19 RONDO FORMS

repeated. The third refrain and couplet constitute a complete recapitulation of the prior exposition.
When couplet 2 is organized as an interior theme, rather than as a
development, the overall form is considerably more like a rondo than a
sonata.
Unlike a regular sonata, the coda is a required element of
sonata-rondo, because that section includes the final return of the
main theme.

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SOME HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Rondo vs. Sonata. Though related in many ways through their use of the
same basic phrase and thematic formal functions, the classical rondo and the
classical sonata derive from completely different sources in the Baroque era.
The rondo originates largely in France from an instrumental genre
(called rondeau) that features an alternation of refrains closing with
authentic cadences in the home key and contrasting couplets.
The sonata originates (mostly in Italy) out of Baroque binary dance
movements. Each part of the binary is repeated.The two parts of the
binary, however, do not relate to each other as refrain and couplet: the first
part normally closes in a related tonal region (or else on dominant harmony
of the home key), and the second part closes with a PAC in the home key.
The binary repetition scheme of the sonata continued to find expression through most of the classical period (with at least the first part, the
exposition, required to be repeated).The rondo forms have no such repetition requirements and especially do not repeat expositional material.
Hint: a quick way to determine whether a movement is a sonata form
or rondo is to look for an internal repeat sign that divides the movement
into two large blocks. If the sign is present, the movement is probably in
sonata form. If it is not, the movement is likely a rondo.

EXAMPLE 19.1

Mozart, Piano Sonata in C, K. 545, iii, 922

(continued)