Cyclic form
Cyclic form is a technique of
The technique has a complex history, having fallen into disuse in the Baroque and Classical eras, but steadily increasing in use during the nineteenth century.[1]
The
Cyclic technique is not typically found in the instrumental music of the most famous composers from the Baroque and "high classical" eras, though it may still be found in the music of such figures as Luigi Boccherini and Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf.[3][4]
Nevertheless, in the Classical period, cyclic technique is found in several works of
In sacred vocal music of Baroque and Classical periods, there are several examples of cyclic technique, such as Johann Sebastian Bach's Mass in B minor and Mozart's Mass in C major, K. 317, Spatzenmesse in C major K. 220, Litaniae de venerabili altaris sacramento K. 243,[citation needed] and especially Requiem in D minor K. 626, where the "DNA"[clarification needed] of the Lutheran hymn motif, "D-C#-D-E-F", permeates the entire work.[7][failed verification]
Although other composers were already using this technique, it is
In the 1820s, both
Mid-century, Franz Liszt in works such as the
The term is more debatable in cases where the resemblance is less clear, such as in the works of Beethoven, who used very basic fragments. Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 is an example of cyclic form in which a theme is used throughout the symphony, but with different orchestration. The "short-short-short-long" four-note motive is embedded in each movement.[citation needed]
Examples
Examples of cyclic works from the classical era and afterwards are:
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Symphony No.40 in G minor K.550: similar descending chromatic pattern shared by two outer movements in their second themes
- Symphony No.41 in C major K.551: similarities in the principal rising dotted-rhythmic motifs of the first movement and the second movement; the dotted-rhythmic motif of the second movement develops into a theme that resembles one of the five themes of the finale; the minuet foreshadows the "C-D-F-E" motif of the finale
- String Quartet No.15 in D minor K. 421: "F-A-C-C-C-C" motif heard in all four movements
- String Quartet No.18 in A major K. 464: different rhythmic motifs of the concept "long-short-short-short" of the first movement and second movement combined in the finale.
- Fantasie & Sonata for Piano in C minor K. 475 & 457: motivic similarities between the preceding fantasie and the sonata
- Piano Concerto No.20 in D minor K. 466: The entries of the soloist in the outer movements share the same chord structure
- Spatzenmesse in C major K. 220: theme of the Kyrie recalled in the Dona nobis pacem
- Litaniae de venerabili altaris sacramento K. 243: theme of the Kyrie recalled in the Miserere
- Mass in C major, K. 317: theme of the Kyrie recalled in the Dona nobis pacem
- Vesperae solennes de Dominica K. 321: A setting of the Minor Doxology (Gloria Patri et Filio) concludes all movements, with a rhythmic similarity in "Gloria"
- Vesperae solennes de confessore K. 339: A setting of the Minor Doxology (Gloria Patri et Filio) concludes all movements, with a rhythmic similarity in "Gloria"
- Mass in C minor K.427: The soprano melody of Quoniam tu solus in measure 96 (F-E-D-C#-C-...) resembles that of Cum sanctu spiritu in measure 98 (G-F#-E-D#-D-...)
- Joseph Haydn
- Symphony No. 31: material from start of first movement recalled at the end of the finale
- Symphony No. 46: material from the menuetto third movement recalled in the finale
- Ludwig van Beethoven
- Piano Sonata No. 13
- Piano Sonata No. 28
- Symphony No. 5: material from scherzo movement recalled in the finale
- Symphony No. 9: all three movements are briefly revisited in the finale
- Franz Schubert
- Divertissement a la Hongroise
- Wanderer Fantasy: entire piece based on thematic transformation
- Piano Trio No. 2: materials from the second movement recalled in the finale
- Felix Mendelssohn
- Piano Sextet: material from scherzo movement recalled in the finale
- Octet: material from scherzo movement recalled in the finale, plus allusions to first and second movements
- Piano Sonata in E, Op. 6: opening of first movement recalled at end of finale
- String Quartet in A minor, Op. 13: introduction to first movement recalled at end of finale, first movement and second movement recalled during finale.
- String Quartet in E-flat, Op. 12: first movement recalled in finale
- Symphony No. 3: thematic transformation across all four movements
- Hector Berlioz
- Symphonie Fantastique: "idée fixe" heard in all five movements
- Harold in Italy: "idée fixe" heard in all four movements
- Robert Schumann
- Symphony No. 2
- Symphony No. 4: thematic transformation across all four movements
- Piano Quintet
- Niels Gade
- Symphony No. 1: first movement recalled in finale
- Franz Liszt
- Sonata in B minor
- Faust Symphony
- Joachim Raff
- Symphony No. 4: first movement recalled in finale
- Saint-Saëns
- Symphony No. 3: thematic transformation across all four movements
- Cello Concerto No. 1: two key first movement themes repeated in finale
- César Franck
- Johannes Brahms
- Piano Sonata No. 1
- Quartet No. 3
- Symphony No. 3: The melody opening the first subject in the first movement is recalled in the codas of the first & fourth movements.
- Clarinet Quintet: The melody opening the first movement is recalled just after the 5th variation in the fourth movement, but in the subdominant. The codas in the first & fourth movements are almost the same, except for how it finally closes (first movement closes with quiet B minor chords while fourth movement closes with a loud one and then a quiet one).
- Bedřich Smetana
- Má vlast, cycle of 6 symphonic poems: The opening from the first work Vyšehrad recalled in the second Vltava and the sixth works Blaník, shortly before the latter two end.
