Rondo |

ital. rondo, French rondeau, from rond – circle

One of the most widespread musical forms that has passed a long way of historical development. It is based on the principle of alternating the main, unchanging theme – the refrain and constantly updated episodes. The term “refrain” is equivalent to the term chorus. A song of the chorus-chorus type, in the text of which a constantly updated chorus is compared with a stable chorus, is one of the sources of the R form. This general scheme is implemented differently in each era.

In the old, belonging to the preclassic. In the era of R. samples, episodes, as a rule, did not represent new topics, but were based on music. refrain material. Therefore, R. was then one-dark. In decomp. styles and national cultures had their own norms of comparison and interconnection otd. parts R.

Franz. harpsichordists (F. Couperin, J.-F. Rameau, and others) wrote small pieces in the form of R. with program titles (The Cuckoo by Daquin, The Reapers by Couperin). The theme of the refrain, stated at the beginning, was reproduced in them further in the same key and without any changes. The episodes that sounded between its performances were called “verses”. Their number was very different – from two (“Grape Pickers” by Couperin) to nine (“Passacaglia” by the same author). In form, the refrain was a square period of repeated structure (sometimes repeated in its entirety after the first performance). The couplets were stated in the keys of the first degree of kinship (the latter sometimes in the main key) and had a middle developmental character. Sometimes they also featured refrain themes in a non-principal key (“The Cuckoo” by Daken). In some cases, new motifs arose in couplets, which, however, did not form independent ones. those (“Beloved” Couperin). The size of couplets could be unstable. In many cases, it gradually increased, which was combined with the development of one of the expressions. means, most often rhythm. Thus, the inviolability, stability, stability of the music presented in the refrain was set off by the mobility, instability of couplets.

Close to this interpretation of the form are a few. rondo J.S. Bach (for example, in the 2nd suite for orchestra).

In some samples R. ital. composers, for example. G. Sammartini, the refrain was performed in different keys. The rondos of F. E. Bach adjoined the same type. The appearance of distant tonalities, and sometimes even new themes, was sometimes combined in them with the appearance of a figurative contrast even during the development of the main. Topics; thanks to this, R. went beyond the ancient standard norms of this form.

In the works of the Viennese classics (J. Haydn, W. A. ​​Mozart, L. Beethoven), R., like other forms based on homophonic harmonic. music thinking, acquires the most clear, strictly ordered character. R. they have a typical form of the finale of the sonata-symphony. cycle and outside of it as independent. the piece is much rarer (W. A. ​​Mozart, Rondo a-moll for piano, K.-V. 511). The general character of R.’s music was determined by the laws of the cycle, the finale of which was written at a lively pace in that era and was associated with the music of the Nar. song and dance character. This affects the thematic R. Viennese classics and at the same time. defines significant compositional innovation – thematic. the contrast between the refrain and episodes, the number of which becomes minimal (two, rarely three). The decrease in the number of parts of the river is compensated by an increase in their length and greater internal space. development. For the refrain, a simple 2- or 3-part form becomes typical. When repeated, the refrain is carried out in the same key, but is often subject to variation; at the same time, its form can also be reduced to a period.

New patterns are also established in the construction and placement of episodes. The degree of contrasting episodes to the refrain increases. The first episode, gravitating towards the dominant tonality, is close to the middle of the simple form in terms of the degree of contrast, although in many cases it is written in a clear form – period, simple 2- or 3-part. The second episode, gravitating towards the eponymous or subdominant tonality, is close in contrast to a trio of a complex 3-part form with its clear compositional structure. Between the refrain and the episodes, as a rule, there are connecting constructions, the purpose of which is to ensure the continuity of the muses. development. Only in nek-ry transitional moments of a sheaf can be absent — most often before the second episode. This emphasizes the strength of the resulting contrast and corresponds to the compositional trend, according to which a new contrast material is introduced directly. comparisons, and the return to the initial material is carried out in the process of a smooth transition. Therefore, links between the episode and the refrain are almost obligatory.

