What is Sonata Rondo Form?

Elements of the Sonata Rondo Form

The sonata rondo form is actually composed of elements from two early forms of music, called (conveniently enough) the sonata and the rondo. To understand the sonata rondo, we first need to understand each of these earlier styles.

The Sonata

Let's start with the sonata. A sonata is a work divided into distinct sections, each defined by its take on a musical theme and key. Sonatas begin with the exposition, a section presenting the main musical themes of the piece. The exposition is generally followed by a development section which generally introduces new themes. The recapitulation comes after that, in which all themes are presented again, but this time in the tonic key (the base key of the piece). That's a very basic overview of the sonata form.

The Rondo

The other part of the sonata-rondo form is the rondo. To understand this, let's look back at Old MacDonald. If we give each new section of that song a letter so that 'Old MacDonald…' was A, 'e-i-e-i…' was B and 'and on this farm…' was C, the song would look like this: ABCB.

The rondo is also defined by an alternating pattern of repetitive and new themes. The first theme is called the refrain, which will be denoted by the letter A from now on. After each refrain comes a unique section called the episode. So, a rondo will generally be organized as refrain-episode 1 -refrain- episode 2 - refrain-episode 1, or ABACABA. In this pattern, we have three distinct musical themes, each appearing a different number of times.

Sonata Rondo Form

So, let's put this all together. When we combine the tonal organization of the sonata with the alternating patterns of the rondo, we get (voila!) the sonata rondo. Basically, this form overlaps two patterns: the exposition-development-recapitulation of the sonata with the rondo's ABACABA. We do this by highlighting the recurring patterns of the rondo and associating it with the parts of the sonata.

Here's what that looks like. If we look at the rondo pattern, we notice that the motif of ABA appears twice. So, that is the most common musical theme and is introduced in the exposition. To fit the exposition form, the first refrain is written in the home or tonal key of the piece, with the BA written in an opposing key. This creates musical tension. So, the exposition of the sonata rondo form contains two melodies, A and B, in a pattern of ABA and home key-opposing key.

Following that is the development section, which introduces a new theme. In the rondo form, the melody noted as C only appears once, so it fits into this section well. That makes this part of the sonata-rondo pretty simple. The development contains the C theme, played in several different keys to continue building musical tension and drama.

Finally, we arrive at the recapitulation. Once again, themes A and B appear in a pattern of ABA. This time, however, they are all played in the same key- the tonal or home key. This resolves all of the musical tension and brings the piece to a satisfying conclusion.

Okay, ready to put it all together? Using our notations, a sonata rondo form would look like this:

Exposition: A(tonal key) B(opposing key) A(opposing key)

Development: C(many keys)

Recapitulation: A(tonal key) B(tonal key) A(tonal key)

Uses of the Sonata Rondo Form

Before we wrap up, let talk briefly about where the sonata rondo form is found. This form first became popular in the 18th century as part of the Classical era of music, in which major works were generally composed of multiple movements. The sonata rondo form was technically complex and created something of a dialogue between themes, which made it a really effective way to end major works. In fact, the sonata rondo form is found almost exclusively in the last movement of compositions containing 3 or 4 movements. The last movement of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major (1786), the last movement of Haydn's Drumroll Symphony (1795), and the last movement of Beethoven's Violin Concerto (1806) are excellent examples of movements composed in the sonata-rondo form. Listen to these, and see how they interact with the first movements of each piece to wrap up the musical themes and tensions built up throughout the composition.

Mozart commonly wrote using the sonata rondo form

Lesson Summary

The sonata rondo form is a popular compositional pattern from the Classical era of Western music. It combines organizational elements of both the sonata and rondo to create a pattern of ABACABA- with each letter representing a musical theme. The first ABA is part of the exposition, which presents the themes. The C is the development, a unique theme. The last ABA is the recapitulation, in which all themes are presented in the tonic or home key. The sonata rondo form was almost always used as the last movement in multi-movement works, wrapping up all the tensions and themes of the entire composition.