- Anton Bruckner
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
- Symphony No. 4: "motto" of first movement recalled in the finale
- Manfred Symphony: Material from the beginning of the first movement recalled halfway in the third movement. Material from the ending of the first movement used in the middle section of the second movement, and just before the organ sounds in the fourth movement.
- Symphony No. 5: "motto" of first movement recalled in all later movements; first movement's first subject recalled in the finale
- Serenade for Strings (Tchaikovsky): Opening chorale in first movement is recalled in the coda of the finale
- Anton Arensky
- Piano Trio No. 1: Material opening the first movement recalled shortly before the finale ends. Material in the middle section from the third movement recalled halfway in the finale.
- Antonín Dvořák
- Symphony No. 9: the theme of the first movement returns in all four movements
- Arnold Schoenberg – Violin Concerto, Op. 36
- Carlos Chávez
- Edward Elgar
- Symphony No. 1: "motto" theme from the 1st movement returns in the scherzo and finale
- Symphony No. 2: "motto" theme from the 1st movement returns in the slow movement and finale
- Sergei Rachmaninoff
- George Enescu
- Chamber Symphony in E major, Op. 33
- Octet for Strings in C major
- Piano Quartet No. 1, Op. 16
- Piano Quartet No. 2, Op. 30
- Piano Quintet in A minor, Op. 29
- Piano Sonata No. 3, Op. 24, No. 3
- String Quartet No. 1, Op. 22, No. 1
- String Quartet No. 2, Op. 22, No. 2
- Symphony No. 1, Op. 13
- Symphony No. 3, Op. 21
- Symphony No. 4
- Symphony No. 5
- Violin Sonata No. 2, Op. 6
- Sergei Prokofiev
- Piano Concerto No. 1: Main opening theme reappears midway and at end of work, differently orchestrated each time.
- Piano Sonata No. 6: The opening of the first movement recalled in the "Andante" of the fourth movement.
- Symphony No. 6: A theme from first movement is recalled in the finale.
- Symphony No. 7: Both the second and third themes from the first movement return at the climax of the finale.
- Vasily Kalinnikov
- Dmitri Shostakovich
- Suite for 2 Pianos in F-sharp minor, Op. 6: The main theme of the prelude is used in every movement.
- Suite for Variety Orchestra: Material opening the March is recalled at the very end of the Finale.
- Symphony No. 7 "Leningrad": The opening theme of the symphony is briefly recalled at the end of the fourth movement.
- String Quartet No. 8: The "DSCH" motif is used in all four movements as a unifying aspect.
- Ralph Vaughan Williams
- A London Symphony (Symphony No. 2)
- Oboe Concerto
- Symphony No. 4
- Symphony No. 5
- Heitor Villa-Lobos
- Symphony No. 2
- Symphony No. 3 (cyclic only with relation to the following Symphony No. 4)
- Symphony No. 4
- Benjamin Yusupov
- Cello Concerto
Sources
- Mladjenović, Tijana Popovi, Blanka Bogunović, Marija Masnikosa, and Ivana Perković Radak. Spring–Fall 2009. "untitled essay W. A. Mozart’s Phantasie in C minor, K. 475: The Pillars of Musical Structure and Emotional Response". Journal of Interdisciplinary Music Studies 3, no. 1–2: 95–117. (retrieved 5 March 2020).
- ISBN 9780195170672.
Footnotes
- ^ ISBN 978-0674011632.
- ^ New Grove Dict. M&M 2001, "Borrowing" (§5: Renaissance Mass Cycles) by J. Peter Burkholder.
- ^ a b New Grove Dict. M&M 2001, "Cyclic Form" by Hugh Macdonald.
- ^ ISBN 9780511794384.
- ^ Mladjenović, Bogunović, Masnikosa, and Radak 2009, pp. 103–4.
- ^ Webster, James. 1991. Haydn's 'Farewell' Symphony and the Idea of Classical Style: Through-Composition and Cyclic Integration in his Instrumental Music. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- ^ Sapsuev, Andrey Yu. 2014. "Once Again on Mozart’s Requiem (Issues of Intonation-and-Style Analysis)". Journal of Siberian Federal University: Humanities & Social Sciences 3, no. 7:498–509. (pp. 501–2). (retrieved 5 March 2020).
- ^ a b Strucken-Paland, Christiane. 2009. Zyklische Prinzipien in den Instrumentalwerken César Francks. Kassel: Bosse.
Further reading
- Chusid, Martin. 1964. "Schubert's Cyclic Compositions of 1824". Acta Musicologica 36, no. 1 (January–March): 37–45.
- Proksch, Bryan. 2006. "Cyclic Integration in the Instrumental Music of Haydn and Mozart." Ph.D. Diss. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
- Rosen, Charles. 1995. The Romantic Generation. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
- Saffle, Michael. "Liszt's Sonata in B minor: Another Look at the 'Double Function' Question." JALS: The Journal of the American Liszt Society 11 (June): 28–39.
- Tucker, G. M., and Roger Parker. 2002. "Cyclic Form". The Oxford Companion to Music, edited by Alison Latham. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
- Vande Moortele, Steven. 2009. Two-dimensional Sonata Form: Form and Cycle in Single-Movement Instrumental Works by Liszt, Strauss, Schoenberg, and Zemlinsky. Leuven: Leuven University Press.