"Codas are often viewed as unnecessary to the movements that they conclude. From a tonal perspective, codas are superfluous since the movements they follow have closed harmonically just before their onset. Ludwig van Beethoven's Middle Period codas call for a reexamination of the concept of coda. Codas composed before Beethoven's Middle Period are often elided with the final Perfect Authentic Cadence; thus, they prolong the final tonic without significantly adding to the drama of the piece. A broadened understanding of the Middle Period codas exhibits the variety of completion functions these codas can serve. In line with Joseph Kerman's thoughts regarding Beethoven's codas, I pinpoint the types of closure codas provide to movements that would otherwise end somehow unresolved. For example, a coda can provide a location for the final structural cadence to occur when the movement had previously avoided closure. I ask the following questions: How does the coda tie up what has happened before it? What kind of resolution does each particular coda provide? What would be the consequence of omitting each coda?"--From abstract.
Read
