The Organic Principle of Form

On Sonata Form According to Heinrich Schenker

Abstract

The article deals with the question of musical forms in general, and the sonata form in particular, from the perspective opened by Heinrich Schenker, characterized by the author himself as an organic conception of music. Schenker's understanding of form is presented as a consequence of the problem of the unity of the musical work and, therefore, of the problem of causality in music. We also discuss some concepts present in Schenker's work that are relevant to the understanding of problems and questions concerning form, especially the concepts of interruption (Unterbrechung) and improvisation (Stegreif), and Schenker's rejection of the concept of motif as the foundation for the concept of musical form.