In connecting constructions, as a rule, thematic is used. refrain or episode material. In many cases, especially before the return of the refrain, the link ends with a dominant predicate, creating a feeling of intense expectation. Due to this, the appearance of a refrain is perceived as a necessity, which contributes to the plasticity and organicity of the form as a whole, its circular movement. The r. is usually crowned with an extended coda. Its importance is due to two reasons. The first is related to internal R.’s own development—two contrasting comparisons require generalization. Therefore, in the final section, it is possible, as it were, to move by inertia, which boils down to the alternation of a code refrain and a code episode. One of the signs of the code is in R. – the so-called. “farewell roll calls” – intonation dialogues of two extreme registers. The second reason is that R. is the end of the cycle, and R.’s coda completes the development of the entire cycle.

R. of the post-Beethoven period is characterized by new features. Still used as a form of the finale of the sonata cycle, R. is more often used as an independent form. plays. In the work of R. Schumann, a special variant of multi-dark R. appears (“kaleidoscopic R.” – according to G. L. Catuar), in which the role of ligaments is significantly reduced – they may be absent altogether. In this case (for example, in the 1st part of the Vienna Carnival), the form of the play approaches the suite of miniatures beloved by Schumann, held together by the performance of the first of them. Schumann and other masters of the 19th century. R.’s compositional and tonal plans become freer. The refrain can also be performed not in the main key; one of his performances happens to be released, in which case the two episodes immediately follow each other; the number of episodes is not limited; there can be a lot of them.

R.’s form also penetrates the wok. genres – opera aria (Farlaf’s rondo from the opera “Ruslan and Lyudmila”), romance (“The Sleeping Princess” by Borodin). Quite often entire opera scenes also represent a rondo-shaped composition (the beginning of the 4th scene of the opera Sadko by Rimsky-Korsakov). In the 20th century a rondo-shaped structure is also found in otd. episodes of ballet music (for example, in the 4th scene of Stravinsky’s Petrushka).

The principle underlying R. can receive a freer and more flexible refraction in many ways. rondo-shaped. Among them is a double 3-part form. It is a development in breadth of a simple 3-part form with a developing or thematically contrasting middle. Its essence lies in the fact that after the completion of the reprise, there is another – the second – the middle and then the second reprise. The material of the second middle is one or another variant of the first, which is either performed in a different key, or with some other creature. change. In the developing middle, in its second implementation, new motive-thematic approaches may also arise. education. With a contrasting one, beings are possible. thematic transformation (F. Chopin, Nocturne Des-dur, op. 27 No 2). The form as a whole can be subject to a single end-to-end variational-dynamizing principle of development, due to which both reprises of the main. themes are also subject to significant changes. A similar introduction of the third middle and the third reprise creates a triple 3-part form. These rondo-shaped forms were widely used by F. Liszt in his fi. plays (an example of a double 3-part is Petrarch’s Sonnet No. 123, a triple is Campanella). The forms with a refrain also belong to the rondo-shaped forms. In contrast to the normative r., the refrain and its repetitions make up even sections in them, in connection with which they are called “even rondos”. Their scheme is ab with b and b, where b is a refrain. This is how a simple 3-part form with a chorus is built (F. Chopin, Seventh Waltz), a complex 3-part form with a chorus (W. A. ​​Mozart, Rondo alla turca from sonata for piano A-dur, K.-V. 331) . This kind of chorus can occur in any other form.

References: Catuar G., Musical form, part 2, M., 1936, p. 49; Sposobin I., Musical form, M.-L., 1947, 1972, p. 178-88; Skrebkov S., Analysis of musical works, M., 1958, p. 124-40; Mazel L., Structure of musical works, M., 1960, p. 229; Golovinsky G., Rondo, M., 1961, 1963; Musical Form, ed. Yu. Tyulina, M., 1965, p. 212-22; Bobrovsky V., On the variability of the functions of musical form, M., 1970, p. 90-93. See also lit. at Art. Musical form.

V. P. Bobrovsky