[ noun ] a musical form that is often the last movement of a sonata <noun.communication>
Rondo \Ron"do\, n. [It. rond[`o], fr. F. rondeau. See {Rondeau}.] 1. (Mus.) A composition, vocal or instrumental, commonly of a lively, cheerful character, in which the first strain recurs after each of the other strains. ``The Rondo-form was the earliest and most frequent definite mold for musical construction.'' --Grove.
2. (Poetry) See {Rondeau}, 1.
Rondeau \Ron*deau"\, n. [F. See {Roundel}.] [Written also {rondo}.] 1. A species of lyric poetry so composed as to contain a refrain or repetition which recurs according to a fixed law, and a limited number of rhymes recurring also by rule.
Note: When the rondeau was called the rondel it was mostly written in fourteen octosyllabic lines of two rhymes, as in the rondels of Charles d'Orleans. . . . In the 17th century the approved form of the rondeau was a structure of thirteen verses with a refrain. --Encyc. Brit.
2. (Mus.) See {Rondo}, 1.
Newtonchik has some very funny stories of torturing Serge by saying, did you notice the bassoon played D instead of D flat in the seventh bar of the rondo allegro?