Half-Cadence Type and Formal Function in the Mozart
Sonatas
In our recent
article “The Mozartian Half Cadence”, we proposed a new typology of
half-cadence types developed through a handcrafted corpus study of the Mozart
piano sonatas. We grouped the various subtypes we identified into four
overarching classes defined through characteristic three-voice contrapuntal patterns:
the converging, expanding, simple I-V, and doppia
half cadences. In this paper, we undertake to examine interactions between
cadence type and formal function on both intra- and inter-thematic levels.
First, we identify those patterns that most characteristically appear in
8-measure and 16-measure periods (i.e. the simple I-V and converging cadences)
and we explain their prevalence by showing how these two types lend themselves
to ready recomposition as perfect authentic cadences in consequent phrases.
Second, we ask which patterns are most typical of particular inter-thematic
articulations, such as the ending of transitions and development sections, as
well as internal half-cadences within subordinate themes. Third, we examine a
series of concrete analytical examples, showing how the generalizations
proposed in parts one and two elucidate the complex interaction between
intrinsic and contextual formal function in Mozart’s music—how, thanks to the
correlations we identify, particular half-cadential patterns can come to
suggest precise locations in the temporal unfolding of a composition’s form. |
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