Rondo
(It., also Eng. and Ger. by usage; Fr. rondeau).
One of the most fundamental designs in music, the rondo is a structure consisting of a series of
sections, the first of which (the main section or refrain) recurs, normally in the home key,
between subsidiary sections (couplets, episodes) before returning finally to conclude, or round
off, the composition (ABAC … A).
1. Origins and development of the formal concept.
The very simplicity of the rondo concept, and its consequent wide usage, makes it difficult to
give a precise account of its origins. Any connection between the medieval or Renaissance
rondeau and that of the 17th and 18th centuries is at best tenuous; and parallels between the
later rondo and (for example) the ritornello principle and the rondo cantata need to be more
thoroughly investigated. Those few 18th-century theorists who mentioned influences on the
rondo confined themselves to such popular examples as the Frantzösischer Ringel-Tantz
(Walther), the Kreiz or Circul-Tantz (Niedt), the Zirckelstück (Marpurg, Türk), and the
Rundgesang (Türk). Mattheson, however, indignantly noted that although ‘rondeau’ does indeed
derive from ‘rond’ or ‘rund’ (circle), the music to which this term is properly applied originates
neither in the circle-dance nor in the Runda (a relative of the French ronde de table), a type of
drinking-song in which a rousing refrain sung by all the merrymakers followed each participant’s
verse.
Later writers have suggested two principal influences from art music. Lully is alleged to have
devised the rondeau of two couplets, sometimes called ‘French rondeau’. The multi-couplet
rondo (or chain rondo, ABACAD … A), sometimes called ‘Italian rondo’, presumably developed
from early Italian opera. Peri’s Euridice (1600), for example, contains two choral refrain–
recitative complexes arranged in rondo fashion (‘Al canto al ballo’ and ‘Sospirate aure celesti’).
In the former, the sequence is: choral refrain–solo for nymph–refrain–solo for shepherd–refrain–
solo for another nymph–refrain (ABACADA). The prologue of Monteverdi’s Orfeo (1607) is a
parallel example, with instrumental ritornellos instead of choral refrains. Similar structures were
used throughout the century.
5. The rondo as a movement in a larger work.
In the mainstream of music in the Classical period, the rondo functioned most commonly as one
movement within a large composition, appearing rarely as the first movement (Haydn, Piano
Sonata HXVI:48), more frequently as the second (Beethoven, Piano Sonata op.13) or other
interior movement (Mozart, Serenade K250/248b) and relatively often as the finale. It had limited
use in chamber music and the symphony; it was more freely employed in sonatas and
serenades, but only in the concerto was it the almost invariable choice for finales.
The substantial outputs of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven elegantly summarize the rondo
techniques of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Haydn began composing rondos in the
early 1770s; his best examples are found in his symphonies, string quartets and piano trios.
Mozart wrote rondos throughout his career, incorporting them in a variety of genres. Beethoven,
who included rondos in his early chamber works, sonatas and concertos, abandoned the form,
but not the broader principle, almost completely in his last years. Of particular interest is the
apparent interaction between Haydn and Mozart, the former responding to Mozart’s thematic
complexes and preference for sonata-rondo design, the latter incorporating Haydn’s thematic
economy, thematic motivation and contrapuntal textures in all sections of a rondo. Each
composer moved from a simple, sectional structure to a complex, integrated form into which he
built surprise and variety, and within which he attempted to offset and even exploit the regularity
inherent in the traditional layout.
Mozart wrote only four rondos that are completely in the minor mode; Beethoven wrote five
(including the finale of op.13, which is commonly cited as a model sonata-rondo). Because the
typical rondo was supposed to be bright and cheerful, composers customarily chose other forms
for finales in minor-key works (sonata-allegro, variation, fugue), but when they did conclude with
a rondo, they sometimes placed the entire movement (Mozart, String Quintet K516) or at least
the coda (Mozart, Piano Concerto K466) in the major. Duple (2/4, C, 6/8, rarely C) replaced the
buffo and minuet-based variants of triple as the normal metre in rondo movements. Although
each composer approached the problem of design differently, the formal arrangements of the
earlier 18th century remained in force. The two-episode structure (on occasion ABABA; more
commonly ABACA, as in Beethoven’s Piano Sonata op.53) was often used, Mozart and
Beethoven employing it more than any other option except the sonata-rondo and Haydn
particularly favouring it. In his hands the design evolved from a sectional, variation type, in which
the dominant is rarely the goal of the first episode (for example Symphony no.42), to one that in
tonal scheme, disposition of the first episode and developmental second episode rivalled the
opening movement and the mature sonata-rondo in integration and complexity (as in Symphony
no.96). All three composers cultivated the multi-couplet rondo, Haydn and Beethoven at times
incorporating fantasy or improvisatory elements (Haydn, Piano Concerto HXVIII:11; Beethoven,
Piano Concerto WOO4). Haydn, notably in his piano trios, included rondos of ternary design
(ABACABA).
The Classical composers often infused their rondo refrains with the rhythms, thematic character
and phrase regularity of the dance (for example the minuet and especially the contredanse).
