Rondo form

Key Stage 2

Music

Structure

﻿Hello, boys and girls. How are you doing? I hope you had an amazing week, an amazing weekend. Today, we're going to learn a little bit more about Rondo. So today, we're going to need an exercise book or paper and some pencil. Because it's almost the end of our music structure lessons. And we need to make sure that we have the most important things written down so we keep learning and we keep practising them. So let's take a look at what we learned last time. We analysed Mozart's "Sonata No. 16". That was the exposition, development, and re-exposition. We also answered the question, what is Rondo? Rondo is a very fast piece of music meant to be played, composed for many instruments, or one instrument. And it has many sections that we give alphabet letters to distinguish from. As I said, it's meant to be played, not to be sung. You remember, how is it called the one that is to be sung? Yes, Rondeau, because it comes from France. So let's keep learning because we also listened to Beethoven's Rondo, "Fur Elise". So what will we learn today? We will go deep and deeper into the Rondo form because, as the sonata, it's a complex one. We're also going to further analyse Beethoven's "Fur Elise". We will introduce Mozart's Rondo "Alla Turca". We will analyse it as well, you and I. And we will see what can we do at home to always keep learning. So let's look back at the structure of Rondo. In Rondo, the musical idea alternates between one or more contrasting ideas. And to each idea we give an alphabet letter. The patterns can be many, can be very varied. ABA, ABACADA, more, et cetera. You can make your own, have no limits. As we said, the number of patterns between pieces can change. But do you remember what is the most common Rondo pattern? Yes. The ABACA, which is the one that Beethoven uses in his piece for piano, "Fur Elise". So let's analyse "Fur Elise". By Ludwig van Beethoven. First idea, we call A. The main idea, it's repeated. New material, we call B. Going straight back to A. Something new and unknown, letter C. Back home in A. Well done, amazing job. This is not easy. And fun fact, "Fur Elise", or Elise. It's supposed to be Beethoven's secret love. Which Schindler, one of his pupils, called her the Immortal Beloved. Even nowadays, we don't know who that Immortal Beloved is or if her real name was Elise. But in many letters, Beethoven refers to her as Immortal Beloved, keeping thus her anonymity. Let's go forward. Let's listen to another Rondo. This time from the hands of our already known friend, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. This one is called "Rondo Alla Turca" or in English, "Turkish March". Let's see how it sounds. Now, this Rondo is the third movement of the "Sonata No. 11". Do you remember what happened with the third movements of sonatas? In sonatas we have three movements. First one, a fast one called the Allegro. Second movement was the slow one, could be called Andante, Adagio, or Largo. And then we had a third movement, which was the fastest, called the Finale. So for this third movement of his "Piano Sonata No. 11", Mozart chose the Rondo form for it. So, let's hear. The structure is going to be ABCBA, B small, and a coda. And coda, for Italian tail, it's a passage. A moment in music that helps bring it to an end. So it brings the music to an end in a spectacular way. So, can you find all the different sections by yourself? Did you hear the coda at the end? Helping the piece bring it to an end in a spectacular way. So, together let's take a look at the "Alla Turca" and all its different sections. So get your pencil ready. And let's go. First idea, we call it A. This A is repeated. Contrasting section from A, we call B. Different section from B, it's letter C. It's a very long C section. But now. Back to B! Back home to A. B second. Because it develops the B with extra notes. And straight into coda. Beautiful piece by Mozart. You can never get tired of "Alla Turca", which has very interesting and complex sections. ABCBA, B small or B2 and coda. So what to do at home? I would love if you could listen again to "Alla Turca" all by yourself and try to write down all the different sections. This is a new one. Go and find the third movement of Mendelssohn's "Violin Concerto". It's also a Rondo Sonata, Rondo form. So can you spot all the sections? And if you could, do the same with the fourth movement of the string quartet called "Death and the Maiden" by Franz Schubert. So I hope you will have an amazing week, an amazing time. Keep learning, keep listening to music, and have fun. Bye-bye!

Rondo form

Rondo form

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