How to Listen to Classical Music: Sonata Form

Full Explanation of the Most Important Structure in Classical Music - Sonata Form.
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This video gives a thorough look into how Sonata Form works, using Mozart's Symphony no. 40 in G minor as an example, as well as Beethoven's Symphony no. 3 in Eb major - the Eroica. It gives a full account of the typical Sonata Form structure, including its Introduction, Exposition, Development, Recapitulation, and Coda.
While many people use classical music for studying, relaxing and relaxation, or sleeping, far fewer people actually enjoy listening actively. Due to the difficult state of music education, most people don't know how to follow a symphony, or how the best composers wrote and structured their works. While it has been proven that classical music can be beneficial to the mental development of babies and kids, I believe it has life enhancing qualities for all ages, and as an art form deserves to be shared, whether through outreach, or tutorials and lessons like these.
Classical music, at its best, can be richly emotional, and I believe that its emotion can be unlocked by anyone willing to follow these guides through. The principles that I will go through apply to all music, whether live in concert or on CD or Spotify, and whether you're listening to Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Handel, Brahms, Chopin, Wagner, Verdi, or Puccini, and whether listening to Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Orchestral, Choral, or Chamber music.
Many programs suggest that learning an instrument such as the piano, violin, guitar, cello, oboe, clarinet, or singing in a choir, is crucial for music appreciation. Well I think these skills, as well as learning to read sheet music and training your ear, can be extremely useful, I believe that almost anyone can learn to enjoy classical music with minimal training and music theory. Therefore, this short series will be very light on music theory, and will only use it when necessary to highlight certain forms such as sonata, rondo, and other typical forms.
While I originally got into classical music via movie scores and film composers such as Howard Shore, John Williams, and Hans Zimmer, I discovered this way of listening which has completely changed the way I approach and enjoy classical music. I hope through these videos I can share that with you.
Please Subscribe if you want to see more like this, as well as video essays and analysis on movie music and classical music!

[@BradleydeLucia]

I'm a composer who knows most of these things already, yet I still watch and support all of your videos because such concise and qualitative musical content is so rare on youtube. Keep up the good work, I see this channel gaining a lot of followers in the near future!

[@InsidetheScore]

Thank you - I'm so glad you're enjoying them! Stay tuned for more, I hope I have time to keep making them as I have a lot I want to share...!

[@vigokovacic3488]

xWeegee7777x Great to see a fellow MuseScorerer on here! :D

[@extanegautham8950]

i agree, with this quibble: resolved itself into tragedy, not positivity" . I would take great issue with your use of the hackneyed Americanism "positivity" here. i have no idea what you mean by it, and is suspect neither do you. by positivity, do you mean some kind of shallow new age american Tony Robbins confection, do you mean the "just do it" positivity of corporte america's mendacity, or do you mean the opposite of tragedy, which is comedy? i would argue, you mean none of those. tragedy is not "negative" anyway, in the arts, b/c the it provides catharsis (dont trust me trust aristotle) for the listener, or viewer, which is very positive. on the other hand, when my mother had just died, telling me an joke, might have been quite negative....so whatever G major implies is not positive anymore than G minor is negative. . a more accurate opposition would be dark versus bright.

[@extanegautham8950]

resolved itself into tragedy, not positivity" . I would take great issue with your use of the hackneyed Americanism "positivity" here. i have no idea what you mean by it, and is suspect neither do you. by positivity, do you mean some kind of shallow new age american Tony Robbins confection, do you mean the "just do it" positivity of corporte america's mendacity, or do you mean the opposite of tragedy, which is comedy? i would argue, you mean none of those. tragedy is not "negative" anyway, in the arts, b/c the it provides catharsis (dont trust me trust aristotle) for the listener, or viewer, which is very positive. on the other hand, when my mother had just died, telling me an joke, might have been quite negative....so whatever G major implies is not positive anymore than G minor is negative. . a more accurate opposition would be dark versus bright.

[@avijoshi853]

hey man, i just got a question. i'm sorta new to all of this. the thing that keeps bothering me is that whenever a composer decides to change a key, for instance, fur elise, it starts in A minor and goes to C major in the first theme right but how can we say it was a key shift? i mean technically it's just it's relative major that means that we just changed the chord and not the key? im kinda confused :)

[@michaelwu7678]

Props for incorporating Hegel’s dialectic. You are a musician and a scholar.

[@HelderGriff]

Perhaps he made a rational-empirical synthesis?

[@johnleung7250]

I’m a literature major and I can say that this is in a general sense how novels are written. Thank you for the video!

[@eldridge1555]

please explain further im writing both and i think i see what youre saying but please elaborate itd b greatly appreciated.

