Identifying Phrase Forms

TH101 - Seth Monahan

PHRASE ANALYSIS SENTENCES AND PERIODS To analyze phrase construction, we must attend to a range of parameters: cadence types, harmonic organization, rhythmic proportion, and melodic/motivic similarity or dissimilarity. This handout describes a number of typical phrase formations in common use during the Classical period. Of course, not all phrases you encounter will fit neatly in the categories provided here. Some exceptions can be understood as purposeful deviations from the familiar schema; others are truly unclassifiable--hybrids or other anomalies. Nevertheless, in all cases a good analysis begins with a thorough description of the musical procedures at hand.

I. PHRASES AND CADENCES WHAT IS A PHRASE? Douglas Green (Form in Tonal Music, 2nd ed.) offers this helpful starting definition: “A phrase is the shortest passage of music which, having reached a point of relative repose, has expressed a more or less complete thought.” To be a “complete thought,” we typically require that a phrase move through some coherent harmonic progression that ends in a cadence. (Discrete ideas that lack cadential closure are often called “subphrases.” Most phrases contain several such subphrases.)

SO WHAT IS A CADENCE? A cadence is a melodic/harmonic/rhythmic formula that serves as the goal of a phrase. Cadences function as musical punctuation, and can be divided broadly into “conclusive” and “inconclusive.” You must be able to identify the following cadential types instantly and accurately, both by sight and by ear:

CONCLUSIVE CADENCES end with a root-position tonic triad:

PERFECT AUTHENTIC (PAC):

V or V7 Å I, with ^1 in the soprano over tonic. Both chords must be in root position.

IMPERFECT AUTHENTIC (IAC):

V or V7 Å I, with ^3 or ^5 in the soprano over tonic. Both chords must be in root position.

PLAGAL:

IVÅI, both chords in root position. This is usually an “after-cadence,” serving to expand tonic after a PAC or IAC. The “Amen” cadence of Protestant hymns provides a familiar example.

CONTRAPUNTAL:

The bass moves by step, e.g. viio6, V$, or V# Å I. (These progressions are common in species counterpoint and pre-Baroque music, but do not usually mark phrase endings in 18th- and 19th-century music.)

Adapted from William Marvin’s “Phrase Analysis: Sentences and Periods.” Marvin himself writes: “This handout borrows (and modifies) freely from numerous sources, including: Brian Alegant, class handout; William Caplin, Classical Form; Warren Darcy, class handout; Douglas Green, Form in Tonal Music; Steven Laitz, The Complete Musician; Alfred Lorenz, Das Geheimnis der Form bei Richard Wagner; William Rothstein, Phrase Rhythm in Tonal Music; Arnold Schoenberg, Fundementals of Musical Composition.” Marvin also credits “ongoing conversations with members of the Music Theory departments at Oberlin Conservatory of Music and The Eastman School of Music.

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PHRASE ANALYSIS (p. 2) TH101 - Seth Monahan

PHRASES AND CADENCES (cont’d.) INCONCLUSIVE CADENCES end with a chord other than a root-position tonic triad:

HALF CADENCE (HC):

Motion to V (usually not V7) in root position.

PHRYGIAN HALF CADENCE:

A special variety of half-cadence where iv6 moves to V with ^4Å^5 in the soprano.

DECEPTIVE:

V or V7 followed by any non-tonic chord--typically one that allows the leading tone to resolve to ^1, such as vi or IV6.

LINKING:

A deceptive cadence that initiates a new formal unit. This type of cadence is basic to formal procedures in Wagner's music.

CADENCE EVASIONS/EXTENSIONS Securing a cadence is not always a straightforward affair. Composers often create the expectation of a cadence, only to deflect the music away from a stable tonic at the last moment. This tension-building procedure involves two reciprocal techniques:

CADENCE EVASION:

The technique of withholding or undermining the expected tonic chord. Several common options include: (a) using a deceptive cadence; (b) deflecting the bass line away from ^5, resulting in a V%ÅI6 progression; (c) substituting a weak IAC for an expected strong PAC; (d) using a “run-on” melody that hints at a PAC but spins forward in a way that undermines local closure.

CADENTIAL EXTENSION:

After an evaded cadence, composers will usually resume the process of closure. This often involves “rewinding” the music to some earlier point for a “second try” at the original cadence. (Though sometimes they simply instate new cadential materials.) In either case, the effect is to extend the cadential-zone forward in time, creating an increase in tension and even more impetus to reach a proper point of closure.

Note that these evasion/extension techniques can occur anytime there is a would-be cadence in 18th- or 19th-century music. They need not occur in conjunction with the formal paradigms (period and sentence) discussed below.

CADENTIAL REINFORCEMENT/REPETITION It is also possible to expand the cadential zone after securing a strong root-position tonic. Often, composers will follow a strong PAC with a series of short cadential progressions (or “modules”), that reinforce and underscore the tonal/rhetorical closure. This is especially common at the ends of pieces or large sections of pieces.

