# Arch form

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Structure in music

For the physical structure, see [Arch](/source/Arch).

In [music](/source/Music), **arch form** is a [sectional](/source/Section_(music)) [structure](/source/Musical_form) for a piece of music based on [repetition](/source/Repetition_(music)), in reverse order, of all or most musical sections such that the overall form is [symmetric](/source/Symmetry), most often around a central [movement](/source/Movement_(music)). The sections need not be repeated verbatim but must at least share [thematic](/source/Theme_(music)) material.

It creates interest through interplay among "memory, variation, and progression". Though the form appears to be static and to deny progress, the pairs of movements create an "undirectional process" with the center, and the form "actually engenders specific expressive possibilities that would otherwise be unavailable for the work as a whole".[1]

[Béla Bartók](/source/B%C3%A9la_Bart%C3%B3k) is noted for his use of arch form, e.g., in his [fourth](/source/String_Quartet_No._4_(Bart%C3%B3k)) and [fifth string quartets](/source/String_Quartet_No._5_(Bart%C3%B3k)), [Concerto for Orchestra](/source/Concerto_for_Orchestra_(Bart%C3%B3k)), *[Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta](/source/Music_for_Strings%2C_Percussion_and_Celesta)*, [second piano concerto](/source/Piano_Concerto_No._2_(Bart%C3%B3k)), and, to a lesser extent, in his [second violin concerto](/source/Violin_Concerto_No._2_(Bart%C3%B3k)).[1] [Samuel Barber](/source/Samuel_Barber)'s *[Adagio for Strings](/source/Adagio_for_Strings)* and Shostakovich's [String Quartet No. 8](/source/String_Quartet_No._8_(Shostakovich)) in C minor also use arch form.

The most popular arch-form structure is ABCBA.

## See also

- [Chiastic structure](/source/Chiastic_structure)

- [ABACABA pattern](/source/ABACABA_pattern)

- [Sonata rondo form](/source/Sonata_rondo_form)

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Wilson_32_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Wilson_32_1-1) Wilson, Paul (1992). *The Music of Béla Bartók*. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-300-05111-5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-300-05111-5). p. 32.

v t e Musical form and development Arch form Argument Ausmultiplikation Bar form Binary form Bridge Call and response Cell Coda Conclusion Cycle Cyclic form Developing variation Development Drop Exposition Finale Formula composition Hook Introduction Leitmotif Lick Melody Motif Movement Ostinato Overture Partita Period Phrase Pre-chorus Post-chorus Recapitulation Repetition Reprise Riff Rondo Rondò Section Sonata form Sonata rondo form Song structure Strophic form Ternary form Theme Thirty-two-bar form Through-composed Transition Variation Verse–chorus form

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