Coda (music)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Coda from Mozart's Piano Sonata no. 7 in C Major, K. 309, I, mm. 148-155   Play (help·info).[1]

Coda [ˈkoːda] (Italian for "tail", plural code) is a term used in music primarily to designate

a passagethat brings a piece (or a movement) to an end. Technically, it is an expanded cadence. It
may be as simple as a few measures, or as complex as an entire section.[2]

Contents
  [hide] 

 1Coda as a section of a movement

o 1.1Musical purpose
 2In music notation
 3Cauda
 4Codetta
 5Codas in popular music
 6See also
 7Notes
 8References

Coda as a section of a movement[edit]

The presence of a coda as a structural element in a movement is especially clear in works written in
particular musical forms. Codas were commonly used in bothsonata form and variation movements
during the Classical era. In a sonata form movement, the recapitulation section will, in general, follow
the exposition in its thematic content, while adhering to the home key. The recapitulation often ends
with a passage that sounds like a termination, paralleling the music that ended the exposition; thus,
any music coming after this termination will be perceived as extra material, i.e., as a coda. In works
in variation form, the coda occurs following the last variation and will be very noticeable as the first
music not based on the theme.
One of the ways that Beethoven extended and intensified Classical practice was to expand the coda
sections, producing a final section sometimes of equal musical weight to the foregoing exposition,
development, and recapitulation sections and completing the musical argument. For one famous
example, see Symphony No. 8 (Beethoven).[3][page  needed][clarification needed]
Musical purpose[edit]
Charles Burkhart suggests that the reason codas are common, even necessary, is that, in the climax
of the main body of a piece, a "particularly effortful passage", often an expanded phrase, is often
created by "working an idea through to its structural conclusions" and that, after all this momentum is
created, a coda is required to "look back" on the main body, allow listeners to "take it all in", and
"create a sense of balance."[4]
In music notation[edit]

Coda sign

In music notation, the coda symbol, which resembles a set of crosshairs, is used as a navigation
marker, similar to the dal Segno sign. It is used where the exit from a repeated section is within that
section rather than at the end. The instruction "To Coda" indicates that, upon reaching that point
during the final repetition, the performer is to jump immediately to the separate section headed with
the coda symbol. For example, this can be used to provide a special ending for the final verse of a
song.
This symbol is encountered mainly in modern music, not works by classical composers such as
Haydn or Mozart.

Cauda[edit]
Cauda, the Latin root of coda, is used in the study of conductus of the 12th and 13th centuries. The
cauda was a longmelisma on one of the last syllables of the text, repeated in each strophe. Conducti
were traditionally divided into two groups, conductus cum cauda and conductus sine cauda (Latin:
"conductus with cauda", "conductus without cauda"), based on the presence of the melisma. Thus,
the cauda provided a conclusionary role, also similar to the modern coda.

Codetta[edit]
Codetta (Italian for "little tail," the diminutive form) has a similar purpose to the coda, but on a
smaller scale, concluding a section of a work instead of the work as a whole. A typical codetta
concludes the exposition and recapitulation sections of a work in sonata form, following the second
(modulated) theme, or the closing theme (if there is one). Thus, in the exposition, it usually appears
in the secondary key, but, in the recapitulation, in the primary key. The codetta ordinarily closes with
a perfect cadence in the appropriate key, confirming the tonality. If the exposition is repeated, the
codetta is also, but sometimes it has its ending slightly changed, depending on whether it leads back
to the exposition or into the development sections.

Codas in popular music[edit]

Many songs in rock and other genres of popular music have sections identifiable as codas. A coda in
these genres is sometimes referred to as an "outro", while in jazz, modern church music
and Barbershop arranging it is commonly called a "tag."
See also[edit]
 Repeat sign
 Da capo
 Dal segno
 Epilogue
 Transition (music)
 Fade out

Notes[edit]
1. Jump up^ Benward & Saker (2009). Music in Theory and Practice: Volume II, p.151. Eighth
Edition. ISBN 978-0-07-310188-0.
2. Jump up^ Benward & Saker (2009), p.355.
3. Jump up^ For discussion of this coda, and of codas in general, see Rosen, Charles (1988) Sonata
Forms, 2nd edition. New York: Norton.
4. Jump up^ Burkhart, Charles. "The Phrase Rhythm of Chopin's A-flat Major Mazurka, Op. 59, No. 2" in
Stein, Deborah (2005). Engaging Music: Essays in Music Analysis, p.12. New York: Oxford University
Press, ISBN 0-19-517010-5.

References[edit]
  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm,
Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.