Classical music (Area of study 2)

The transition has a tonal job: it modulates away from the tonic so the second subject can arrive in its contrasting key (the dominant in a major movement, the relative major in a minor one). Saying it just links or joins the two subjects names its position, not its function. Write that it modulates from the tonic to prepare the second subject in its new key.

The second subject is in a contrasting key, but which one depends on the mode: the dominant if the movement is major, the relative major if it is minor. Naming the wrong contrasting key — or forgetting it changes for a minor-key movement — loses the mark. In the recapitulation the second subject returns in the tonic instead.

A common error is to assume the second subject keeps its exposition away-key in the recapitulation. It does not: in the recapitulation both first and second subjects are in the tonic. The transition is rewritten so it no longer modulates, which is what brings the second subject home rather than to the dominant or relative major.

Several instruments playing at once does not make a texture polyphonic. Homophonic texture is one clear melody plus chordal accompaniment (often an Alberti bass); polyphonic means two or more independent melodic lines interweaving. Count the melodic lines, not the players — a melody plus accompaniment stays homophonic.

Do not confuse the Classical Alberti bass with the Baroque basso continuo. An Alberti bass is a broken-chord keyboard accompaniment (low-high-middle-high) written out in full. A basso continuo is a continuous bass line realised by a chordal instrument plus a bass instrument from a figured bass. They belong to different styles and work in different ways.

Do not name a typical Classical feature — Alberti bass, foursquare phrasing, homophonic texture — just because that is what Classical music usually does. Examiners give no credit for a memorised feature not actually audible in the extract. Ground every feature in something specific you can point to (which instrument plays the broken chords, which bars the phrase repeats).

Candidates let the instruments decide the period instead of the style heard. A string-only texture is assumed Baroque or Classical even in a Romantic extract; a fuller Classical ensemble is over-attributed to Romantic. Listen for style markers — diatonic versus chromatic harmony, balanced 4-bar phrasing versus spun-out melody — not just the instruments.