Tonal music derives much of its sense of forward momentum from the pursuit of certain tonal, and more specifically, harmonic goals. Contextual clues in the music indicate a goal's forthcoming arrival, and the corresponding anticipation elicited is perceived by a listener as a kind of energetic and progressive flow. As you might guess, pursuit of such goals animates this Menuet . After E major is established in the opening measures, a number of harmonic goals successively emerge as the music unfolds:
As this illustrates, the Menuet's first important tonal goal, the dominant (B), is achieved at the end of the first section in m. 8. Following a brief diversion in mm. 9-15, the dominant is reasserted as a tonal goal in m. 16. Finally, the most important tonal goal of the piece, the tonic (E), is reached at the very end of the second section of the Menuet. As you will see in the next section of this tutorial, these three tonal goals are realized by the voice-leading structures we know as cadences.
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