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Overview of Various Musical Forms
By Geoff | July 29, 2010
Musical forms are commonly used to refer to the musical genre or style. But, in reality it is a structure on which whole music is built. Here is an overview of the famous musical forms:
Concerto: A concerto is a musical work with a composition usually in 3 parts or movements, in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra. Concerto are classified into many forms like classical concerto, romantic concerto, baroque etc. Violin, piano and cello are the three instruments which are generally used in concerto.
Symphony: The word symphony is derived from Greek word which means “agreement of sound”. It consists of four forms. First is an opening sonata or allegro, second a slow movement such as adagio, third a minuet with trio and fourth an allegro, sonata or minute. It gained fame because of its complexity.
Sonata: Since classical period the musical form which has been used is sonata. In multi-movement pieces it is generally the first movement. During the classical period generally three movements are preferred first one is layout of allegro, middle movement is of either adagio or largo and a closing movement is such as dance minuet.
Sonatina: It is generally shorter and lighter form of sonata, usually in 3 short movements. They are often used in solo keyboard works but many composers written it for piano and violin as well.
Bourree: It is a musical dance form of France. Usually, it begins with fast double time. A bourree start on the last beat of a bar creating a quarter bar anacrusis.
Fugue: It is a contrapuntal composition in two or three voices. A fugue usually has three sections – an exposition, a development and a recapitulation containing the return of subject in the fugue’s tonic key. Fugue begins with exposition and characteristically written according to certain predefined rules.
Learning about form is common in Music Education.
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