Observation

 

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• Explanation of Sonata

It is an instrumental musical composition in three or four movements. The instrument could be one or more with the keyboard accompaniment. It can also be written, independently, for a keyboard instrument. Each of the movements may be in binary, ternary or rondo form.                                             

• (i) identification of the Sections of the Sonata Allegro form

       It consists of three main sections, namely: exposition, development and  recapitulation.  It is occasionally concluded with coda or codetta. 

(ii) Explanation of the sections

• The exposition presents the theme(s) in the tonic key and ends in the dominant or the subdominant.                                             
• The development section takes the themes from the dominant where the exposition ends. The development section is varied in compositional devices (sequences, inversions, extensive modulations, counterpoints, repetitions, imitations, augmentations, diminutions, arpeggiation), introduction of new themes and treatments of motives as well as dynamic trends.                    

The third section is the recapitulation which is the repetition of the themes in the exposition, varying ideas or materials and treating them in the home or tonic key. The section is usually rounded off with a coda/codetta in the tonic key.