We begin with an at-a-glance summary of some important schemas, then proceed to set out each of the schemas listed one by one.

Overall Short Summary

Musical notation

Here are files in musical notation with all the schemas listed on this page:

• • With chordal realizations: .mscz, .mxl, .pdf
  • Without chords (outer voices only): .mscz, .mxl, .pdf

These files provide a set of schemas, with the constituent parts set out as prototypically as is possible in musical notation: that is, with melody and figured bass lines, along with (in the first file’s case) chords in a middle part realizing those figures. Musical notation is obviously useful, though really, schemas are prototypes that exist apart from any specific realization, so the more abstract representations in tables and the like are better in some ways. That’s why you’ll see them set out in this fashion here and in other literature on this topic.

Summarizing table

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Itemized List

Opening Gambits

Romanesca

Do–Re–Mi

Many of the schemas involve two steps that can be considered schemas on their own. These often take the form of question-answer pairs.
Here, we have the Do–Re opening part as the opening question:

That Do–Re is answered by the Re–Mi:

The Do–Re–Mi may also appear in a four-stage version by putting those constituent parts back together. This basically involves doubling up the central stage of the three-stage version.

Sol–Fa–Mi

Again, this comprises two parts.

Opening part (Sol–Fa):

Answering part (Fa–Mi):

This schema may also appear with the harmony slightly altered, as follows:

Meyer

Opening part:

Closing part:

Aprile

Jupiter

Pastorella

Answer/Process/Transition

Prinner and Modulating Prinner

A slight variant on this inserts a root-position dominant before the final stage:

The Prinner can also be used to modulate from the tonic to the dominant. This variant is called the Modulating Prinner:

Again, this can come with an additional root-position dominant:

Fonte

The Fonte has a strong relation to the Meyer and indeed to the cycle of fifths. This effectively tonicizes the A minor key (e.g., the supertonic minor) and then a major key a tone below (the overall tonic). The modular part is just one of those tonicizations:

Monte

Like the Fonte, the Monte also goes through two tonicizations with a sequential treatment of a modular half:

Ponte

Pre-Cadential / Incomplete Cadences

Fenaroli

Indugio

Deceptive Cadence

Evaded Cadence

Passo Indietro

The Passo Indietro is essentially the first two stages of a Prinner. Literally a “stepping back,” the Passo Indietro often precedes a significant cadence.

Comma

Converging Cadence

This cadence is also known as the fa–fi–sol half cadence after the definitive bass line: [latex]\hat4-\uparrow\hat4-\hat5[/latex]. Note the correspondence between this schema and the Indugio.

Cadences and Post-Cadential

Cadenza Semplice

Cadenza Composta

Cadenza Doppia

Quiescenza

The Quiescenza is a post-cadential schema.