Editing Cyclic form (section)

{{Short description|Compositional technique}}
{{about|the musical form|the cyclic isomers of monosaccharides|Monosaccharide#Structure and nomenclature}}
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'''Cyclic form''' is a technique of [[musical form|musical construction]], involving multiple [[Section (music)|sections]] or [[Movement (music)|movements]], in which a [[Theme (music)|theme]], [[melody]], or thematic material occurs in more than one movement as a unifying device. Sometimes a theme may occur at the beginning and end (for example, in [[Felix Mendelssohn|Mendelssohn]]'s [[String Quartet No. 2 (Mendelssohn)|A minor String Quartet]] or [[Johannes Brahms|Brahms]]'s [[Symphony No. 3 (Brahms)|Symphony No. 3]]); other times a theme occurs in a different guise in every part (e.g. [[Hector Berlioz|Berlioz]]'s ''[[Symphonie fantastique]]'', and [[Camille Saint-Saëns|Saint-Saëns]]'s [[Symphony No. 3 (Saint-Saëns)|"Organ" Symphony]]).

The technique has a complex history, having fallen into disuse in the [[Baroque music|Baroque]] and [[Classical period (music)|Classical]] eras, but steadily increasing in use during the nineteenth century.{{r|Randel2003}}

The [[Renaissance music|Renaissance]] [[cyclic mass]], which incorporates a usually well-known portion of [[plainsong]] as a [[cantus firmus]] in each of its sections, is an early use of this principle of unity in a multiple-section form.{{r|Grove2001_Borrowing}} Examples can also be found in late-sixteenth- and seventeenth-century instrumental music, for instance in the [[Canzona|canzonas]], [[Sonata|sonatas]], and [[Suite (music)|suites]] by composers such as [[Samuel Scheidt]], in which a [[ground bass]] may recur in each movement{{r|Grove2001_CyclicForm|Randel2003}} When the movements are short enough and begin to be heard as a single entity rather than many, the boundaries begin to blur between cyclic form and [[variation form]].{{Clarify|date=October 2017|reason=What does this mean, exactly?}}

Cyclic technique is not typically found in the instrumental music of the most famous composers from the Baroque and "high classical" eras, though it may still be found in the music of such figures as [[Luigi Boccherini]] and [[Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf]].{{r|Grove2001_CyclicForm|Taylor2011}}

Nevertheless, in the Classical period, cyclic technique is found in several works of [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]]: In [[String Quartet No. 15 (Mozart)|String Quartet in D minor K. 421]], all the four movements are unified by the motif, "F-A-C-C-C-C".{{Citation needed|date=March 2020}} In [[String Quartet No. 18 (Mozart)|String Quartet No.18 in A major K. 464]], different rhythmic motifs of the concept "long-short-short-short" of the first movement and second movement combine in the finale.{{Clarify|date=March 2020|reason=Can "different" rhythmic motifs be a single "theme, motif, or thematic material"?}}{{Citation needed|date=March 2020}} Mladjenović, Bogunović, Masnikosa, and Radak state that Mozart's [[Fantasia in C minor, K. 475|Fantasia, K. 475]], with its multi-movement structure inscribed in a one-movement sonata form, started something later finished by Liszt in his [[Piano Sonata (Liszt)|B minor Piano Sonata]].{{sfn|Mladjenović, Bogunović, Masnikosa, and Radak|2009|pp=103–4}}{{Clarify|date=March 2020|reason=Does this mean that the Mozart is or is not an example of cyclic form?}} [[Joseph Haydn]] uses cyclic technique at the end of the [[Symphony No. 31 (Haydn)|Symphony No. 31]], where the music recalls the horn call heard at the very opening of the work.{{r|Webster2002}}

