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RONDO

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Originally appearing in Volume V23, Page 691 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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RONDO , a musical See also:

form originally derived from the See also:rondel in See also:verse; as may be seen, See also:long before the development of instrumental forms, in some of the chansons of Orlando di See also:Lasso. The See also:rondeau en couplets of Couperin and his contemporaries shows both in name and form the same connexion with verse. It consists of the See also:alternation between a single neatly rounded phrase and several slightly contrasted episodes (the couplets) without any important See also:change of See also:key. See also:Bach enriched it with his See also:wealth of See also:epigram, but did not expand its range. The later sense of the See also:term covers an important See also:series of the See also:sonata forms (q.v.), chiefly found in finales; but rondo-form sometimes occurs in slow movements (e.g. See also:Mozart, Haffner See also:Serenade, See also:String Quintet in E See also:flat; See also:Beethoven, See also:Fourth See also:Symphony; Quartet, Op. 74, &c.). The single-phrase ritornello and See also:short couplets of the old form are in the sonata See also:style replaced by a broadly designed See also:melody and well-contrasted episodes in different keys. If the form of a Bach or Couperin rondo may be represented by A B A C A D A, &c., the various forms of the later rondo may be represented somewhat as follows: placing on a See also:horizontal See also:line those parts that are in the See also:main key, and representing other keys by See also:differences of level: 0) Sectional rondos; i.e. with little or no development or transition between See also:episode and main theme; very characteristic of See also:Haydn, who, however, often gives it more organization B than appears on the See also:surface—A A A See also:coda; very rarely C with no change of key except between tonic See also:major and See also:minor, as in Haydn's famous Gipsy Rondo. Frequently the episodes are increased in number or made to recur. Beethoven most clearly shows the See also:influence of Haydn in his frequent use of modifications of this type of rondo in his earlier See also:works, e.g. finales of Sonatas, Op. so, No. 3, Op.

14, Nos. 1 and 2. He also applied it very successfully to his See also:

early slow movements, as in the Sonatas, Op. 2, No. 2, and Op. 13 (Pathetique). The sectional rondo was modernized on a gigantic See also:scale by See also:Brahms in the See also:finale of his G minor See also:Pianoforte Quartet, Op. 25; and See also:Schumann's favourite See also:art-forms are various compounds between it and the cognate See also:idea of the See also:dance-tune with one or more " trios," as in the Novellettes, the Arabeske, and the See also:Romance in B major. (ii) Rondos influenced by the form of a first See also:movement (for which see SONATA FORMS). The normal See also:scheme for this, which B is Mozart's favourite rondo-form, is A A A B A coda, C and it is easy to see how it may be applied to sectional rondos, as in the finale of Beethoven's Sonata, Op. 13. But it normally implies longer and weightier themes and a higher degree of organization.

If the second episode (C) is transformed into an elaborate development of previous material in various keys, the resemblance to first-movement form is increased; the only See also:

external difference being the recurrence of A in full after the first episode B (which is treated exactly like the' " second subject " of a first movement). As, however, many first movements that do not repeat their exposition (corresponding to A -h B in the above rondo-scheme) make a feint of so doing before beginning the development, it is obvious that the blending of rondo and first-movement form may become very, See also:complete. In fact, the true criterion of a rondo is, as with all real art-forms, a See also:matter of style rather than of external shape. The well rounded-off, self-repeating, tune-like See also:character of the main theme, and a sense of See also:pleasure and importance in the See also:mere fact of its return (without See also:absolute See also:necessity for dramatic effect) are the distinctive evidences of rondo form and style. This See also:rule is well proved by the See also:case most frequently cited as an exception, the rondo of Beethoven's Sonata in D, Op. 10, No. 3; for nothing can be more significant than the way in which its fragmentary opening figure is built up into a self-contained musical epigram and ended with a full See also:close, as contrasted with the way in which the most tuneful of first-movement beginnings (e.g. Beethoven's Quartet in F major, Op. S9, No. 1, Trio in B flat, Op. 97; Brahms's String Quintet in F major, Op. 88) expand gradually into their further course.

The following are some of the more important of many modifications and applications of this form: (a) Omission of return of main theme before recapitulation of B episode—A A development an various keys, B A coda—as in Beethoven's G major See also:

Concerto, where, however, much happens between the recapitulation of B and the following return of A, and the coda is nearly as long as all that has gone before. B (b) A A B (A) like a first movement without a development. Here A will be very large and the transition to B important, while B will consist of a considerable number of themes. See the finales of Mozart's E flat String Quartet and C major Quintet, most of his greater slow movements, and many of Beethoven's. In concertos the only modifying influence the See also:balance between See also:solo and See also:orchestra shows in rondo-form is in the tendency to give the orchestra a large number of subsidiary themes at the outset, which perhaps do not reappear until the coda, where, with the aid of the solo, they can See also:round off the See also:design very effectively. Mozart's use of this See also:device is not confined to concertos. (D. F.

End of Article: RONDO

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RONSARD, PIERRE DE (1524-1585)

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