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How to pronounce sonata form in English?

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[Music]
brahms
fourth and final symphony is one of
those rare works that
ends in tragedy rather than triumph
the first movement is in sonata form and
begins with this
first theme
and that unfolds beautifully it also
includes these figures which will come
up a lot
so that unfolds and intensifies
passionately
until we reach a second subject here is
the announcement of the second subject
and here's the second subject theme in
cello
and so on and there's a bunch more good
ideas
in the second subject like this one
and this one
until finally this theme emerges
triumphant
and brings the exposition to its climax
[Music]
and with that theme we are drawn into
the development section
the exposition does not repeat itself in
this movement
the development mostly deals with the
first theme
though it also deals with other themes
from the exposition
taking them through new moods and new
keys
making them more dramatic more agitated
varying them remolding them and so on
as ever brahms doesn't disappoint after
some dramatic fire
brahms winds the energy down with some
mysterious modulations
until we think we might be entering the
recapitulation
remember the entry into the
recapitulation is typically
one of the most exciting moments to look
out for
in any sonata form but instead of going
huge and climactic at this moment brahms
subverts our expectations in quite a
different way
there's a hint of the first theme
[Music]
then another
and then
[Music]
we are back in the recapitulation
beautifully done
the recap continues as you'd expect with
some alterations to make sure that the
second subject
falls into the home key but as we
approach the close
we are thrown into catastrophe for the
coda
a lot of tension and fury and the first
theme
bursts out once more in fortissimo it's
worked up
and then brought back down again in a
final grim
cadence oh and it might surprise you
that brahms doesn't even use trombones
in this movement
even though he easily could have he just
doesn't need to
movement two is a kind of sonata form
without development
just the first subject second subject
and then a recapitulation encoder
the main theme begins like this
[Music]
[Music]
this theme opens up a little and soon we
reach the dominant
key this triplet figure prepares the way
and we reach our second subject
the modulation back to the main theme is
just gorgeous it starts like this
[Music]
and then it does this
[Music]
always makes me melt the main theme
returns and then
rises into a powerful climax we hear
again the second subject reaching grand
new heights
and the final bars are a very noble
sounding phrygian mode
[Music]
movement three is a schedule though its
form
seems to be almost sonata form first
subject
second subject development recap and
coda
what stands out is the energy of the
movement and its
terseness in the first few seconds alone
we get the main theme though really you
could separate this theme
into three sharply contrasting themes
this one
[Music]
this one
and this one
and over the course of this movement all
three of these ideas will be varied and
developed
but this leads us to our short second
subject
[Music]
anyway once these ideas are exposed
listen to how brahms brilliantly
develops and explores them
changing moods exploring different
soundscapes
all in a very terse and extremely
dramatically
varied six minutes of music it's a very
exciting movement and a masterclass
in developing themes with excitement and
creativity
and it has a wonderful joyful climax
yet as i warned you after all that
joy the symphony must end in tragedy
the fourth movement is a great surprise
a pasagalia form this was an oft-used
form
in the 1600s an ancient form by brahms
day
associated with solemn music the way it
works is you'd get a
repeated slow ostinato usually in the
base
and over this endlessly repeating bass
line
the music would unfold gradually
developing
changing perhaps surprising us but the
bass line would
like fate itself inevitably repeats
again and again until its final strokes
we can hear many passages in baroque
music
one particularly fine example of this is
bach's
crucifixes from his b minor mass
anyway brahms is resurrecting this
old technique here in the finale of his
last
symphony here is his theme to be
endlessly repeated
so then brahms will go through many
variations
over this theme several dozen but
my advice is don't worry too much about
trying to trace the theme in every
variation
if you can that's great but sometimes
it's more well hidden than others
here are some notable variations though
for your pleasure
variation one is immediately different
it almost seems to be influenced by
beethoven's tragic coriolis overture
[Music]
later we'll hear a passionate violin
melody over the theme in bass
[Music]
variation 7 is a sharply rhythmic
variation
variation 10 has some surprising new
[Music]
harmonies
and then the time changes to 3 2 meter
twice as slow for this flute passage in
variation 12.
[Music]
where the main theme is now hidden
within the harmony
so don't worry if you can't hear it that
easily
then a major mode comes and soon we have
this
moving variation for trombones
soon enough the speed and intensity pick
up again
with drama there are some moments of
immense force
and then finally after the 30th
variation
we reach a slowing down and then
suddenly
a faster tempo
[Music]
and from here brahms breaks free of that
endlessly repeated theme
and takes us through a great set of
modulations
[Music]
and so on leading us to the final tragic
climax
though we do hear a few more versions of
the theme
like here in the trombones
[Music]
or altered here
and this is how brahms gets nine minutes
of music
and a great symphonic finale out of
one incredibly simple theme constantly
repeated
here are my favorite recordings of
brahms fourth i highly recommend that
you check out primephonic
it's a perfect app for discovering and
listening to classical music
it has amazing features for discovering
more of the music
you love and exploring classical music
of all kinds
you can try it out for two months
completely free using the voucher code
inside the score so why not try it out
and see if it's right for you
all the details are in the description
and i have to say it's quickly become
one of my favorite apps
anyway thank you for watching and i'll
see you soon

[Music]

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sonata form::noun | Spocien Dictionary

sonata form

noun

/sə'nɑtə_fɔrm/

the form of a movement, which consists of exposition and development and recapitulation

Type	Words
Type of	art form

How to pronounce sonata form in English?

sonata form::noun | Spocien Dictionary

abandonment

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