Learning Objectives

Be ready to...

Relate how form is an essential element in all the arts.
Illustrate how form in music is a way to organize sound in time, with durations, pitches, timbres, and volume contributing to a coherent structural whole.
Listen to Frédéric Chopin's Étude in C minor, Op. 10, No. 12, explain why it has a two-part structure, and describe the pedagogical function of an étude.
Listen to Frédéric Chopin's Mazurka, Op. 33, No. 3, and explain why it has a three-part structure.
Define the following musical terms: bravura, étude, form, opus, and ternary form.

Structure of Music

Introduction

The concept of form is an essential element of all the arts. It is associated with shape, organization, structure, pattern, relationships, coherence, and placement. Ultimately, it has to do with questions of proportion and balance. In music, form reveals how sound is organized in time and helps us understand how durations, pitches, timbres, and volume add up to a coherent whole. Regardless of how simple or complex a piece of music might be, our appreciation and enjoyment of it is closely related to our capacity to comprehend its form and to feel the emotional message it conveys.

Traditionally, musicians have used unity, variety, repetition, and contrast to shape sound into a variety of pre-established form templates that have proven successful over time. Naturally, the simpler the composition, the easier it is to grasp its form. Working songs, folk songs, inspirational hymns, marches, and pop songs are all types of music whose familiarity is based, to a large extent, on simple forms. Grasping the form of longer, more complex compositions, such as those found in art music—whether by Beethoven, Chopin, John Adams, or Chick Corea—requires more listening practice and focused attention. In such cases, being able to recognize structure form of a piece comes in very handy because form can serve as one of the best guides through the listening experience.

In the chapter on form we will go in some detail into the ways in which music can be structured. In the meantime, two piano pieces by the Polish composer Frédéric Chopin will show us two simple ways of organizing music. The first, his Étude in C minor, Op. 10, No. 12 has two sections with coda, while the second, his Mazurka No. 24 in C major, Op. 33, No. 3 features three sections.

Before looking at how they are built, listen to each piece from beginning to end.

Composer: Frédéric Chopin

"Études, Op. 10: Etude No. 12 in C Minor, Op. 10, No. 12, "

Composer: Frédéric Chopin

"Mazurkas, Op. 24: Mazurka No. 15 in C Major, Op. 24, No. 2"

Frederic Chopin

(1810-1849)

This is the only known photograph of the famous Polish composer.

Two-part Structure: Chopin Étude Op.10 No.12

This Chopin étude has two sections—which can be labeled A and A'—followed by a coda. The letter A is used to denote both sections because a significant number of musical elements of the initial section—the first A—return in the second section—the second A or A'. These recurring elements lend a sense of unity and wholeness to the work. The following brief descriptions illustrate different sections of this piece:

Did you Know...

Why is this étude nicknamed Revolutionary? Legend has it that Chopin—born in Zelazowa Wola, a small town near Warsaw (Poland)—wrote it as a reaction to the Russian occupation of Warsaw when the news reached him in Paris on September 1831. This story adds an extra element to a work of considerable bravura, the last in the first set of Twelve Études. This set was composed between 1829 and 1832, published in 1833, and dedicated to the pianist Franz Liszt (1811–1886).

Incidentally, the term étude—study—refers to a piece used to teach a particular technical skill to performers (or aspiring performers). Chopin composed another set of 12 études, his Opus 25, between 1832 and 1836. His creative genius turned drills of mechanical difficulties into enduring, hauntingly beautiful masterpieces. These pieces are still used to improve a pianist's technique, but more significantly, they continue to be performed on a regular basis in concert venues all over the world.

Three-part Structure: Chopin's Mazurka Op.33 No. 3

A mazurka is a Polish folk dance. In Chopin's hand, however, the mazurka was elevated from a simple folk dance to a pianistic art form that was both expressive and true to its native character. This specific mazurka follows an A-B-A formal structure. The first letter A represents the opening section. B introduces a contrasting section. Finally, the second A can be either a variation of the original A section, or its exact repetition.

This three-part structure may be thought of as a "musical sandwich" consisting of an initial section, a second section that contrasts against both the first and the third sections, and a third section that is either the exact or a slightly varied repetition of the first.

Chopin's piano on the island of Majorca

The Mazurka No. 24 in C major, Op. 33, No. 3 by Frédéric Chopin follows the ternary form A-B-A pattern. Notice how section B with its marked dance-like character is in complete contrast to the simple, almost subdued nature of both A sections:

Conclusion

Structure is a crucial aspect of all the arts, and this is especially true for music. Structure helps the mind organize and process what is heard, allowing the listener to begin developing expectations about what will happen next in a piece of music. The more we know about specific forms of music, the more capable we are of distinguishing and identifying excellent examples of musical structure. For the time being, and while we get to the section on Form, let's just mention that while there are many additional forms that are used to define musical structure, the two forms we have covered here—binary and ternary form—are two of the most common ones in all styles of music.