What is the most convoluted standard musical form?

Question

In musical composition, we tend to reuse sections of a piece in patterns that are referred to as "musical forms". Some basic examples of these that I know of are ABA, AABA, ABAB, and the rondo form ABACAB'A. While I recently became interested in finding out about more varying musical forms, the only one I was able to find that somewhat matches what I'm looking for is the Sonata Rondo form's infinitely varying ABACADAEA... pattern.

In short, what I would like to discover (if any exist at all):

1. A musical form containing a large number of variations.
2. Ideally the musical form should have a set end, rather than formulaic variance into infinity like the sonata rondo.

With that said, are there any musical forms that meet both of these requirements and contain more variations than the Rondo form?

Answer 1

According to the Wikipedia page for "Symphony", during the 17th century, the symphony had a fairly set structure:

The four-movement form that emerged from this evolution was as follows:

1. an opening sonata or allegro
2. a slow movement, such as adagio
3. a minuet or scherzo with trio
4. an allegro, rondo, or sonata

While it may not completely fit the above structure, Mahler's Symphony No. 3 often runs 90 to 100 minutes. So "symphony" is a candidate answer. Operas often run longer than 90 to 100 minutes, but might not have a clearly set structure.

Opera Seria is an Italian form of opera, also with a fairly set structure. From the Wikipedia page:

Opera seria built upon the conventions of the High Baroque era by developing and exploiting the da capo aria, with its A-B-A form. The first section presented a theme, the second a complementary one, and the third a repeat of the first with ornamentation and elaboration of the music by the singer. As the genre developed and arias grew longer, a typical opera seria would contain not more than thirty musical movements.

A typical opera would start with an instrumental overture of three movements (fast-slow-fast) and then a series of recitatives containing dialogue interspersed with arias expressing the emotions of the character, this pattern only broken by the occasional duet for the leading amatory couple. The recitative was typically secco: that is, accompanied only by continuo (harpsichord and cello, sometimes supported by further bass instruments). At moments of especially violent passion secco was replaced by stromentato recitative, where the singer was accompanied by the entire body of strings. After an aria was sung, accompanied by strings and oboe (and sometimes with horns or flutes), the character usually exited the stage, encouraging the audience to applaud. This continued for three acts before concluding with an upbeat chorus, to celebrate the jubilant climax.

Answer 2

Sonata-rondo form is the most convoluted form I know of where you have something like this:

A B A C A B A

where C is the development and might have a form of something like this:

A B C A Close

Besides that, I think complex ternary form is the most convoluted of all the non-rondo forms.

On the large scale you have this:

A B A

A simple ternary form. You might not think that is complicated, but in complex ternary form, each of these large scale sections is itself in Ternary form. So the small scale form is this:

A B A C D C A B A

There is one famous piece I know of that is in Complex ternary form. It is Chopin's Military Polonaise. The large scale A sections are both in A major and the large scale B section is in D major. And each of these sections is itself in ternary form.

You wouldn't think the polonaise is simple at all just listening to it. But it is in complex ternary form and out of the forms that aren't rondo or sonata-rondo, it is the most complicated.