 | This article'slead sectionmay need to be rewritten. Please review thelead guide and helpimprove the lead of this article if you can.(April 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
In music,development is a process by which amusical idea istransformed and restated in the course of acomposition. Certain central ideas are repeated in different contexts or in altered form so that the listener can consciously or unconsciously compare the various statements of the idea, often in surprising orironic manners. This practice has its roots incounterpoint, where a theme or subject might create an impression of a pleasing or affective sort, but delight the mind further as itscontrapuntal capabilities are gradually unveiled in afugal development
Development is often contrasted with musicalvariation, which is a slightly different means to the same end. Development is carried out upon portions of material treated inmany different presentations and combinations at a time, while variation depends uponone type of presentation at a time.[2]
The development is the middle section of thesonata form, between theexposition and therecapitulation.
According toThe Oxford Companion to Music[3] there are several ways of developing a theme. These include:
TheScherzo movement fromBeethoven's Piano Sonata No. 15 in D major, Op 28 (the "Pastoral" Sonata) shows a number of these processes at work on a small scale.Charles Rosen (2002) marvels at the simplicity of the musical material: "The opening theme consists of nothing but four F sharps in descending octaves, followed by a light and simple I/ii/V7/I cadence with a quirky motif repeated four times."[4]: 161 These opening eight bars provide all the material Beethoven needs to furnish his development, which takes place in bars 33-48:
The falling octave in the first two bars and the repeated staccato chord in the left hand in bars 5-8 are the two fragments that Beethoven later develops:
The somewhat bald falling octave idea in the first four bars is transformed in bars 33-36 into an elegant shape ending with an upward-curving semitone:
In this movement, the repeated left hand chords in bar 5 are displaced so that in bar 33 onwards, they fall on the 2nd and 3rd beats:
In bars 33-48, the two fragments combine and the development goes through amodulating sequence that touches on a succession of keys;
The following outline demonstrates Beethoven's strategic planning, which he applied on a larger scale in the development sections of some of his major works. Thebass line traces a decisive progression through a risingchromatic scale:
To quote Rosen again, writing about this movement: "As Beethoven's contemporary, the painterJohn Constable, said, making something out of nothing is the true work of the artist."[4]: 162
Not all development takes place in what is commonly known as the "development section" of a work. It can take place at any point in the musical argument. For instance, the "immensely energeticsonata movement"[5] that forms the main body of the overture to Mozart's operaDon Giovanni announces the following theme during the initial exposition. It consists of two contrasting phrases: "first determined, then soft and conspiratorial".[5]
William Mann says "the first, insistent phrase [of the above] is very important. At once it is taken upimitatively by various departments of the orchestra, and [starting in] A major, jumps through several related keys."[5] Each repetition of the descending phrase is subtly altered one note at a time, causing the music to pass from the key of A major, through A minor and thence via a chord of G7 to the remote key of C major, and thence back to A major.
The central section of the overture (the part commonly known as the "development section") utilizes both phrases of the theme "in new juxtapositions and new tonalities",[6] developing it through repetition in amodulating sequence. The steady plod of the bass line against the sequential repetitions of the "soft and conspiratorial"[5] phrase outlines acircle of fifths chord progression:
Simultaneously, Mozart adds to the mix and continues to develop theimitative counterpoint that grew out of the first phrase. In the words of Willam Mann, this development "unites both halves"[5] of the theme. This is how this tightly woven texture pans out:
