Tracing the origins of the expansion in the expanded Type 1 sonata form: Expositional tendencies and formal implications
Doctoral project by Regas Regakis.
The present study focuses on the expanded Type 1 sonata. Whereas the normative Type 1 sonata lacks a development section and maintains broad parallelism between exposition and recapitulation, the expanded variant introduces a significant expansion within the second rotation, raising the question of how such expansion is conditioned within the formal design.
Although such movements have been addressed, the relationship between the recapitulatory expansion and the preceding formal trajectory has not been systematically addressed. This study proposes that tensions and incompletions in the exposition, here termed seeds of the expansion, prepare the recapitulatory expansion.
Drawing on the form-function theory, Sonata Theory, and voice-leading analysis, the study conducts close readings of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century works. Adopting a processual perspective, it examines expositional and recapitulatory rotations in order to identify seeds and trace their connections to the expansion.
The study argues that exposition and expansion are formally and structurally related through the seeds. The tensions and incompletions remain unreleased within the exposition, yet they are reactivated by the expansion, which culminates in their release. In this sense, the expansion can be understood as conditioned by the seeds, though not in strict deterministic terms.
The study proposes the concept of seeds as a model for expositional preparation and enables new interpretations of expanded Type 1 sonata movements. The expansion is understood as a functionally integrated passage that works through expositional tensions rather than as a localized developmental passage.
Regas Regakis is a doctoral student in the Research Study Programme
Keywords: sonata form, expanded type 1 sonata form, New Formenlehre
Future doctors in music
We have approximately 150 doctoral students enrolled at the Sibelius Academy. This blog offers a view to their research projects.
The doctoral students are a part of a research community which is a unique combination of artistic activities, education, and research.
Their projects cover a wide spectrum of topics in the realm of music, combining musical practices and different research approaches.
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