Folk- and popular song provided another stimulus, composers borrowing authentic folktunes on
occasion (Haydn, Symphony no.103) and, more important, distilling their essence to produce a
folklore imaginé that finds its most obvious expression in certain Hungarian, Gypsy, Turkish or
otherwise exotic works (Mozart, Piano Sonata K331/300i, ‘alla turca’; Haydn, Piano Trio HXV:25,
‘Rondo all’ongarese’). Often other formal principles (fantasy, variation, sonata) interacted, with
results defying categorization.
The refrain, because of its fundamental importance, invites particular scrutiny. Composers
occasionally connected the rondo with a preceding slow movement; Beethoven used this link in
the Piano Concerto no.5 to anticipate the refrain theme. Mozart and Beethoven prefaced some
refrains with a slow introduction (Mozart, String Quintet K516), while Haydn and Beethoven
sometimes preceded the main theme with an introduction in tempo (Beethoven, Sixth
Symphony). In the early 1770s Haydn and Mozart abandoned the rushing, buffo-inspired tutti
refrain, preferring a moderate dance-like theme scored for reduced orchestra. Phrase structure
is usually regular, harmonic rhythm slow. Beethoven, who extended the limits of admissible
refrain material (for example in his Second Symphony), sometimes used non-tonic beginnings
and allowed tonal ambivalence within the refrain (Piano Concerto no.4). While Haydn
consistently favoured ternary design, Mozart cultivated a wide range of structures (often, mainly
in the concertos, appending long closing groups); Beethoven added the threefold announcement
of a single idea (Violin Concerto) and the open refrain (Second Symphony). A refrain is
commonly a discrete cell, articulated from the following episode by changes of scoring,
dynamics, register and texture. By specifying first and second endings, Haydn showed some
concern for connecting the refrain functionally to the remainder of the work, and Beethoven
sometimes blurred the structural joint between refrain and episode (Quartet op.132).
With the growing sense of tonic-dominant polarity in the Classical period, it is natural that we find
most first episodes (except in Haydn’s earlier works) in the dominant. As in sonata-allegros, the
transitions developed from perfunctory bridges to passages of melodic, harmonic, rhythmic and
textural interest; sometimes transition material (which is often merely figural) is derived from the
main theme, or it may even anticipate the episode theme. The episode itself may contain a
thematic complex, a single new theme, no distinct theme at all, a transposed statement of a
refrain idea or one derived from it (again parallel to the contemporary development of the
sonata-allegro). There may be a separate closing unit confirming the new tonality.
In rondos of the early Classical period, returns of the refrain were usually literal. Later, altered
versions prevail, characterized by variation, rescoring, extension and even transposition (partial
or complete). Mozart, whose initial refrains are often cast in an extended ABA pattern,
sometimes restricted intermediate statements to the A section only. Beethoven, for example in
his Violin Concerto, sometimes placed final statements of the refrain in remote keys.
Second and later episodes usually enter without preparation (like the trios of minuets) in the
earlier rondos of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. Later, the refrain statement is often reshaped to
connect with the ensuing episode. All three composers began by placing the episode in the
closest related keys (apart from the dominant) – the submediant, tonic minor and subdominant;
later they expanded the range of options, and the number of keys touched upon increased
parallel with the growth of thematic development. Changes of metre and tempo, rare in the
rondos of Haydn or Beethoven, appear in several Mozart works (Violin Concertos K216, 218,
219; Serenata notturna K239; Piano Concertos K271, 415/387b, 482), emphasizing the form’s
essentially sectional nature. Central episodes of closed design (binary or ternary) are common,
and within them there may appear contrasting material, a derived theme, or virtuoso passagework. Particularly important is the tendency to incorporate developmental techniques, including
eventually fugato, canon, inversion and double counterpoint (sometimes alongside new
material); Haydn preceded Mozart in the use of such techniques.
The coda, at first merely a cadential tag, later became an additional development section of
considerable length and intricacy. Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven all on occasion digressed to
the minor mode and to other keys (the subdominant being particularly favoured), and they often
injected development of a humorous character, marked by unexpected rests, tempo fluctuations,
scoring and dynamic contrasts, tremolos and similar devices (for example Haydn, Symphony
no.102). Recalling the stretta sections of Viennese opera buffa finales, Beethoven in particular
sometimes changed the metre and accelerated the tempo at this point and, primarily in codas of
concerto rondos, even introduced new themes.
Analogous to its inclusion as a component in a multi-movement instrumental composition, the
rondo appears on occasion as a number in an opera. Act 2 of Haydn’s Lo speziale (1768), for
example, concludes with ‘Colla presente scrittura privata’, a quartet cast as a dramatically
conceived variation rondo (beginning un poco Adagio) with appended Presto. Concluding Act 1
of Mozart’s Idomeneo (1781) is the magnificent, French-inspired choral ciaccona ‘Nettuno
s’onori!’. Inalla turca style, Osmin’s gloating solo rondo ‘O, wie will ich triumphieren’ adds spice
to Act 2 of Die Entführung aus dem Serail (1782), and Figaro’s brilliant ‘Non più andrai’ crowns
Act 1 of Le nozze di Figaro (1786).