[@johnleung7250]

alex d'Aquino A typical novel/movie follows this 3-phased structure: The beginning, in which we see 2 main characters(eg good guy & bad guy; boy & girl) and their conflict (eg wanna kill each other; like each other but encounter obstacles). The development, in which the conflict worsens (eg it’s expected that the one who loses will die together with all his friends; they start to doubt their relationship). The climax, in which the conflict is resolved (eg one side wins, or they become friends; the couple overcomes the obstacle, or realises they never can), usually in an unexpected way. While classical music (according to this video) often has 2 themes which combine at the end, novels/movies are similar. For example, in Titanic, Rose experiences a double-conflict of deprivations of true love and freedom. In the end, she chooses Jack over the rich guy, thereby resolving both conflicts. Of course, a masterpiece usually contains multiple themes, mainly related to personality, personal interests, the greater good, physical action and ideologies (eg in The Godfather, Michael becomes cold and cruel, saves the family business, kills all his enemies and betrays his American dream of becoming a respectable law-abiding citizen unlike his immigrant father). Feel free to ask more questions (tho I may not be capable to give very good answers) ;)

[@allegrovivace6806]

@@johnleung7250 whoa I'm a writer _and_ composer, or at least I'm a wannabe for both. I can clearly see how it relates, and I find it very interesting.

[@sunumaudio]

This is a great little tid bit. Thanks for explaining!

[@coscinaippogrifo]

@@eldridge1555 I think philosophical and scientific proofs too: you've got a thesis, an antithesis (or alternative thesis), an argumentation of some sort or scientific test, and a conclusion where you refute or validate the initial thesis. I think it's a universal basis for any logical structure

[@nightdumbz]

1:31 3 parts 2:27 parts in a bar 2:54 coda and intro 3:59 exposition 5:10 codetta 6:05 development 8:07 recapitulation 9:29 3 pts of recap 10:17 coda 10:33 bar timeline

[@stardust-reverie]

for so long classical music has been a mystery to me, and i’ve never known what makes it tick or what exactly goes through the composers’ heads while they write it. this channel is helping a lot with understanding the inner workings of classical music that i didn’t see before. thank you!

[@thatcherdonovan8138]

For anyone who wants to go more in-depth with classical-era sonata form, I recommend to read and work through Caplin’s ‘Analyzing Classical Form’. Its probably the most comprehensive text on high-classical sonata formal analysis out there.

[@ToastedCigar]

I have to search that book, thanks for the tip! I actually bumped into another one of Caplin's books at my University's library, called "Classical Form : A Theory of Formal Functions for the Instrumental Music of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven", I wonder if it tackles with the same concepts

[@GrecoEric]

@@ToastedCigar he has one book called Classical Form (Theory of Formal Functions for the instrumental music of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven) and another called Analyzing Classical Form (An Approach for the Classroom)

[@2123bella32122]

I'm a musician studying for my upcoming exam on harmony&form, mostly focusing on sonata form. This was a great review for me, very clear and concise. Thanks for your video!

[@jimmymelo5282]

Very instructive indeed, however, and may I point out something that has confused me a lot when I was studying Music aesthetics, I think it is important to make it clear that sonata form is the structure of one movement of a piece. It is most of the times the first movement of a piece, which can be a symphony, a concerto or even, surprise surprise, a sonata. Beethoven's famous Moonlight Sonata, has its first movement in a sonata form, and other two movements that are not sonata-form. You probably know this already, but I thought it'd be cool to reinforce that to the viewers who didn't. tl;dr: sonata form and sonata are two different things.

[@christinemusselman5499]

Good point.

[@DantewarheitAO]

This should be higher up. I was confused throughout the video as I expected a breakdown of how a Sonata's movements work with each other ! Thank you for clarifying.

[@annajaysmusicandstuff6153]

Thank you, I was wondering whether or not this was the case!

[@qingkunli9235]

Minor note: the Moonlight Sonata's third movement is also in sonata form, and indeed is the more important of the two, giving an effect like the entire sonata's structure was reversed (the second is just a scherzo and trio). Beethoven also put the main movement as the finale in the preceeding Sonata quasi una fantasia, Op. 27, no. 1.

[@Varooooooom]

Thank you so much for this clarification, because I was also very confused lol

[@zkreso]

Thanks so much for this video. I've always been intrigued by classical music (well, exploring new genres of music in general really), but never been able to get into it. Having this framework has transformed what previously seemed to be a mess of randomly placed, jarring, unpleasant key changes and a mysteriously annoying use of repetition, into something that actually makes sense. Now I finally know what to listen for. A lot of the advice I've read on the net has been to "just listen", but I probably would have never figured this out on my own by just listening. Or at the very least, I would have ran out of patience before then.

