Continuation phrase

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The info on this page is either entirely based on or mostly based on the content published in caplin-2013 or caplin-1998. Caplin is considered to be responsible for reviving interest in the analysis of form in North American music theory.

While Caplin's impact cannot be understated, it is worth understanding that his 1998 work (and his 2013 followup) are focused on Classical music: particularly the works of Haydn, Beethoven, and Mozart. It is important to not assume other styles of music (both preceding and following the classical era, or music in other parts of the world) follow these same conventions. Music theory is descriptive, not prescriptive, and so the theory you see describing what was common in the Classical era may not apply to anything else.

The continuation phrase of a sentence is meant to "destabilize" harmonic, tonal, and rhythmic elements of the presentation phrase. By doing this, it gives the theme more "mobility" or a sense of "greater activity". This is done via mechanisms that make up the continuation function.1

In a simple sentence, a continuation phrase is made up of 2 bars of melodic material (reused, or new2) followed by a cadential idea.3

The continuation phrase exhibits 2 kinds of functions, executed in this order4:

  1. Continuation function
  2. Cadential function

In almost all continuation phrases, the continuation function is more prominent than the cadential function. However, this is not always the case: see the Expanded Cadential Progression.5