Classical-era Form—Sonata Form, Part 3

Overview

This lecture completes our analysis of sonata form. We see how the first movement of Haydn’s Symphony no. 88 in G Major and the sonata-form part of the overture to Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni are more typical of the Classical Era in their degree of thematic contrast than is Mozart’s Symphony in G Minor, K. 550 (discussed in the preceding two lectures). Haydn’s symphony affords us another insight into the humor and ingenuity of that master, while Mozart’s overture to Don Giovanni brilliantly evokes the two principal characters of the opera in its thematic material.