[@InsidetheScore]

Thank you! Exactly! I know what you man, it can be overwhelming until you figure out that so much of it fits into regular structures. Then what becomes exciting is listening to how the composer breaks the traditional mould. You'll start hearing Beethoven's genius being like "Oh wait, isn't that supposed to go there? But him doing *that* makes it even MORE dramatic, what a genius". The rabbithole goes deep

[@melaD333]

I completely agree. A violinist friend and I went to a symphony and I was asking all sorts of questions like what is fugue, Sonata, etc.. and I realized there is structure and form to classical pieces (like poetry) and it really did help me appreciate the music more. (Even if I still didn’t enjoy some of it.) I do have to wonder if the audiences listening at the time understood what a sonata form was or was that knowledge just for composers and musicians - seems quite complicated for the average person.

[@melaD333]

@Michael Lochlann very true!

[@valentinperroux8392]

Wow. Your channel deserves to be better known ! This should be taught at school ;)

[@InsidetheScore]

Thanks - glad you've enjoyed it

[@pkchong79]

If only schools still supported arts

[@cringekid8435]

Patrick Chong how do they not?

[@KreatorX1029]

I had listened to this series of videos a while back to get to know classical music better, but only understood them in spirit. Now, after listening to multiple pieces, revisiting this series makes it an even better experience. Thanks for the enlightening series!

[@SignalsMusicStudio]

Excellent video, good pacing, great analogies, extremely informative for me. Thank you!

[@Jexhurun]

Good to see you out!

[@leoedwards6289]

In Mozart's 40th symphony, listen carefully to the end of the development section of the first movement In a rare and wonderful moment: the violins are impatient and begin their recapitulation before the winds had completed their development, creating a "splice" between sections. Beethoven does something similar in the last movement of his first symphony.

[@gregfarnham5651]

Focused, interesting and understandable with helpful musical examples from one of the masters! Thank you for sharing your creativity.

[@blumarino]

This is the best channel about classical music. I’m learning so much! Thank you for your work, it’s invaluable

[@cjellis1019]

Music appreciation teacher here: I love your videos! I use them all the time in my class. They are top notch!

[@JMHV]

probably the best video out there on this supject! great stuff

[@hartinivanrijssel8986]

This was the best video and explanation about sonata form i’ve ever heard and seen in my whole musical life! Thank u very much.

[@Arthur-yf9yv]

10:00 I'm laughing way too hard at this part XD

[@xbreannakillamx4809]

Me too, way too hard might I add.

[@thepowerofcello]

I've been soooooo hesitant to write the first movement (I kind of started with the third movement =E) of my first symphony, and I'm so confused about sonata form/mvmt 1 form. A lot of videos on KZbin are kind of useless and don't get anywhere, but this one did. Inside the Score explains is so well! Recommend for any young composers. 👏👏👏

[@nadyas.6776]

Thank you for your videos. I've only been enjoying classical music for a few years with very minimal knowledge of music in general. I've always wanted to understand and appreciate classical music on a more profound level, and this really helps me. Hopefully, by watching more of your videos, I'd be able to make more sense of the music I'm listening to and put my thoughts and feelings about it into words.

[@catudalnguyen7964]

Came across your channel 2 years ago but now coming back again, I'm still very intrigued. Great work! Thank you so much :)

[@alanshadastrokeanddiedinho2897]

I have been listing to classical music since I was a child. Some fifty years ago. Never took a music theory class. Your videos have given me a new appreciate of classical music. Thanks

[@europeanbourgeois8223]

Most of this stuff comes naturally to those that listen in the purist circumstances, it's just we don't have the language to attribute to it.

[@fatguy6153]

European Bourgeois I was wondering if I was the only one who noticed simply by listening.

[@tingtingwupiano]

This is even better and clearer than the music history classes I've had. Thank you!!

[@intellips]

Thank you for these videos . I blindly love classical music, so it’s great to receive guidance, or find a formal an explanation to what I was aware of emotionally and intuitively.

[@FeonaLeeJones]

I really enjoyed the straightforwardness of your video. I like how you talked about integrating of the two ideas into the Recap with your example. Well Done!

[@xujia1001]

I enjoy this video greatly! It's clear and well-structured. I have learned a lot. Looking forward to seeing more of such well-considered videos. Of course, I am subscribing for sure!

[@kaustubhgupta46]

So beautifully explained, I always wanted to learn what a sonata exactly is, and now I know!

[@acdgamer7292]

Very detailed, and great examples! Huge help for me starting out with composition!

