How Sonata Forms

Abstract

How Sonata Forms presents the case for a bottom-up view of musical form, particularly sonata form. Instead of the traditional, holistic view, which views form as a whole that conditions its parts, How Sonata Forms asks whether we can assume less: could form have arisen on its own, through the chance meeting of elements? And could the initial appearance of those elements have had nothing to do with sonata form? Relying on an extensive corpus study, How Sonata Forms demonstrates that such a chance meeting of elements was not only possible, but also plausible. Moreover, under such assumptions, traditional challenges to sonata theory, such as its flexibility in practice and unclear historical limits, become obvious properties of the sonata-form system. Without holistic assumptions, a wide variety of interactions between hitherto local formal elements may arise. When formal elements are compatible with one another, the result of their interaction is the emergence of higher-level formal elements, the highest level of which is form itself. When formal elements contradict or rival one another, form becomes unstable. Change occurs, and some formal elements disappear, while others prevail. The resulting view of form is as a dynamic system, which is frequently more of a compromise and a challenge than a convenience for the composer. The recognition that form is constantly in flux requires that we adopt a diachronic outlook, one in which change is part and parcel of the vocabulary of the study of form.