Thread by @AntonPrince7

𝐎𝐧 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞; 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭: 𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐬

Onwards to more extensive forms, we come to larger ternary forms, the most prevalent of which are the dance forms; the minuet and the scherzo.

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Both the minuet and scherzo can either be independent pieces or movements of a larger structure, like a suite, sonata or symphony.
They are essentially identical in form, though one can speak of differences in a general sense, especially in character and tempo.

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The minuet, generally in 3/4 time, has a more or less stately character and an average metronome marking of 60-70 to a bar in Haydn and Mozart. Still, the variations in mood are myriad, as proven by the difference between this minuet by Haydn...


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...and the following movement by Mozart:


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It is interesting to note that Beethoven‘s “minuets” from his First and Eighth symphonies surpass the tempo of the scherzo (around 100 BPM), and indeed the “menuetto” in the First symphony is essentially a scherzo.


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Although the name means “joke”, the character of a scherzo need not be light or witty at all; the factor common to most scherzi is the rapid tempo, while even the time signature is sometimes 2/4 or 6/8 instead of 3/4, as here in Beethoven‘s Op. 109:


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In the music of other masters, we find a whole range of different characters, from the innocently enthusiastic to the wildly ecstatic and from the deeply tragic to the grotesque and ghostly; of a specifically ghostly mood is this scherzo by Mahler:


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In terms of form, the minuet evolved from a simple binary form to a ternary form—which is quite similar to the small ternary form discussed earlier. In the literature, the form is sometimes expanded further by a coda, varied repetitions or other extensions of the model.

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The scherzo evolved from the minuet and is structurally often a little different from it in the middle section as the contrast in a scherzo is often (partly) a modulatory transformation of material from the first part.

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Where the minuet often features a non-modulatory middle section, featuring a contrasting idea which is (usually) not strictly a development or variation of the preceding material, the contrast in the scherzo is chiefly furnished by continuous modulation.

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This is similar to the procedures used in the “Durchführung” of a sonata form and distinguishes many scherzi from minuets, although individual examples might show a minuet with a modulatory middle part or a scherzo with a simpler contrasting section.

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Both forms contain the same structural units as smaller ternary or binary forms and the period and sentence phrase structures—again—form the basis of these forms; the scherzo in the Second Symphony starts with a period:

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Recording:

Complementing either dance form, we almost invariably find a TRIO, which is usually also in a ternary form. This second dance further contrasts with the general character of the first and often has its own internal repeats, corresponding to the repeats in the first dance.

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After the trio, the first dance is almost invariably repeated without its internal repeats being observed, beyond this there is often no variation or modification in the material of the first dance

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By virtue of the trio and the repetition of the dance, the whole is also a ternary form consisting of minuet/scherzo - trio - minuet/scherzo, or A-B-A.

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An excellent example of a trio quite similar to the model we find in Beethoven‘s Sonata no. 12 (1:25-2:05) It becomes clear how the trio section offers a contrast to the preceding scherzo:


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Note also that the trio contains a brief segment which transitions into the recapitulation of the scherzo:

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Looking at possible modifications or alterations in the structure of the dance forms, we often find extensions in both the first and the middle sections like here in this minuet by Haydn, which I already mentioned above:


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The period opening this minuet is ten bars long (blue and lilac)—each half being five bars—and the middle section is fourteen bars (red). The repeat of the period is again ten bars and is further extended by a coda of ten bars (green).

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Closing today‘s #TheoryThursday—I could go on but individual examples of structural deviations are almost numberless—I would like to share a notable example of the scherzo which appeared often in Romantic Austrian music, most notably in Schubert, Bruckner and Mahler.

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In their music, the traditional scherzo/minuet is often replaced by a Ländler, a distinctive Austrian folk dance characterised by stomping rhythms and a certain rusticity.
The difference is generally one of character only, and not a structural difference.

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Note this Ländler movement in Mahler‘s first symphony, which is further notable for featuring motivic leaps reminiscent of yodelling (first presented in the violins).

And with this, I bid thee farewell—on to larger forms in the next instalment!


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