Coda (music)

In music, a coda (pronounced  [ˈkoːda]; Italian for 'tail'; plural code) is a passage that brings a piece (or a
movement) to an end. It may be as simple as a few measures, or as complex as an entire section.[1]

In classical music
The presence of a coda as a structural element
in a movement is especially clear in works
written in particular musical forms. Codas were
commonly used in both sonata form and
variation movements during the Classical era.
In a sonata form movement, the recapitulation
section will, in general, follow the exposition Coda from Mozart's Piano Sonata no. 7 in C Major, K. 309,
in its thematic content, while adhering to the I, mm. 152–155 Play .[2]
home key. The recapitulation often ends with a
passage that sounds like a termination,
paralleling the music that ended the exposition; thus, any music coming after this termination will be
perceived as extra material, i.e., as a coda. In works in variation form, the coda occurs following the last
variation and will be very noticeable as the first music not based on the theme.

One of the ways that Beethoven extended and intensified Classical practice was to expand the coda
sections, producing a final section sometimes of equal musical weight to the foregoing exposition,
development, and recapitulation sections and completing the musical argument. For one famous example,
see the finale of Symphony No. 8 (Beethoven).[3]

Musical purpose

Charles Burkhart 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
"working 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."[4]

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. A typical 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 ordinarily closes with a perfect cadence in the
appropriate key, confirming the tonality. If the exposition is repeated, the codetta is likewise repeated.
Sometimes it has its ending slightly changed, depending on whether it leads back to the exposition or into
the development sections.

History
Cauda, a Latin word meaning "tail", "edge" or "trail" is the root of coda and is used in the study of
conductus of the 12th and 13th centuries. The cauda was 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 cauda
and conductus sine cauda (Latin: "conductus with cauda", "conductus without cauda"), based on the
presence of the melisma. Thus, the cauda provided a conclusionary role, similar to the modern coda.

In popular music
Many songs in rock and other genres of popular music have sections identifiable as codas. A coda in these
genres is sometimes referred to as an "outro", while in jazz, modern church music and barbershop
arranging it is commonly called a "tag". One of the most famous codas is found in the 1968 single "Hey
Jude" by the Beatles. The coda lasted nearly four minutes, making the song's full length at just over the
seven-minute mark.

In music notation
In music notation, the coda symbol, which resembles a set of crosshairs, is used as a
navigation marker, similar to the dal segno sign. It is used where the exit from a
repeated section is within that section rather than at the end. The instruction "To Coda"
indicates that, upon reaching that point during the final repetition, the performer is to
jump immediately to the separate section headed with the coda symbol. The symbol can Coda sign
be used to provide a special ending for the final verse of a song.

The coda sign is encoded in the Musical Symbols block of Unicode as U+1D10C MUSICAL SYMBOL
CODA:[5] 𝄌

See also
Coda (ballet)
Da capo
Epilogue
Fade (audio engineering)
Repeat sign
Transition (music)

Notes
1. Benward & Saker (2009). Music in Theory and Practice: Volume II, p.355. Eighth Edition.
ISBN 978-0-07-310188-0.
2. Benward & Saker (2009), p.151.
3. For discussion of this coda, and of codas in general, see Rosen, Charles (1988) Sonata
Forms, 2nd edition. New York: Norton.
 4. 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, p.12. New York: Oxford
University Press, ISBN 0-19-517010-5.
5. PDF of Musical Symbols block from the unicode consortium (http://unicode.org/charts/PDF/
U1D100.pdf)

References
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Coda"  (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A
6dia_Britannica/Coda). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University
Press. p. 632.

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