[@CarinaPrimaBallerina]

That was a captivating and very well composed lecture! Thank you!

[@carriecarrie6335]

thanks for such an incisive introduction to sonata form, this helps me a lot

[@howardchasnoff208]

Excellent discussion. It discusses basic structure along with the creative molding of the structure. One exception. There are really only two parts to the sonata form 1) exposition 2) development-recapitulation. Second repeat always brings back to the beginning of the development. Many performers ignore the second repeat however.

[@jelanisurpriscomposer]

I love this guy! you bring great content for composers dude fr

[@georgezheng1279]

I have kept watching this particular video from time to time in the past five years or so.... and what attracted me most is the way how you presented Beethoven's uniqueness and his talents vividly to me each time when I watched them. I now understand Beethoven better and appreciate his music more imaginatively... I'm a classical music lover. So, thank you very much!!! And I wish to see more of your presentations on such subjects.... Great job!!!!

[@alternatedayfaster4219]

Learning so much from your channel. Thanks for your time and energy. Means so much to me.

[@DavidS_Tan]

Thank you very much.. Keep up the good works!

[@leporello7]

This is a brilliantly done explanation of sonata form! I hope you gain more followers.

[@Sitbon08]

Thank you for making classical music accessible.

[@angeljlago]

I have my exam on this tomorrow. Thanks so much for the video!

[@nathanjang0120]

Thank you for this... after watching two minutes of the video, I learned so much.

[@raf5.132]

What an amazing video. Interesting and well rounded. Thank you!

[@cosmotraumatika7474]

So the Sonata Form is a Hegelian Dialectic? Exposition --> Development --> Recapitulation (or in Hegelian conception, Thesis --> Antithesis --> Synthesis)? Damn you, Inside the Score. You got it.

[@jazzaero]

This clarified so much for me. Thank you!

[@denizatalay]

One of the best tutorion on sonata form!

[@Nomo_Popo]

I'm very interested in learning about the overall structures progressions can be based on as well as common modulations so this is one of the great answers I was looking for. Thanks!

[@leguel28]

Thumbs up! Very good video. I'm learning to compose, and this video helps be better understand the sonata form.

[@chrisb766]

Brilliant video! "Apparently with a machine gun" 10:09 my favorite line of the whole video.

[@Elven.]

and the he shoots himself again, apparently with a machine gun.

[@christinemusselman5499]

That is part of Beethoven's genius. Make the sound so unconventional and difficult to resolve while at the same time making it sound flawless and engaging.

[@violionalan335]

Well done, extremely helpful for it's explained in a intelligent way, many thanks

[@justinluddington8923]

You have made exactly the videos I have always been searching for! Thank you! New sub for sure, keep it up

[@InsidetheScore]

Thanks! Glad to hear it - means a lot! I'm trying to make the videos I wish had existed 8 years ago when I was getting into it all

[@justinluddington8923]

Well I’d say you’ve hit the nail on the head with this channel-I can’t wait for more videos!

[@InsidetheScore]

Thank you - comments like this make me want to continue making them

[@mrjdawson]

Brilliant video - you've got to the heart of the matter.

[@mahdijangjo9655]

Thank you very much for producing a very instructive video. 🙏

[@jlouisseverson]

Thanks man! Great video!

[@geddywong8059]

Dude, brilliant lesson!

[@eliasshaw3753]

Understanding structure of classical musics is fairly important when you listen one and this video is brilliant~~

[@Paljk299]

Excellent very helpful. I think I will have to study more to understand this fully. Videos are a great format for this though.

[@danipar7388]

This is brilliant!

[@magandaako1318]

thank you for this !!

[@armcydonia]

amazing, thank you very much for clear explanation

[@johannesbrahms7414]

EXCELLENT! TRULY EDIFYING! This video makes us, enjoy, learning and makes us enjoy the Music, so much more!!!! Make for us many more videos like this one! Don't be afraid to tackle more complex topics! People are "hungry" to learn, more and more, about Music, all types! However, Classical Music has an, endless, supply of complex inner workings, which will keep on BEGUILING US FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@lyndafoster9437]

What a fabulous lesson. Thank you

[@ma.donnasab1085]

thank u for the help been struggling w, my online music class, lately huhu. thank u so so much!

[@PbPomper]

This is amazing! Why did I just find out about this now? And why do you only have 34k subs?! Excellent content!

[@Yonikaii]

Awesome explanation, extremly interesting!

[@DistanceLiz]

Thank you for this entertaining and helpful video! I’m teaching myself a Beethoven sonata and never took music theory. Though I was making good progress with the themes and breaking down chunks, I kept getting lost with which key change happened next each time I finished a section. Now I feel like I’m finally speaking Beethoven’s language and I have a roadmap to make sense of the piece!

