Cyclic Form

Cyclic form is a technique of musical construction, involving multiple sections or movements, in which a theme, melody, or thematic material occurs in more than one movement as a unifying device. Sometimes a theme may occur at the beginning and end (for example, in the Brahms Symphony No. 3); other times a theme occurs in a different guise in every part (Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique).

The technique has a complex history, having apparently fallen into disuse in the Baroque and Classical eras and become common again only after the start of Romanticism.

The Renaissance cyclic mass, which incorporates a usually well-known portion of plainsong as a cantus firmus in each of its sections, is an early use of this principle of unity in a multiple-section form. Examples can also be found in seventeenth century instrumental music, for instance in the suites of dances by Samuel Scheidt in which a ground bass recurs in each movement. When the movements are short enough and begin to be heard as a single entity rather than many, the boundaries begin to blur between cyclic form and variation form.

In the Baroque and 'high classical' eras, cyclic technique is typically not found. Mozart, for example, does not recall one movement's theme in any later movenent anywhere in his quartets, quintets, symphonies or concertos. Haydn uses the technique on only a few occasions -- such as at the end of the Symphony No.31, where the music recalls the horn call heard at the very opening of the work.

It is with Beethoven that cyclic technique re-enters the musical mainstream. In the Fifth Symphony a large part of the scherzo movement is recalled to end the finale's development section and lead into the recapitulation; and the Ninth Symphony's finale rapidly presents explicit reminiscences of the three preceding movements before discovering the idea that is to be its own principal theme.

Many composers in the nineteenth century followed Beethoven's lead, most famously including the César Franck Symphony in D Minor, the Symphonie Fantastique, and numerous works by Franz Liszt. These works include the B minor Piano Sonata (Liszt) (1853), which also serves as a double-function form. Liszt’s sonata begins with a clear statement of several thematic units and each unit is extensively used and developed throughout the piece. By late in the century, cyclic form had become an extremely common principle of construction, most likely because the increasing length and complexity of multiple-movement works demanded a unifying method stronger than mere key relation.

The term is more debatable in cases where the resemblance is less clear, particularly in the works of Beethoven, who used very basic fragments. Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 is an example of cyclic form in which a theme is used throughout the symphony, but with different orchestration. They all have the "short-short-short-long" four-note motive embedded into each movement.