Ternary form.

A tripartite musical form, usually symbolized as ABA.

1. Definition.

It is perhaps the most fundamental of musical forms, based on the natural principles of departure and return, and of thematic contrast then repetition. The term is most commonly associated with the so-called composite ternary form, as found in the da capo aria or the minuet and trio, but is also applied to the ‘small ternary’ form, where the ABA shaping governs a single structure. The section that returns as the second A (which, if modified, may be better expressed as A') is different in nature from and more substantial than, say, the returning theme in a rondo, which is constructed in such a way as to demand both immediate and several subsequent repetitions. Ternary form works on a broader scale: whereas the intervening episodes of a rondo may not be very distinctive thematically, the B section of a ternary form is frequently highly contrasting. Even if it in fact continues in some way with the material of A, there will be some fundamental shift, for example of mode, scoring or tempo. The B section is often harmonically closed, particularly in instrumental composition, and less commonly in the da capo aria, where the B section is generally harmonically incomplete, moving from one key to a cadence on another. The first Asection will almost always be closed, in the tonic. This distinguishes it from rounded Binary form, often popularly thought of as being ternary, where the A section mainly closes in the principal alternative key area (such as the dominant or the relative major). The subsequent B section tends to be continuous harmonically and thematically with this.

2. To 1750.

The value of ternary form as an obvious means of achieving both the variety implied in a form with a contrasting central section and the sense of unity that results from a return to the opening material was grasped early in the history of Western music. At its simplest, ternary form is found in German song from the 12th century to the 16th in the work of the Minnesinger and in chorale melodies, and it occurs in some Italian laude of the 13th century (e.g. HAM no.21a). Other comparatively early instances, the more interesting in that the musical shape is not conditioned by a textual repetition, occur in Josquin’s chanson Faulte d’argent (HAM no.91) and in a number of basses danses such as La volonté set by Claude Gervaise (HAM no.137, 1).

Ternary form, however, is a more natural outcome of a primarily homophonic idiom than of polyphony. Rare during the Renaissance, it inevitably became a scheme of great importance during the Baroque period, being discussed as early as 1676 in Printz’s Phrynis and receiving theoretical recognition by such critics as Mattheson (Das neu-eröffnete Orchestre, 1713). Monteverdi used it for the shepherd’s song at the beginning of Act 1 of Orfeo (1607) (‘In questo lieto e fortunato giorno’) and in the closing duet of L’incoronazione di Poppea (1643) (‘Pur ti miro’). During the course of the 17th century arias and duets were increasingly often cast in da capo form, and in the late Baroque period choruses were often written in this form too (e.g. the opening chorus of J.S. Bach’s St John Passion).

Early examples of ternary form tend to emphasize contrasts between the A and B sections. The ground bass at the opening of Monteverdi’s ‘Pur ti miro’ is dropped for the middle section, and in Steffani’s aria ‘Un balen’ from Henrico Leone (HAM no.244) a new texture and movement are established at this point. Later, composers often cast the A section in binary form, drawing material from it for the Bsection which began in a related key but was tonally an ‘open’ structure leading back naturally to the reprise, often lavishly decorated, of A. In Handel’s music the middle section is generally much shorter than the first, and usually differentiated from it in texture: a continuo accompaniment may replace that of the full string band, or an obbligato wind instrument present in the A section may be discarded for the B. Handel also achieved striking dramatic effects by curtailing the da capo or abandoning it altogether (e.g. ‘Why do the nations’ in Messiah, ‘A serpent in my bosom warm’d’ in Saul, or the duet ‘Prendi da questo mano’ in Ariodante), but such effects derive their force from the fact that a full da capo was usual and therefore expected.

3. After 1750.

After its initial period of intense cultivation, principally in Baroque instrumental music and the da capo aria up to the end of the 18th century, the clear outlines of composite ternary form were gradually softened and apparently complicated. With a strongly contrasting B section the scheme was very effective, and could add an extra expressive dimension precisely through its fundamental simplicity. Such is the case in the slow movement of Haydn’s Piano Trio no.27, where a very warm, diatonic, syntactically regular violin melody in E is succeeded by a B section that changes to the tonic minor, with pizzicato strings and extravagant improvisatory piano writing. When the A section is then repeated exactly, it has acquired a stronger identity simply through the agency of the contrast. In the majority of cases, though, where there was greater relative continuity of thought between A and B, this large-scale symmetry came to seem less appropriate.

