Ioannis Fulias,
“Rondo,
sonata or maybe rondeau?
The organisation of form in the rondos of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s late
creative period”,
in:
Kostas Kardamis, Petros Vouvaris, Maria Ntourou, Giorgos Sakallieros & Ioannis
Fulias (ed.), 13th Musicological Conference: “Music and
Revolution” (Conference proceedings, under the auspices of the Hellenic
Musicological Society, Corfu, 19-21 November 2021), Hellenic Musicological
Society, Thessaloniki 2023, p. 238-252.
This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the structural features that
govern both the famous independent keyboard rondos and other similar movements
from instrumental works by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach written during his activity
in Hamburg in the 1770s and 1780s. The comparative study of a repertoire of 23
pieces demonstrates the old rondeau form as a starting point and points out the
similarities, the usual tactics but also some exceptional cases regarding the
formation of the initial theme and its possible transformations during its
subsequent returns in rotation with the intermediary episodes, which are also
largely based on common specifications despite their impressive diversity in
terms of extent, contents and their widest tonal design as well. Furthermore,
the degree of influence of the sonata principle on these pieces is investigated,
which, contrary to the general (but mostly confused or even invalid) theoretical
perception that has been formed so far, proves to be extremely limited as long
as this issue is critically revisited and finally put on its true basis.
© Ioannis
Fulias