Recapitulation

The recapitulation is the closing main section of a sonata-form movement. Its function is to restate (‘recapitulate’) the themes from the exposition, but with all themes now in the home key — providing a sense of structural resolution after the harmonic adventures of the development.

The recapitulation typically follows the exposition’s structure: first theme group (now still in home key), transitional passage (modified to stay in home key), second theme group (now in home key, where it was previously in a related key), closing section. The harmonic ‘resolution’ of bringing the second theme back to home key is essential to sonata form’s sense of completion.

The moment of recapitulation — the return of the opening material in the home key — is typically one of the most dramatically satisfying moments in classical music. Beethoven made the recapitulation particularly dramatic; many of his recapitulations arrive with extra rhetorical weight, as if the music is finally coming home.

Latin recapitulatio, from recapitulare (‘to repeat in summary’), from re- + capitulum (‘chapter, head’).

Play the recapitulation with a sense of arrival. The audience has heard these themes before in the exposition; now they return in the home key, more familiar and more conclusive. Mark the homecoming.