Abstract: Musical tension is the basis of musical listening. In this study, we calculated tension values based on Tonal Tension Model and conducted behavioral experiment to explore the influence of tonal structure on tension experience in sonata compositions by Mozart and Beethoven. The sonata form is composed of three parts: exposition, development and recapitulation. Our results revealed that both of the tension values and tension experience in development were higher than that in exposition and recapitulation, and higher in recapitulation than in exposition. This might be due to the differences of the distance and frequency on tonal modulations in the three parts. Our study investigated the influence of tonal structure on musical tension in large-scale music works, providing evidence and new perspectives for the study of musicology.

Key words: tonal structure, tension, sonata form, Mozart, Beethoven