Suite no. 5, the trio to the second menuet, offers a simple presentation phrase, but the continuation emphasizes contrast, not development. So although I have called it a sentence, this first strain really belongs to a separate category, presentation + contrast, a design that is not only common in the menuet, along with the allied antecedent + contrast, but becomes more and more so in the second half of the 18th century, to the point that it is the preferred form for menuets by J. C. Bach and Mozart.
Suite no. 1, trio to the menuet. Similar to the preceding.
Suite no. 5, second menuet. A "classic" antecedent + continuation theme, with considerable fragmentation in bars 5-7.
Suite no. 6, trio to the menuet. The distinctiveness of the chromatic figure, the placement of the mirror at bar 5, and the extent of the mirroring all favor hearing this theme as a period.
Suite no. 2, menuet. A reasonably straightforward period; the transposition of the basic idea in the consequent is substantial but the arpeggio figure with the rhythms maintained makes the relationship clear.
Suite no. 6, menuet. The formal functions as a "galant theme" make sense. This one is interesting because of the mirroring of rhythms -- see the two (a)s and the two (b)s -- and shapes -- the two (a)s. Despite the mirroring, the continuation phrase is contrasting rather than developmental.
Suite no. 2, trio. Once again the continuation is a contrasting phrase. The presentation is extended by simply adding two bars that transpose bars 3-4 down a third.
Suite no. 6, "menuet III." The previous example hints at a figure realized in this one. I have labeled the formal functions as a sentence, but the effect overall is not 4 + 4 but rather 6 + 2: three statements of an idea followed by a formula cadence with a different melodic figure.
Much the same effect occurs in the 8-bar antecedent of the 16-bar period in J. S. Bach's French Suite in D minor, menuet II. Look especially at the alto voice (arrow).
We will see this 6 + 2 arrangement—and even its reverse, 2 + 6!—in menuets by later composers.