[@InsidetheScore]

So good to hear! Hopefully you'll be able to apply this to a lot of music you cover too! Also, try some of my other theory videos - particularly "How to listen to a sonata" i think it's called - that covers a lot of common structures too. Thanks!

[@sparklingstone15]

Thanks for this! I took music history and advanced theory in high school, but it's been years. It's great to have a quick refresher! Came because of the Harry Potter musical analysis, stayed for the LOTR analysis, and now slowly making my way through all of your videos. Thank you!

[@InsidetheScore]

Haha wow, thanks so much! I'm doing a Masters at Yale now so I'm suddenly mad busy, want to make loads more but finding the time is the problem at the moment. Hopefully there'll be more coming soon-ish :)

[@MatthiasMeyerEsche]

An excellently made video, very useful for my music lessons!

[@TwiztedMovements]

Thank you so much for your content. Legend

[@HumbleNewMusic]

Thank you Score! This is sooo fun to watch & listen to..... I'm such a dork... 👊 👓 🙂

[@hcmassey2]

Great explanation!

[@bodhimusic2536]

amazing vid, very helpful

[@johannpetersen3637]

Thank you so much for the video

[@ellimed]

Genius video!

[@LordesQ]

Great work, thanks!

[@galitbaram3129]

An excellent video. Thank you.

[@kaixuanlin1546]

absolutely great content

[@chiju]

I've watched one video, and now I'm subbed.

[@mrcuttime22]

This is quite good work and I will share it quite often. Two quick points: the opening of Mozart 40 seems very romantic despite being a classical era work. The chromaticism seems to make it someone battling with deep self doubts. Lawrence Kramer, in his book "Why Classical Music Still Matters" points out how classical music, often setting up the return of a "long-lost" theme (Recap), "tells the story of its own becoming." In other words, the exposition and development often turn out to be a big "flashback" (in movie terms) and the recap is the REAL start, now that we know everything hanging in the balance.

[@uttum87]

An excellent video. Thanks

[@inglesaocom913]

Great content!

[@J_Dubois]

this is amazing

[@dualspacejunk]

I am greatly enjoying your videos

[@chenny16]

Hey great video! Awesome channel as well, super informative and looking forward to more videos. Interesting that you said Sonata form developed from Binary form, as the Exposition-Development-Recapitulation structure screamed Ternary form to me. Keep up the amazing work!

[@InsidetheScore]

Thanks - glad you enjoyed it. Yes well it's the idea from binary form that, harmonically, the first part would start in the tonic and then end in the dominant; the second part would then hoover through many keys before ending in the tonic again. So Sonata Form really expands that 'tonal' concept, rather than simply the fact that there are three sections to it!

[@tomwynn587]

There’s no one on the web doing the wonderful kind of work that you do

[@yanliliu9589]

The connection with Hegel's dialectic is so interesting!

[@Otonium]

More please and thank you!

[@jasonsteves734]

loved this video

[@AugustoMazzoli]

Wonderful video! Thank you so much!

[@InsidetheScore]

Glad you enjoyed, thanks for watching! Stay tuned for more

[@christophespoto]

Very cool! Thanks

[@slimandahra4294]

that was very useful..thank u

[@masp441]

Unique serial. Keep up. 👍

[@nnzrmn]

Best videos ever!

[@rejedy]

Wow this helps me A lot. This can help me to make Music!

[@cowboygareth]

very good writing and presentation. i follow all the points you make with great interest in getting to know more about them, however this is where i offer my constructive critisim: there arnt enough examples musics in the videos. Since i guess your intent is to educate those who are willing to know the basic musical concepts, it's really good to back those concepts(and you presented so many interesting ones)with brief examples. You've already done so for some, im feeling there could be a great deal more and it'd make your videos much easier to appreciate, for the uninitiated ones like me. Right now it feels more towards reading an essay, albeit a well written one. you have already done a great job at explaining the concepts, seems a bit shame the full potential is not reached by exploiting the video format more. Anyway keep'em coming! :)

[@MakeMajor]

Beautiful

[@2134yanto]

Thanks for this extremely informative video. As someone who is completely new to classical music and indeed trying to understand how it is constructed, can I ask this very basic question please? Do these rules of Sonata Form apply to every individual movement within a symphony written in this form please? Thanks 🙏

[@Gusrikh1]

Very, very informative and interesting

[@InsidetheScore]

Thank you!

[@modernmozart813]

Excellent

[@60sTango]

Thanks 👏

[@TheElite2001]

Thanks.😊😊