music still plays an impor tant role, how–
ever, in that the leader is calling the steps in a half-
singing/speaking voice and in rhythm with the music. It
also seems that the caller is singing the steps in a form
that corresponds to the phrases of the music, of which
there are two or three four– bar phrases. This is a com-
plex form of group dancing that relies on careful coor–
This dance number features carefully planned choreog-
raphy that corresponds very closely to the precise,
mechanical rhythm of the music. The dancers often
respond to the exacting rhythm with jerky and rigid
movements that resemble the twitchy movements of
robots and machines. Special attention is given to the
In contrast to the other clips, this dance features a
leader playing the roles of musician and narrator, with a
group of dancers following his lead. The first dance in
follow each other while stomping to the beat. The sec-
ond movement is cued by the leader interrupting the
steady rhythm, raising the shaker in the air; while rat-
tling the instrument out of time, the leader chants another
phrase in a high- pitched range. At this point, the danc-
ers leave the circle and break off into pairs, where they
playfully reenact what appears to be a fight between two
to review these concepts by first playing simple melodies at
dif fer ent pitch levels, then applying them to the first-
movement themes of Eine kleine Nachtmusik at the tonic
and dominant levels.
SUPPLEMENTAL REPERTORY
SUPPLEMENTAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bonds, Mark Evan. Wordless Rhe toric: Musical Form and the
Meta phor of the Oration. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press, 1991. Bonds discusses the role that rhe toric has played in
YOUR TURN TO EXPLORE
emonial dance, or a TV dance program. Can you notice pat-
terns of statement, repetition, contrast, and return in the music
that accompanies the dance? How is the musical logic of
those formal ele ments reflected in the dancers’ movements?
MODEL RESPONSES