Weekly Music Theory Challenge: 1/17/22

Show off your theory chops with my weekly challenge! You’ll find a new question here every Monday. Please comment to post your reply.

This week’s challenge:

This is a structural graph of Mozart’s Turkish March. On a zoomed-in level, what forms can you see, and what larger-scale form can you find if you zoom out? There’s not necessarily a single right answer!

Check back on Friday, January 21st to see if you’re right!

ANSWER for 1/17/21

While this movement is known as Rondo alla turca, and you can certainly make out an A-B-A-C format, the overall structure is more complex. The ||: a :||: b a :|| and ||:d :||: e d :|| sections are rounded binary forms on a local level. They’re each punctuated by that interloping C theme, which seems to act as a refrain. But, zoom out, and the three rounded binary forms seem to create an overall ternary structure, with a coda based on the C theme. Once again, I don’t think there’s a single way to describe the form of this rather unusual movement. I just enjoy what appears to be a two-tiered structure:

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