Forma

What it means

Forma is the Italian word for form. In music, form designates the articulation of a piece in time: which parts it has, how they relate to one another, where repetition, contrast, and change stand. The Italian expression appears in editions and textbooks from this language area, for instance in compounds for particular types of form.

Musical use

Musical form rests on a few basic procedures. Repetition creates coherence and recognizability, contrast creates variety and tension, change combines the two by letting what is familiar return in a new shape. From the combination of these procedures arise the familiar types of form: the period made of antecedent and consequent, the binary and the ternary song form, the arch form, the rondo with recurring refrain, the variation on a theme, the fugue with its subject entries and interludes, the sonata movement with exposition, development, and recapitulation.

At all levels harmony takes part: cadences articulate, modulations separate sections, the return to the home key concludes. Form is therefore not only a question of themes but equally of keys.

Note that the form types are descriptions derived from the music, not prescriptions according to which it came into being. Many works depart from the schemes, and it is precisely the departure that is often the revealing thing.

The Italian designation appears above all in compounds, for instance forma sonata for sonata form or in forma di for the indication that a piece is written in the manner of a particular genre. In German-language editions it is rare; in Italian textbooks and programme booklets it belongs to the standard vocabulary. In content it designates the same as form: the articulation of a work into sections, their return, their contrast, and their proportions. The study of form distinguishes here between fixed forms such as the rondo and freely shaped layouts.

Performance practice

Before practising, get an overview of the construction of a piece: where does something return, where does the key change, where is the climax? Mark the sections in the score. Knowing the form eases memorizing considerably and gives the shaping direction.