Ioannis Fulias,
“Seeking
the beginnings of the large ternary form with hybrid return:
Clementi and Reicha”,
in:
Markos
Tsetsos, George Fitsioris and Ioannis Fulias (ed.), A
tribute to the memory of Olympia Psychopedis-Frangou (1944-2017), National
and Kapodistrian University of Athens / Faculty of Music Studies, Athens 2018,
p.
152-175.
The examination of the
large ternary form
in the music-theoretical literature remains problematic and deficient, even
after the substantial distinction among the sectional, the dynamic and the
developmental types of this form. For example, the thorough and systematic study
of Muzio Clementi’s whole compositional output reveals some movements from his
keyboard sonatas written in dynamic
ternary
form (opus
9
no.
1 / ÉÉ, opus 24
no.
2 / ÉÉÉ, opus 36
no.
1 / ÉÉÉ, opus 41 / ÉÉ, opus 46 / ÉÉ),
where the third and final part not only consists in the (expected) return of the
thematic contents of the first part, but also incorporates a portion of those of
the middle part, transposed into the home key (providing, therefore, a latent
sonata-like aspect to the overall form as well as expanding it a little,
yet
without the addition of a coda). Furthermore, a much more complicated
application of such a hybrid return in
a large ternary form of the sectional type
is detected in the slow movement of Anton Reicha’s Wind Quintet opus 99 no. 5.
Thus, with all the evidence, this rare possibility for the completion of a large
ternary form was developed during the period 1780-1820 by the pioneers Clementi
and Reicha, before being exploited by other composers of the 19th and 20th
centuries as well, such as Fr. Chopin (Barcarolle, opus 60), J.
Rheinberger (Piano Sonata No. 3, opus 135 / III), D. Mitropoulos (Conzert-Stück
or
Un morceau de concert,
for violin and piano) and D. Shostakovich (Prelude in
D
minor, opus 87 no. 24 / I).
© Ioannis
Fulias