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"Great art likes chains. The greater artists have created art within bounds. Or else they created their own chains." —NADIA BOULANGER

Key Points

  • Form is the most important organizing element in absolute music, which has no specific pictorial or literary program.
  • Many masterworks of instrumental music are in a standard multimovement cycle of three or four movements; these include the Classic-era symphony, sonata, string quartet, and concerto.
  • The first movement of the cycle is usually in a fast tempo and in sonata-allegro form, with three main sections: exposition, development, and recapitulation.
  • The second movement is usually slow and can be in various forms, including theme and variations or ternary (A-B-A) form.
  • The third movement (sometimes omitted) is a triple-meter dance—either a minuet and trio or a scherzo and trio.
  • The fourth movement is fast and lively, often in rondo or sonata-allegro form.
  • Cyclical structure is a device that links movements; it occurs when a theme from an earlier movement reappears in a later one.

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