Sonata form transition vs. verse-chorus pre-chorus: Battle Royale

Okay, sorry, battle royale may oversell this post a little. But it’s interesting to think: what are the differences and similarities between a sonata form’s transition and a verse-chorus form’s pre-chorus?

First, a review:

In sonata form, two themes are presented in the exposition in contrasting keys. The transition gets us from one to the other. In the recapitulation, the transition is often rewritten since both themes must now be presented in the tonic.

In a verse-chorus form, the optional pre-chorus presents a build in energy to move from verse to (presumably more exciting) chorus. Like a chorus, a pre-chorus typically uses the same lyrics and music each time it appears, so it’s primarily differentiated from the chorus by its energetic character: build (pre-chorus) vs. arrival (chorus).

Why compare these? Well, both typically build in energy to take us from one place to another, both in terms of energy and in terms of form: either from verse to more exciting chorus or from first theme in tonic to (usually contrasting) second theme in the dominant. Compare, for example, Katy Perry’s Firework (0:38–0:54), Beethoven’s Symphony #5, first movement (0:24–0:30), and Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik (0:29–0:40). Interestingly, all of these energetic builds use rather crude rising lines to achieve their energetic effects.

But here’s perhaps the biggest difference: transitions are typically delineated by an important half cadence at the end (the “medial caesura”), and the second theme often seems to start over, energetically. Meanwhile, pre-choruses typically continue energetically into the start of the chorus. Classic arrivals into choruses include:

• Martin Garrix’s In The Name of Love (arriving at chorus at 0:50)
• Michael Jackson’s Man in the Mirror (chorus at 1:06)
• Ariana Grande’s Side to Side (chorus at 0:49)

In contrast, you can hear the “re-start” at the beginning of the second theme in:

• the Beethoven Symphony at 0:38
• Eine kleine Nachtmusik at 0:46
• Schubert’s Cello Quintet at 1:58
• the C. Schumann Piano Trio at 0:50

In fact, this new beginning is one of the primary aspects of a sonata form exposition that is retained in atonal sonata forms of the early twentieth century, with a second theme restart in, for example, Prokofiev’s Piano Sonata No. 7 at 1:38 and Schoenberg’s Op. 33a at 0:38 (ok, that’s a very loose sonata form).

Now, there are a few verse-chorus forms that do seem to restart, in a way, at the beginning of the chorus. One is The Weeknd’s Can’t Feel My Face, which suddenly has a much stripped-down texture at the chorus at 0:45. But even here, the buildup clearly goes all the way to the start of the chorus, and the addition of the drum track makes the chorus feel like an achieved goal rather than a new beginning.

In summary: both sonata form transitions and verse-chorus pre-choruses feature an energetic build, but the transition achieves its (harmonic) goal before the new beginning of the second theme and then starts over, while the pre-chorus reaches its goal only with the arrival at the climactic chorus.