In sacred vocal music of Baroque and Classical periods, there are several examples of cyclic technique, such as [[Johann Sebastian Bach]]'s [[Mass in B minor]] and Mozart's [[Coronation Mass (Mozart)|Mass in C major, K.&nbsp;317]], [[Mass in C major, K. 220 "Sparrow"|Spatzenmesse in C major K. 220]], [[Litanies (Mozart)|Litaniae de venerabili altaris sacramento K. 243]],{{citation needed|date=March 2020}} and especially [[Requiem (Mozart)|Requiem in D minor K. 626]], where the "DNA"{{Clarify|date=March 2020|reason=What is the "DNA" of a hymn motif, and does its "permeation of the entire work" mean it is somehow cyclic?}} of the Lutheran hymn motif, "D-C#-D-E-F", permeates the entire work.{{r|Sapsuev2014_5012}}{{Failed verification|date= March 2020|reason=Sapsuev merely says Mozart opens the Kyrie with a figure similar to the G minor fugue from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier. The D-C#-D-E F sequence is not attributed to Mozart at all, but rather to Bach and Handel.}} 

Although other composers were already using this technique, it is [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]]'s example that really popularised cyclic form for subsequent [[Romantic music|Romantic]] composers.{{r|Taylor2011}} In Beethoven's [[Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven)|Fifth Symphony]], a large part of the [[scherzo]] movement is recalled to end the finale's [[development section]] and lead into the [[Recapitulation (music)|recapitulation]]; the [[Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)|Ninth Symphony]]'s finale rapidly presents explicit reminiscences of the three preceding movements before discovering the idea that is to be its own principal [[Theme (music)|theme]]; while both the [[Piano Sonata No. 28 (Beethoven)|Piano Sonata Op. 101]] and [[Cello Sonatas Nos. 4 and 5 (Beethoven)#Sonata No. 5, Op. 102, No. 2|Cello Sonata Op. 102 No. 2]] similarly recall earlier movements before their finales.

In the 1820s, both [[Franz Schubert]] and the young [[Felix Mendelssohn]] wrote numerous important cyclic works: Schubert, in the ''[[Wanderer Fantasy]]'' (1822) created a "4-in-1" [[Double-Function Form|double-function]] design that would leave its mark decades later on [[Franz Liszt|Liszt]], while Mendelssohn, in such works as the [[Octet (Mendelssohn)|Octet]] (1825) and [[String Quartet No. 2 (Mendelssohn)|String Quartet No. 2]] (1827) created highly integrated musical forms that proved influential for later Romantic composers.{{r|Taylor2011}} Another significant model was given by [[Hector Berlioz]] in his programmatic ''[[Symphonie fantastique]]'' of 1830, whose "[[Leitmotif|idée fixe]]" serves as a cyclic theme throughout the five movements. By the 1840s, the technique is already quite established, being found in several works by [[Robert Schumann]], [[Fanny Hensel]], [[Niels Gade]], [[Franz Berwald]], and the earliest compositions of [[César Franck]].{{r|StruckenPaland2009}}

Mid-century, Franz Liszt in works such as the [[Piano Sonata (Liszt)|B minor Piano Sonata]] (1853) did a lot to popularize the cyclic techniques of thematic transformation and double-function form established by Schubert and Berlioz. Liszt's sonata begins with a clear statement of several thematic units and each unit is extensively used and developed throughout the piece. By late in the century, cyclic form had become an extremely common principle of construction, most likely because the increasing length and complexity of multiple-movement works demanded a unifying method stronger than mere key relation.{{Citation needed|date=February 2014}} At the beginning of the twentieth century, [[Vincent d'Indy]], a pupil of Franck, promoted the use of the term "cyclic" to describe the technique.{{r|StruckenPaland2009}}

The term is more debatable in cases where the resemblance is less clear, such as in the works of Beethoven, who used very basic fragments. Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 is an example of cyclic form in which a theme is used throughout the symphony, but with different orchestration. The "short-short-short-long" four-note motive is embedded in each movement.{{Citation needed|date=October 2017|reason=Claim of cyclic form needs verifying, not merely that the short-short-short-long motive is found throughout.}}