Piano Sonata no. 7 in C Major,
K. 309, I, mm. 152–155 . The presence of a coda as a structural element in a movement is especially clear in works written in particular
musical forms. Codas were commonly used in both
sonata form and
variation movements during the Classical era. In a sonata form movement, the
recapitulation section will, in general, follow the
exposition in its thematic content, while adhering to the home
key. The recapitulation often ends with a passage that sounds like a termination, paralleling the music that ended the exposition; thus, any music coming after this termination will be perceived as extra material, i.e., as a coda. In works in variation form, the coda occurs following the last variation and will be very noticeable as the first music not based on the theme. One of the ways that
Beethoven extended and intensified Classical practice was to expand the coda sections, producing a final section sometimes of equal musical weight to the foregoing exposition, development, and recapitulation sections and completing the
musical argument. For one famous example, see the finale of
Symphony No. 8 (Beethoven).
Musical purpose Charles Burkhart suggests that the reason codas are common, even necessary, is that, in the climax of the main body of a piece, a "particularly effortful passage", often an expanded
phrase, is often created by "working an idea through to its structural conclusions" and that, after all this momentum is created, a coda is required to "look back" on the main body, allow listeners to "take it all in", and "create a sense of balance."
Codetta Codetta (
Italian for "little tail", the
diminutive form) has a similar purpose to the coda, but on a smaller scale, concluding a section of a work instead of the work as a whole. A typical codetta concludes the
exposition and
recapitulation sections of a work in
sonata form, following the second (
modulated) theme, or the closing theme (if there is one). Thus, in the exposition, it usually appears in the secondary key, but, in the recapitulation, in the primary key. The codetta ordinarily closes with a
perfect cadence in the appropriate key, confirming the tonality. If the exposition is repeated, the codetta is likewise repeated. Sometimes it has its ending slightly changed, depending on whether it leads back to the exposition or into the
development sections. ==History==