coda (music)

Coda (Italian for "tail"; from the Latin cauda, see below), in music, is a passage which brings a movement or a separate piece to a conclusion through prolongation. This developed from the simple chords of a cadence into an elaborate and independent form. In a series of variations on a theme or in a composition with a fixed order of subjects, the coda is a passage sufficiently contrasted with the conclusions of the separate variations or subjects, added to form a complete conclusion to the whole. Beethoven raised the coda in his sonata form movements to a feature of the highest importance, producing a final section of equal musical weight to the foregoing exposition, development and recapitulation sections and completing the musical argument. What is known in rock and popular music as an outro and in jazz and worship music as a tag can be considered a coda. See also fade out.
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