Satz

What it means

Satz has several meanings in music. Most often it means the independent part of a multi-part work — the first movement of a symphony, the slow movement of a sonata. A movement in this sense has its own key, its own tempo, its own character, and its own ending. Alongside this, Satz designates the manner in which voices are set: four-part writing, polyphonic writing, piano writing. In this second meaning it concerns the craftsmanship, not the organization.

Musical use

The sequence of several movements into a cycle is one of the most important orderings of instrumental music. The classical four-movement layout combines a weighty opening movement, a slow movement, a dance movement, and a finale; three-movement cycles omit the dance movement. Baroque suites string together dance movements, concertos usually follow a three-movement layout. Coherence arises through key relations, through the contrast of characters, and occasionally through recurring motifs. In the second meaning — the craftsmanship — part-writing theory is a subject of its own, comprising voice leading, harmony, and counterpoint.

Other names

Bewegung (movement) as a designation for a movement of a work is a loan translation from English (movement) and French (mouvement). In German, Satz is usual; Bewegung here means rather the tempo or the type of motion.

Performance practice

Plan a cycle as a whole: tempo relations and pauses between the movements belong to the effect. Clarify whether movements are to pass into one another without interruption; corresponding instructions stand in the notated text. Shape the characters distinctly differently, without losing the coherence. When practising, it is worthwhile to begin with the slow movement or the finale, so that only the opening movement is not always worked on. Watch the key relations, they explain many decisions.

Bear in mind that the double meaning of the word leads to misunderstandings in conversation: whoever speaks of Satz can mean the part of the work or the craftsmanship. When in doubt, say what is meant.

Check, with foreign-language editions, whether movement means a part of the work, before adopting programme information.