sonata

Introduction
Components of the sonata
Early development in Italy
Early development outside Italy
The Baroque era
The Classical era and later
New principles of musical form

References & Edit History Related Topics

At a Glance

sonata summary

Quizzes

Young girl wearing a demin jacket playing the trumpet (child, musical instruments, Asian ethnicity)

Sound Check: Musical Vocabulary Quiz

Related Questions

How can a sonata-form movement have only one main theme?
How can the term sonata apply to a string quartet or symphony?
How did 12-tone music change the use of sonata form in Arnold Schoenberg’s String Quartet No. 4?
How did Arcangelo Corelli influence the Baroque sonata?
How did Beethoven enlarge the scale of Classical sonata form?
How did Beethoven expand the usual number of movements in sonatas?
How did Beethoven use extended codas in his piano sonatas?
How did Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach help the transition from Baroque to Classical sonatas?
How did Franz Liszt’s Piano Sonata in B Minor depart from the usual Classical sonata structure?
How did Franz Schubert expand the number of themes and key centers in sonata-form movements?
How did Haydn use key contrast and themes in his sonata-form movements?
How did Johann Sebastian Bach change the role of the keyboard in sonatas?
How did Mozart reshape second themes during recapitulations?
How did basso continuo function in Baroque sonatas?
How did chromaticism weaken the role of key contrast in late-19th-century sonata form?
How did dance rhythms shape the sonata da camera?
How did the Italian overture contribute to the development of the Classical sonata?
How did the Italian word sonare influence the musical term sonata?
How did the minuet and trio become part of the Classical sonata?
How do keys create contrast in a sonata-form exposition?
How does a piano sonata differ from a violin sonata?
How does a slow introduction affect a sonata-form movement?
How does a sonata differ from a concerto?
How does binary form relate to the origins of sonata form?
How does the development section change musical ideas in sonata form?
How does the exposition function in sonata form?
How does the recapitulation resolve the main contrasts in sonata form?
How does the slow movement of a Classical sonata contrast with its first movement?
What movement order was typical of a Baroque sonata da chiesa?
What role does a coda play at the end of a sonata movement?
Where is the dance-style movement usually placed in a four-movement sonata?
Which key is commonly used for the second subject in a minor-key sonata-form exposition?
Which key usually follows the tonic key in a major-key sonata-form exposition?
Why did the scherzo replace the minuet in many Beethoven sonatas and symphonies?
Why does the recapitulation usually return to the tonic key?
Why is Bartók’s Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion unusual in its instrumentation?
Why is Beethoven’s Appassionata Piano Sonata notable for its coda?
Why is contrast of key more important than the number of themes in sonata form?
Why were trio sonatas often played by four instruments?

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External Websites

Music Theory Academy - Sonata
Humanities LibreTexts - Sonata Form - Introduction to Sonata Theory
University of Puget Sound - Music Theory for the 21st-Century Classroom - Sonata Form
British Broadcasting Corporation - Music - The Sonata

sonata

music

Written by

Bernard Jacobson

Artistic Adviser, North Netherlands Orchestra. Author of The Music of Johannes Brahms and others.

Bernard Jacobson

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

History

sonata, type of musical composition, usually for a solo instrument or a small instrumental ensemble, that typically consists of two to four movements, or sections, each in a related key but with a unique musical character. Deriving from the past participle of the Italian verb sonare, “to sound,” the term sonata originally denoted a composition played on instruments, as opposed to one that was cantata, or “sung,” by voices. Its first such use was in...

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