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The second movement of Schubert's Double Cello Quintet opens with a spare, nearly motionless texture. Melody and harmony move patiently anddeliberately.
This section is followed by a strongly contrasting B-section, which is far more agitated and turbulent. The rhythmic motionis dramatically intensified.
Then, the opening section returns. The harmonic progression is identical to the original; the inner voices replay theoriginal melody. However, the cello and upper violin add a more active commentary. The troubled rhythmic intensityintroduced during the B-section "bleeds" into the A-section's return, preventing the music from recovering itsoriginal stillness. Time has had an effect: the A-section has "absorbed" the influence of the B-section.
As another example, listen to the opening of Bartok's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste . The violas, alone, present the movements main theme.
The movement builds to a powerful climax that reaches its peak with the powerful repetition of a single note. Themain theme is then broken into fragments and flipped upside down. These reflections have the quality of mysteriousreminiscences.
Near the work's close, the music returns to its starting point, and the violas present the theme in its originalform.
However, time has had an effect! The theme is not presented in isolation: This time, it is combined with its own mirrorimage, played in the high violins. Because of the high register, the "upside down" version nearly masks the violas;you have to listen very carefully to hear the original theme. The return is also accompanied by rapid figurationin the celeste, which is playing for the first time. Finally, there is sustained harmony, played in tremolo . As in the Schubert, the transformations recollect and summarize the interveningmusic: For instance, as was illustrated above, the inverted version of the theme was introduced at the climax. Significant events have left their mark; the music's historyis reflected in the changes that have occurred.
In the Brandenburg example , the harpsichord solo is immensely exciting when it is happening; but the later musicis able to "set aside" this fiery solo. It is part of the history of the piece; but it does not have a lasting effect.In contrast, in the Schubert and Bartok examples above, the intervening passages leave an audible legacy; they are not so easily dispelled.
To dramatize the fact that the opening has returned with
significant new features, it is conventional to label thereturn as
A′ (A-prime). Thus, the
form of the Schubert would be described asA-B-A′. In a movement with multiple transformed
returns, they may be labeled as
A′ ,
A′′ (double-prime) ,
With carefully directed listening, it is often possible to quantify and describe the changes that have occurred just byear. A comparison of related passages may be broken down into detailed and carefully directed questions: Are theregisters similar or different? What about the texture? The rhythmic surface? Have the melody or harmony beenaltered? Are the same instruments playing?
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