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II. PERIODS WHAT IS A PERIOD? The period is a structure built of two phrases, the second of which (the consequent) completes processes left open by the first (the antecedent). The consequent phrase will end with a more conclusive cadence than that of the antecedent phrase. Following Laitz, we use a twofold classification that attends to melodic and harmonic features:

MELODIC TYPES Here we consider the thematic relatedness of the antecedent and consequent phrases:

PARALLEL:

The consequent phrase begins with the same material found at the opening of the antecedent phrase, and it sounds like a re-beginning (i.e., it uses the same scale degrees in the same key). We can represent this situation as aÅa'. This is the most common melodic type.

CONTRASTING:

Here the two phrases are based on different melodic material (aÅb). Truly "contrasting" periods are relatively rare; more often, the second theme is related to the first in some manner, by motivic development, sequential repetition, (free) inversion, or some other manner of derivation.

HARMONIC TYPES Here we consider the overall harmonic design created by the two phrases together:

INTERRUPTED:

The antecedent ends on a half cadence, and the consequent restarts on tonic; these are extremely common.

CONTINUOUS:

Instead of restarting on tonic, the consequent begins someplace other than tonic—often on a pre-dominant—and then proceeds to the cadence. It is called “continuous” because there is no internal rearticulation of the tonic and thus no sense of tonal “rebeginning.”

SECTIONAL:

The antecedent ends on an IAC, giving a greater impression of local closure than with the “interrupted” variety. (Though like the latter, the consequent will restart on tonic.)

PROGRESSIVE:

The consequent cadences in some key other than the tonic. (Majorkey periods will often modulate to the key of the dominant; minorkey ones will often modulate to the relative major.)

ASYMMETRICAL PERIODS The prototypical period is a “symmetrical” or “balanced” structure, with antecedent and consequent being similar or equal lengths. Often, however, composers will extend the consequent, creating an assymetrical layout. This can be done through cadential evasion/extension (see above), or from expansion from within the middle of the phrase.

DOUBLE PERIODS The double period is usually a 16-measure structure, containing four phrases grouped in pairs as an antecedent group and a consequent group. Double periods are typically parallel, and each group may consist of a sentence or a hybrid (see below). The design is typically symbolized: (aÅb) + (a'Åb') or (aÅb)+ (aÅc).

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III. SENTENCES WHAT IS A SENTENCE? The sentence is one of the most common phrase structures of the Classical period. In contrast to the (usually) balanced, symmetrical period, the sentence is assymetrical and forward-driving; it begins with short, disconnected statements and then builds momentum dynamically to arrive at its cadence. The prototypical sentence is 8 measures long, and divides into units of 2+2+4 measures. The sentence contains three formal/functional zones: the presentation, continuation, and cadence.

PRESENTATION:

A “basic idea” (usually two bars long) is stated and then repeated, either exactly or with variation.

CONTINUATION:

An increase in forward momentum is created by one or more techniques: (a) fragmentation/development of the basic idea; (b) increase in harmonic rhythm; (c) increase in surface figuration; (d) harmonic/melodic “sequences” [not covered in TH101].

CADENCE:

the sentence concludes with a PAC, lAC, or HC. The cadential function is often built around a version of the harmonic paradigm I6 Å ii6 Å V Å (I). This progression is referred to as the Expanded Cadential Progression (ECP).

(mm. 1-4 in the 8-bar prototype)

(mm. 5-6 in the 8-bar prototype)

(mm. 7-8 in the 8-bar prototype)

The presentation is always clearly divided from what follows (sometimes, though not usually, by a “true” cadence). The continuation and cadence can be distinct, or elide together. The latter case is sometimes notated as “continuationÅcadence.” Though the typical sentence is 8 bars long, we often these same proportions compressed into four bars or stretched out over sixteen bars. However, we also find sentences expanded to greater lengths through cadential evasion/extension (see above) and (less often) a simple repetition of the continuation/cadence zones.

IV. COMBINING SENTENCES & PERIODS SENTENTIAL ANTECEDENTS/CONSEQUENTS We often encounter periods—usually parallel interrupted periods—whose antecedent and consequent phrases are each a sentence. (This is possible because sentences, unlike periods, are typically a single phrase long, featuring a single closing cadence.) Typically, such periods are 16 bars long rather than 8. Though they are not to be confused with 16-bar “double” periods, which have periodic antecedents and consequents.

HYBRIDS Now and then we find phrases that “combine” sentences and periods more literally. As mentioned above, many phrases are difficult to categorize as either periods or sentences. But some of these seem to embody elements of both, and are often called “hybrids.” One common hybrid type is the antecedent that proceeds not to a consequent but to “continuation”-type rhetoric, in the manner of a sentence.

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V. SUMMARY: ANALYTIC STRATEGIES To determine the formal category of a passage we must examine three musical parameters: 1. What kind of cadences are present (and in what keys)? 2. Is the motivic material at the beginning of each unit the same as, different from, or similar to material that has appeared earlier? 3. How long are the formal units, and what are the rhythmic proportions between them? If you can answer these three questions about a given passage, and you have memorized the vocabulay/concepts above, then phrase analysis should pose no special challenges!