Galant Schemata

Galant Schemata, as described by Robert Gjerdingen in Music in the Galant Style, are "stock musical phrases" in Galant music. The concept of a musical schema is based on schema theory in psychology. Each schema has discernible internal characteristics—such as voice leading, number of events, and relative metric strength and weakness of such events—as well as normative placements in the musical structure as a whole. According to Gjerdingen, the usage of these schemata in a conventional, seamless sequence is "a hallmark of the galant style" and a consequence of the partimento pedagogical tradition of Neapolitan conservatories. Galant schemata, broadly speaking, can be distinguished among opening, closing, cadential, pre-cadential, and post-cadential varieties.