Inmusic,arch form is asectionalstructure for a piece of music based onrepetition, in reverse order, of all or most musical sections such that the overall form issymmetric, most often around a centralmovement. The sections need not be repeated verbatim but must at least sharethematic material.
It creates interest through interplay among "memory, variation, and progression". Though the form appears to be static and to deny progress, the pairs of movements create an "undirectional process" with the center, and the form "actually engenders specific expressive possibilities that would otherwise be unavailable for the work as a whole".[1]
Béla Bartók is noted for his use of arch form, e.g., in hisfourth andfifth string quartets,Concerto for Orchestra,Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta,second piano concerto, and, to a lesser extent, in hissecond violin concerto.[1]Samuel Barber'sAdagio for Strings and Shostakovich'sString Quartet No. 8 in C minor also use arch form.
The most popular arch-form structure is ABCBA.
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