In
musical form and
analysis
Analysis ( : analyses) is the process of breaking a complex topic or substance into smaller parts in order to gain a better understanding of it. The technique has been applied in the study of mathematics and logic since before Aristotle (3 ...
, exposition is the initial presentation of the
thematic material of a
musical composition,
movement, or
section
Section, Sectioning or Sectioned may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea
* Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents
** Section sig ...
. The use of the term generally implies that the material will be
developed or
varied.
*In
sonata form
Sonata form (also ''sonata-allegro form'' or ''first movement form'') is a musical structure generally consisting of three main sections: an exposition, a development, and a recapitulation. It has been used widely since the middle of the 18th c ...
, the exposition is "the first major section, incorporating at least one important modulation to the dominant or other secondary key and presenting the principal thematic material."
*In a
fugue, the exposition is "the statement of the subject in imitation by the several voices; especially the first such statement, with which the fugue begins."
In sonata form
The term is most widely used as an analytical convenience to denote a portion of a movement identified as an example of classical
tonal sonata form
Sonata form (also ''sonata-allegro form'' or ''first movement form'') is a musical structure generally consisting of three main sections: an exposition, a development, and a recapitulation. It has been used widely since the middle of the 18th c ...
. The exposition typically establishes the music's
tonic key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
, and then
modulates to, and ends in, the
dominant. If the exposition starts in a minor key, it typically modulates to the relative major key. There are many exceptions, especially in the late Classical and Romantic era. For example, to the mediant (the first movement of Beethoven's "
Waldstein Sonata
Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 21 in C major, Op. 53, known as the ', is one of the three most notable sonatas of his middle period (the other two being the ''Appassionata'', Op. 57, and ''Les Adieux'', Op. 81a). Completed in summer 1804 and sur ...
"), the flat mediant (Ferdinand Ries' "Pastorale" Concerto No. 5), the dominant when in a minor key (Ries' Concerto No. 3), the minor dominant (Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2, Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2), the submediant (Schubert's "Unfinished Symphony"), the relative minor (Beethoven's "Triple Concerto", Ries' Concerto No. 6), or the parallel major (Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1). Saint-Saens' Piano Concerto No. 3 even modulates to the leading tone in its first movement exposition, with no orchestral accompaniment. On the other hand, other Classical and Romantic composers strictly adhered to the traditional scheme of modulating to the dominant in a major key or the relative major in a minor key, including Haydn, Mozart, Hummel, John Field, and Mendelssohn. The exposition may include identifiable
musical themes (whether
melodic
A melody (from Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combinat ...
,
rhythm
Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular re ...
ic or
chordal in character), and may develop them, but it is usually the key relationships and the sense of "arrival" at the dominant that is used by analysts in identifying the exposition.
The exposition in classical symphonies is typically repeated, although there are many examples where the composer does not specify such a repeat, and it never is repeated in concertos. In the
recapitulation, the material in the exposition is repeated or paraphrased either in the home key (as by Mozart), or the parallel major of the home key if it is minor (as by Beethoven), although as with the exposition, a different modulation may be used (such as to the mediant in Dvorak's "New World Symphony").
If the movement starts with an
introductory section, this introduction is not usually analysed as being part of the movement's exposition.
In many works of the
Classical period and some of the
Romantic era
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
, the exposition is often bracketed by repeat signs, indicating that it is to be played twice. This is something which is not always done in concert from the 20th Century onwards.
In fugue
A
fugue usually has two main sections: the exposition and the body. In the exposition, each voice plays its own adaptation of the theme, in either a subject or an answer; they also provide countersubjects (
counterpoints) to the following voices as they enter. The exposition usually ends on either a I or V chord, and is then followed by the body.
[Alfred Blatter, ''Revisiting Music Theory: a Guide to the Practice'', New York: Routledge, (2007): p.250 https://books.google.com/books?id=Z-xfT0jMc9oC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Revisiting+music+theory:+a+guide+to+the+practice&source=bl&ots=2XdInWKF8J&sig=uz7xRfFCraKvukB3H3pfKY_oFzk&hl=en&ei=L_upTLqDCIOClAfx6fCvDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CB8Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false]
References
{{musical form
Sonatas
Formal sections in music analysis