Menuet series 2-13 (Telemann)

Telemann cultivated the galant style in a serious way. His keyboard music and sonatas and fantasies for violin, however, are poor sources for menuets -- many are written in the three-movement design Allegro-Andante-Allegro -- and I turned to the orchestral works for examples. Because that repertoire is very large, I arbitrarily worked with overtures (suites) whose home keys are G or A.

This sentence fits the model quite well. The modern notation, btw, is by Michel Rondeau. I have included only the two clarino parts (identical to violin 1 & 2) and the bass.

This is quite similar to the first example above.

Here is a good example of the galant theme: antecedent + a continuation phrase that contrasts rather than develops.

Here there is less contrast because of the repetition of the basic idea's rhythms.

And here is a case that radicalizes the above. The same rhythms in every bar but the last bring much closer attention to shapes. In such a constrained context, bars 3-4 do sound like a contrasting idea and bars 5-6 like a second contrasting idea. Note that there are some broader connections: the arches showing the same overall direction in each phrase and the motivic ground in the basic idea and in bars 5-6.