Op. 14, No. 1, last movement.

Op. 31, No. 1, _Adagio_.

Beethoven, _Rondos_ for pianoforte, op. 51, No. 1; and op. 51, No. 2.

Mozart, pianoforte sonata, No. 4, last movement; No. 3, last movement.

CHAPTER XVI. THE SONATINE FORM.

CLASSIFICATION OF THE LARGER FORMS.--The Sonatine form is the smaller
variety of two practically kindred designs, known collectively as the
Sonata-allegro forms. In order to obtain a clear conception of its
relation to the latter, and also to the Rondo-forms, it is necessary to
subject the entire group of so-called "higher" forms to a brief
comparison.

The larger, broader, or "higher" designs of musical composition are
divided into two classes: the three _Rondo-forms_, and the two
_Sonata-allegro forms_. The latter constitute the superior of the two
classes, for the following reasons:--

In the first place, the rondos rest upon a narrower thematic basis,
centering in one single theme--the Principal one--about which the other
themes revolve. Further, their most salient structural feature is
nothing more significant than simple _alternation_ (of the Principal
theme with its one or more Subordinates) the Principal theme recurs
after each digression with a persistence that lends a certain
one-sidedness to the form,--only excepting in the Third (and highest)
Rondo-form, which, by virtue of its broad Recapitulation of the first
Division, approaches most nearly the rank of the Sonata-allegro design,
as will be seen.

In the Sonata-allegro forms, on the other hand, the leading purpose is
_to unite two co-ordinate themes upon an equal footing_; one is to
appear as often as the other; and the two themes _together_ constitute
the thematic basis of the design. These are, as in the rondos, a
Principal theme (called principal because it appears first, and thus
becomes in a sense the index of the whole movement), and a Subordinate
theme (so called in contradistinction to the other),--contrasting in
character, as usual, but actually of equal importance, and of nearly or
quite equal length. To these, there is commonly added a codetta (or
"concluding theme" as it is {122} sometimes called, though it seldom
attains to the dignity of a _theme_),--sometimes two, or even more,
codettas, which answer the general purpose of a coda, rounding off and
balancing this Division of the design. This union of the two or three
thematic components that are to represent the contents of the design,
is