One of the first structural areas to be developed was the join between Band A'. The need for a link or retransition increased once Bsections began to be set in more remote keys: thus Haydn requires a harmonic link between the trio in B flat major and the minuet in D major in his Symphony no.104. However, most modifications to the basic scheme came to involve various sorts of rewriting of the A' section. The end of A', for example, was often recast, allowing for some extension or rounding of the form after the symmetrical requirements of return had been fulfilled. A good illustration is the end of the Intermezzo op.117 no.3 by Brahms, which provides a more expansive and climactic treatment of the material that ended the first A section; the original tonic pedal gives way to a grand reharmonization, the apex of the melodic line is presented in augmentation, and the whole is directed to be played more slowly, with a marked ritenuto towards the end.

Material from B, often from its initial part, could also reappear as a brief coda to imply an ABAB outline. The penultimate bar of Chopin’s Prelude in F op.28 revives the opening of the B section to round off the structure. In the Allegretto of his Sonata op.14 no.1 Beethoven introduces a specially designated coda that repeats the final phrase of the Trio (marked ‘Maggiore’). By retaining its retransitional chords, which effect a move from the C major of the Trio back to the E minor of the Allegretto, Beethoven also cancels the rather tentative tierce de Picardie that concluded the A section. This final restoration of E minor indicates the symbiotic relationship of the A and B parts of this ternary form.

A more dramatic instance of structural softening may be heard in Chopin’s Nocturne in B op.32 no.1: just at the point where the return of A might be anticipated, the smooth course of the movement is interrupted by a mysterious 4-2 chord on F, a tritone away from the expected B. This leads to a charged recitative-like section. The opening music is never recovered and the work finishes in B minor. Although the consequent larger structure is no longer ternary in any standard sense, the Nocturne must be heard against the background of ternary form. It represents an extreme deflection of what was obviously perceived more and more as the over-mechanical nature of ABA in its simplest state. Indeed, any full return of A became increasingly unlikely, and where it did occur, it was often because a deliberate formal simplicity was required. This effect was used especially in a nationalist context, such as in Grieg’s Lyric Piece op.71 no.1, ‘Der var engang’. Here the almost identical outer sections, suggesting a nostalgic present, frame the Norwegian dance of B, which suggests an idyllic memory.

By contrast, in Brahms’s Intermezzo in A minor op.116 no.2, the return to Andante after a quicker middle section does not coincide with a precise return to the earlier material. From bar 51 a modified, uncertain version of the Andante music is heard, in A major rather than minor. The sense of harmonic and thematic return is thus partial and ambiguous; the ensuing passage acts in a way as a transition, a means of gradually restoring the mood and movement of the opening. The contortions of the circle-of-fifths sequence in bars 63–5 suggest the effort required to justify and make convincing the ‘mechanical’ return to A that follows from bar 66. A shortening of the returning section could also accomplish the desired flexibility. In the slow movement of Clementi’s Sonata op.50 no.1, the returning A section (based on the Sarabande from Bach’s English Suite no.2) omits the original first six-bar strain, beginning with the equivalent of bar 7. A more drastic reduction may mean that A' takes on the proportions of a coda; this is the case in the Scherzo of Fauré’s Piano Quartet op.15. Another kind of structural blurring can be achieved by beginning the return off-key; on a dominant pedal, for example, in Grieg’s Lyric Piece op.68 no.5, ‘Bådnlåt’.

Another way of adding a perceived dynamism to the form was to create a five-part structure that repeated the B section, yielding an ABABA that is nevertheless essentially ternary. An early example is found in the third movement of Haydn’s String Quartet in E op.64 no.6, where the trio is heard twice. Its second appearance is identical save for the insertion of some very high first violin writing near the end. A more familiar instance of this scheme is the Scherzo of Beethoven’s Symphony no.7.

In post-tonal language the definition of ternary form becomes less fraught, since matters of tonal argument and closure lie outside the structural equation. The fundamental principles of the form ensure that it has remained much in use, particularly with a relatively free treatment of the second A section. The slow movements of Bartók’s second and third piano concertos both employ ternary designs. In no.2 the returning A material, much abridged and altered, is used to calm the music after the presto middle section. In the A' section of no.3 the piano continues with B-like figuration in the manner of divisions, so that yet again a final part of a ternary form acts to reconcile the abrupt contrasts of its first two sections.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

NewmanSCE

R.O. Morris: The Structure of Music (London, 1935)

E.J. Dent: ‘Binary and Ternary Form’, ML, xvii (1936), 309–21

D.S.Green: Form in Tonal Music (New York, 1965)

I. Spink: An Historical Approach to Musical Form (London, 1968)

W. DEAN SUTCLIFFE (1, 3), MICHAEL TILMOUTH (2)