The Classical rondo is a form for a movement within a larger musical work, and the term rondo usually refers to it. It is distinguished by a main section that is repeated alternately with one or more other contrasting sections to begin and end the movement. ABABA, ABACA, or ABACABA are common acronyms.
The rondo has its origins in the French rondeau of Jean Baptiste Lully, François Couperin, and Jean Philippe Rameau in the 17th century. Lully popularized the rondeau in the opera and ballet genres, while Couperin specialized in it for the harpsichord. Rameau, who specialized in harpsichord works, standardized the form and created a ternary version that is represented as ABA CDC ABA.
The rondo became popular in the Classical period as the second movement or finale of a larger piece, such as a sonata or serenade. It was the standard choice of form for the finale in concertos. During this time, a variation that combined it with aspects of the sonata form and became known as the sonata-rondo appeared.
Franz Josef Haydn used rondos in his piano trios, string quartets, and symphonies after he first used the form in the 1770s. The “Gypsy Rondo” from Haydn’s Piano Trio in G is an example. One was used as the final movement in Mozart’s serenade “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik,” as well as in several concertos. His Piano Sonata 11 concludes with his “Rondo Alla Turca,” and Figaro’s rondo “Non più andrai” closes Act I of the opera Le Nozze di Figaro, or The Marriage of Figaro in English. Beethoven uses the sonata-rondo form in a variety of works, including his First Symphony, Piano Sonata in C minor, Op. 13, “Pathetique,” and “Rondo à Capriccio,” Op. 129 in G Major, “Rage Over a Lost Penny.”
The rondo was also adopted as a distinct form. Frederic Chopin’s Op. 1, Franz Liszt’s Rondeau fantastique, and Felix Mendelssohn’s Rondo capriccioso for piano, op. 14, are just a few examples.
The rondo became less popular as time went on. Nonetheless, examples from the late 19th and early 20th centuries can be found, such as Gustav Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, Bela Bartók’s “Three Rondos on Folktunes,” Igor Stravinsky’s Concerto in D for Strings, and Richard Strauss’s Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche nach alter Schelmenweise, in Rondeau form — called Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, after the