Firstly, one of the most famous of Baroque concertos which usefully demonstrates Vivaldi’s (and most other Baroque composers’) use of the device of ritornello. It can be heard in its most pristine version in the last movement, the Presto, of the concerto.
Ritornello (It. little return) takes the form of a recurring theme (normally played in a Baroque concerto by the orchestra) while the soloist supplies the remaining virtuoso material. The reappearances of the theme are frequently partial and sometimes in closely related keys to the home key.
Put simply its form is A,B,A,C,A,D, etc:
0:45 Allegro
5:31 Adagio
8:08 Presto
… and here’s its descendant, the rondo.
Rondo themes mostly reappear in their home key but can be subject to embellishment and variation; the in-between music, now known as ‘episodes’, can wander about to all sorts of exotic keys.
Their basic form, like ritornello, is A,B,A,C,A,D, etc.
Then there’s the ternary – as its name suggests – tripartite form.
Maybe its most straightforward expression is in the da capo aria where an opening section gives way to an area of new musical material (frequently in a related key) which, in turn, leads to a reprise of the opening. Its basic form is ABA. And it is a precursor of…
… the sonata, the shape of which can be a vast elaboration of that basic ABA. Here’s Reznicek’s effervescent Donna Diana overture, giving you the sonata form in a nutshell:
- A1=Exposition (first subject in the home key (D), second subject in the dominant (A)
- B=Development (of both themes);
- A2=Recapitulation (first subject returning in the home key (D), and resolving the harmonic tension of the exposition, second subject also in the home key of D).
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