Sentence (music)

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In music a sentence is "the smallest period in a musical composition that can give in any sense the impression of a complete statement." It "may be defined as a period containing two or more phrases, and most frequently ending with some form of perfect cadence." (Macpherson n.d.: 25)

Some theorists consider a sentence to be a musical form distinct from a period. It consists of a presentation phrase (a repeated motive) followed by a continuation phrase which ends in either a half cadence or an authentic cadence.

[edit] Source

  • Nattiez, Jean-Jacques (1990). Music and Discourse: Toward a Semiology of Music (Musicologie générale et sémiologue, 1987). Translated by Carolyn Abbate (1990). ISBN 0-691-02714-5.
    • Macpherson (n.d.).
  • Caplin, William E. (1998). Classical Form: A theory of Formal Functions. ISBN 0-19-514399.


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