Rondo is what? What is the rondo in music?

"Rage due to the lost penny" by L. Beethoven, "The Turkish rondo" by WA Mozart, "Introduction and the Rondo Capriccioso" by Saint-Saens ... These so different works are united by the fact that they are written with the help of one and the same Same musical form. Many famous composers used it in their work. But what is rondo, how to distinguish it from other forms of musical art? Let us begin by defining this concept and comprehend its subtleties.

Poetry

To avoid confusion, it should be remembered that this term also relates to two areas - literature and music. And this is completely unsurprising. Speaking of poetry, the rondo is one of the poetic forms.

It has a special composition, which consists of 15 lines, with the ninth and fifteenth lines representing the initial words of the first. This form originated in France in the XIV century and was actively used in Russian poetry of the eighteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Rondo form in music

Now you can go on to describe the rondo directly in the music. It first appeared in France from the Middle Ages. The name of the form originates from the word rondeau - "circle". So called round dance songs. In their performance, the solo singers performed their fragments of the work, and the chorus repeated the refrain, in which both the text and the melody remained unchanged. These songs also turned out to be a prototype of the musical form of the rondo.

This is a specific way of creating a work in which the main theme - usually called a refrain - is constantly repeated (at least three times), alternating with other musical episodes. If we denote the refrain by the Latin letter A, and other fragments by other letters, then the simplified diagram of the product will look like this: AB-AC-AD and so on. However, the rondo should not become too long. As a rule, it includes from five to nine parts. It is interesting that the longest rondo included 17 fragments. This is the passacle of the French harpsichordist François Couperin. By the way, it was this musical genre that became the progenitor of popular electronic music today. It also has a lot in common with hip-hop, where other fragments are supposed to be applied to the refrain. The only difference is that the main motive plays constantly, and does not alternate with other pieces of the work.

Varieties

Now, having determined what rondo is in music, you can pay attention to its various options. If we talk about the number of themes and structure, then the following types are distinguished. First of all, a small rondo, a large, as well as a sonata type, named so because it reveals some features of the sonata.

Various compositional options make it possible to widely use this form in music. Historically, there is an ancient rondo, classical, with a smaller number of more contrasting and larger sections and a post-classical one. It will be interesting to trace how this musical form was transformed as it developed.

History of Form Development

For many centuries, the musical form of the rondo has changed significantly compared to its original folk version. From the song and dance art, it gradually turns into an instrumental sphere. Rondo is used in his work by eminent composers, harpsichordists, who created in France XVII - early XVIII centuries: Francois Couperin, Jacques Chambonier, Jean-Philippe Rameau. At this time the dominant style of art is rococo, music is distinguished by great grace, elegance and abundance of ornaments. And rondo is no exception. But, despite the exaggerated external grace and lightness of the music of this style, it always traces deep inner content and content.

The influence of the Viennese classics

In the future, the musical form of this direction changes significantly. This is due to a global change in the style of art, with a new worldview of man, which could not but affect the character of the creativity of poets, artists and, of course, composers. It is worth paying attention to the peculiarities of the development of the rondo form in the music of the Viennese classics. One of the first to use it was Haydn. It was then that this musical form acquired classical features. And in the works of WA Mozart, it reaches its peak. Speaking of this, one can not fail to mention his famous "Turkish rondo".

When writing this work, Mozart shifted the traditional Turkish orchestral military music for performance on the pianoforte. Elegant, cheerful, lively, this melody is very well known and loved by many. Another famous composer who used this musical form was L. Beethoven. In his work, the rondo is already a great depth, masculinity and scale. It is he who starts using mixed musical forms. This is a sonata rondo. His joking and fervent "Fury over lost pennies" is also widely known, also written in this form.

Russian representatives

In Russian art, the musical form of this direction was also used by many eminent composers. With the help of his expressive abilities, they expanded the framework of popular musical genres. For example, in the song of A. P. Borodin "Sleeping Princess" due to the frequency of the refrain, characteristic of the rondo, the impression of insurmountability, the sleeplessness of the dream of the heroine is created. Episodes succeed each other, contrasting with the unchanging and measured unhurriness of the main theme.

The form of the rondo in the music of the Soviet era was also used. This had several manifestations. For the most part, the elements of the rondo-like construction of the work were used. For example, in the opera of SS Prokofiev "Semyon Kotko", written on the story of VP Kataev "I am the son of the working people." Here the composer, following the principles of the rondo composition, achieves a wonderful artistic expressiveness: the repetition of this form, its ability to unite and bind the various forms, serves as a means of conveying the generality of the emotions of all the characters.

The future of the form

Now that we already know more about what a rondo is, you can try to make small conclusions and assumptions. As you can see, expressive abilities of this form allow using it in different genres, amazingly transforming and supplementing them. And, probably, in contemporary art and even in the music of the future there is a place for it. What is noteworthy, the rondo not so long ago debuted in the cinema. It is this term that most closely describes the plot of the painting "The Beginning".

After all, the rondo is a combination of a constant with a changeable, temporary with a firm, stormy with measured and, nevertheless, eternal return to its own places. And in this it is akin to our life and even to nature itself, with its unchanging cyclicity.