Editing Arch form

{{Short description|Structure in music}}
{{for|the physical structure|Arch}}
In [[music]], '''arch form''' is a  [[section (music)|section]]al [[musical form|structure]] for a piece of music based on [[repetition (music)|repetition]], in reverse order, of all or most musical sections such that the overall form is [[symmetry|symmetric]], most often around a central [[movement (music)|movement]]. The sections need not be repeated verbatim but must at least share [[Theme (music)|thematic]] 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".<ref name="Wilson_32">Wilson, Paul (1992). ''The Music of Béla Bartók''. {{ISBN|0-300-05111-5}}. p. 32.</ref>

[[Béla Bartók]] is noted for his use of arch form, e.g., in his [[String Quartet No. 4 (Bartók)|fourth]] and [[String Quartet No. 5 (Bartók)|fifth string quartets]], [[Concerto for Orchestra (Bartók)|Concerto for Orchestra]], ''[[Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta]]'', [[Piano Concerto No. 2 (Bartók)|second piano concerto]], and, to a lesser extent, in his [[Violin Concerto No. 2 (Bartók)|second violin concerto]].<ref name="Wilson_32"/> [[Samuel Barber]]'s ''[[Adagio for Strings]]'' and Shostakovich's [[String Quartet No. 8 (Shostakovich)|String Quartet No. 8]] in C minor also use arch form.

The most popular arch-form structure is ABCBA.

==See also==
* [[Chiastic structure]]
* [[ABACABA pattern]]
* [[Sonata rondo form]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Musical form}}

[[Category:Musical form]]
[[Category:Symmetry]]


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