Codetta

What it means

A codetta — “little coda” — is a short appendix that reinforces a section after its actual close or connects it with the following one. Whereas the coda stands at the end of a whole movement, the codetta closes off a part within the movement. The term is used in two contexts that touch in sense but differ in function.

Musical use

In sonata form, the codetta designates the closing part of the exposition that follows the second theme. It confirms the new key through repeated cadences and reinforcing turns and creates a clear close before the repeat of the exposition or before the development. It often takes up motifs of the main theme, so that the circle of the exposition closes. Some theories of form also call this part the closing group.

In the fugue, the codetta designates a short linking passage in the exposition that stands between two subject entries — usually between the end of the answer and the next entry of the subject — to lead the key back or to establish the connection. It is shorter than a true episode and serves only for linking.

In both meanings, the codetta brings no new thematic idea but closes off or bridges what is already known.

It is to be distinguished from the episode, or interlude, of the fugue, which is longer and works out material independently, and from the coda at the end of a movement.

In sonata form the codetta stands at the end of the exposition, where it consolidates the secondary key, and may return in expanded form at the end of the recapitulation. In the fugue, the term designates a short transitional section between subject entries.

Performance practice

Shape a codetta as reinforcement, not as a new beginning — it confirms what has been reached. In sonata form, let the tension of the exposition die away in it without losing the tempo. In the fugue, lead it as a bridge and take care that the following subject entry emerges audibly.