Exposition (music)

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Hob. XVI: G1, I, mm. 1-28 Playⓘ.[1]

In

developed or varied
.

  • In sonata form, the exposition is "the first major section, incorporating at least one important modulation to the dominant or other secondary key and presenting the principal thematic material."[2]
  • In a fugue, the exposition is "the statement of the subject in imitation by the several voices; especially the first such statement, with which the fugue begins."[3]

In sonata form

The term is most widely used

musical themes (whether melodic, rhythmic or chordal
in character), and may develop them, but it is usually the key relationships and the sense of "arrival" at the dominant that is used by analysts in identifying the exposition.

The exposition in classical symphonies is typically repeated, although there are many examples where the composer does not specify such a repeat, and it never is repeated in concertos. In the recapitulation, the material in the exposition is repeated or paraphrased either in the home key (as by Mozart), or the parallel major of the home key if it is minor (as by Beethoven), although as with the exposition, a different modulation may be used (such as to the mediant in Dvorak's "New World Symphony").

If the movement starts with an introductory section, this introduction is not usually analysed as being part of the movement's exposition.

In many works of the Classical period and some of the Romantic era, the exposition is often bracketed by repeat signs, indicating that it is to be played twice. This is something which is not always done in concert from the 20th Century onwards.[6]

In fugue

A fugue usually has two main sections: the exposition and the body. In the exposition, each voice plays its own adaptation of the theme, in either a subject or an answer; they also provide countersubjects (counterpoints) to the following voices as they enter.[7] The exposition usually ends on either a I or V chord, and is then followed by the body.[7]

References

  1. ISBN 978-0-07-310188-0
    .
  2. ISBN 978-0-674-01163-2
    .
  3. ISBN 978-0-674-01163-2
    .
  4. ^ William E. Grim, "The Musicalization of Prose: Prolegomena to the Experience of Literature in Musical Form" Papers presented at the Second World Phenomenology Congress September 12 — 18, 1995, Guadalajara, Mexico, in Analecta Husserliana: The Yearbook of Phenomenological Research LXIII (1998): 65. "The first section of a sonata form is called the exposition."
  5. ^ William E. Grim, "The Musicalization of Prose: Prolegomena to the Experience of Literature in Musical Form" Papers presented at the Second World Phenomenology Congress September 12 — 18, 1995, Guadalajara, Mexico, in Analecta Husserliana: The Yearbook of Phenomenological Research LXIII (1998): 65. "It is in this section that there is harmonic movement away from the primary tonal area to the secondary tonal area."
  6. ^ Charles Michael Carroll, "Memories of Dohnányi" Perspectives on Ernst von Dohnányi, edited by James A. Grymes. Lanham, Maryland: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. (2005): 235
  7. ^
    ISBN 978-0-415-97440-0
    .
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