Coda (Italian for "tail"; from the Latin cauda, see below), in music, is a passage which brings a movement or a separate piece to a conclusion through prolongation. This developed from the simple chords of a cadence into an elaborate and independent form. In a series of variations on a theme or in a composition with a fixed order of subjects, the coda is a passage sufficiently contrasted with the conclusions of the separate variations or subjects, added to form a complete conclusion to the whole. Beethoven raised the coda to a feature of the highest importance. What is known in rock and popular music as an outro and in jazz and worship music as a tag can be considered a coda. See also fade out. Musical symbol for coda File links The following pages link to this file: Coda (music) Categories: Public domain images ineligible for copyright | Music images ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language. ... Music is an art, entertainment, or other human activity that involves organized and audible sounds and silence. ... In music, a movement is a large division of a larger composition or musical form. ... In music, especially Schenkerian analysis, a prolongation creates the detail of a musical composition by elaborating the background structure. ... Fingering for a C-major trichord on a guitar in standard tuning (assuming all six strings are played). ... In Western musical theory a cadence (Latin cadentia, a falling) is a particular series of intervals or chords that ends a phrase, section, or piece of music. ... 1820 portrait by Karl Stieler Ludwig van Beethoven (pronounced ) (baptized December 17, 1770[1] – March 26, 1827) was a German composer and pianist. ... In audio engineering, a fade is a gradual increase or decrease in the volume of a source, such as when a song is gradually reduced to silence at its end (fade-out), or gradually increases from silence at the beginning (fade-in). ...

In music notation, the coda symbol is used as a navigation marker, similarly to the dal Segno sign. It looks like a targeting reticle. It is encountered mainly in transcriptions of popular music, and is used where the exit from a repeated section is within that section rather than at the end. The instruction "To Coda" indicated that the performer is to jump to the separate section headed with the symbol. Music notation is a system of writing for music. ... D.S. symbol In music notation, Dal Segno (often abbreviated D.S.) is used as a navigation marker. ...

Charles Burkhart (2005, p.12) suggests that the reason codas are common, even necessary, is that in the climax of the main body of a piece a "particularly effortful passage", often an expanded phrase, is often created by the "working [of] an idea through to its structural conclusions" and that after all this momentum is created a coda is required to "look back" on the main body, allow listeners to "take it all in", and "create a sense of balance." In music a phrase is a section of music that is relatively self contained and coherent over a medium time scale. ...

Cauda

Cauda, the Latin root of coda, is used in the study of conductus of the 12th and 13th century. The cauda refers to a long melisma on one of the last syllables of the text, repeated in each strophe. Conducti were traditionally divided into two groups, conductus cum caudae and conductus sin caudae (Latin: conductus with caude, conductus without caude), based on the presence of the melisma. The cauda thus provided a conclusionary role, similar to the modern coda. In medieval music, conductus is a type of liturgical vocal composition for one or more voices. ... In music, melisma is the technique of changing the note (pitch) of a syllable of text while it is being sung. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language. ...

Codetta

Codetta (Italian for "little tail," the diminutive form) has a similar purpose to the coda, but on a smaller scale, concluding a section of a work instead of the work as a whole. Typically, a codetta concludes the exposition and recapitulation sections of a work in sonata form, following the second (modulated) theme, or the closing theme (if there is one). Thus, in the exposition, it usually appears in the secondary key, but in the recapitulation, in the primary key. The codetta ordinary closes with a perfect cadence in the appropriate key, confirming the tonality. If the exposition is repeated, the codetta is also, but sometimes it has its ending slightly changed, depending on whether it leads back to the exposition or into the development sections. This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... An exposition may be one of the following: In music an exposition is the first of the sections in sonata allegro form. ... Sonata form is a musical form that has been widely used since the early classical period. ... In music, modulation is most commonly the act or process of changing from one key (tonic, or tonal center) to another. ... In Western musical theory a cadence (Latin cadentia, a falling) is a particular series of intervals (a caesura) or chords that ends a phrase, section, or piece of music. ... Musical development is the transformation and restatement of initial material, often contrasted with musical variation, with which it may be difficult to distinguish as a general process. ...

Examples

The following are examples of a coda embellishing the end of the song.

• "Free as a Bird" by the Beatles from the "Album Anthology 1"

• "Glycerine" by Bush from the Album "Sixteen Stone"

Free As A Bird is a song, single and video released by The Beatles in December 1995 as part of their reunion and promotion around the release of the video documentary Anthology and their Anthology 1 compilation album. ... The Beatles (1960-1970) were an English music group from Liverpool who continue to be held in the highest esteem for their artistic achievements, their huge commercial success, their groundbreaking role in the history of popular music, and their contributions to popular culture. ... The Beatles Anthology 1 was released in late 1995, and includes tracks from their days as the Quarry Men, through the Decca auditions and the album Beatles for Sale. ... Bush were an English alternative rock band formed in 1992. ... Sixteen Stone is a post-grunge album released by Bush in 1994 (see 1994 in music). ...

See also

• Epilogue

An epilogue, or rarely epilog, is a piece of writing at the end of a work of drama, usually used to bring closure to the work. ...

Sources

• Burkhart, Charles. "The Phrase Rhythm of Chopin's A-flat Major Mazurka, Op. 59, No. 2" in Stein, Deborah (2005). Engaging Music: Essays in Music Analysis. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-517010-5.

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. Encyclopædia Britannica, the 11th edition The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is perhaps the most famous edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...