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The sonata form (also sonata-allegro form or first movement form) is a musical structure generally consisting of three main sections: an exposition, a development, and a recapitulation. It has been used widely since the middle of the 18th century (the early Classical period ).
A notable source of confusion is the term 'sonata': as a genre, it denotes a multi-movement composition for one or more solo instruments, while in structural terms, 'sonata form' refers to a specific three-part structure (exposition, development, recapitulation) frequently used within individual movements of larger works.
In music, a sonata (/ s ə ˈ n ɑː t ə /; pl. sonate) [a] literally means a piece played as opposed to a cantata (Latin and Italian cantare, "to sing"), a piece sung. [1]: 17 The term evolved through the history of music, designating a variety of forms until the Classical era, when it took on increasing importance.
Sonata form is one of the most influential ideas in the history of Western classical music. Since the establishment of the practice by composers like C.P.E. Bach , Haydn , Mozart , Beethoven , and Schubert and the codification of this practice into teaching and theory , the practice of writing works in sonata form has changed considerably.
Sonata Theory understands the rhetorical layout of a sonata as progressing through a set of action spaces and moments of "structural punctuation." [8] These action spaces largely correlate with the "themes" or "groups" of the sonata, though each space is differentiated primarily by the unique generic goal that the music pursues within that particular space.
The sonata da camera was a suite of slow and fast movements, interspersed with dance tunes; the sonata da chiesa was the same, but the dances were omitted. These forms gradually developed into the trio sonata of the Baroque – two treble instruments and a bass instrument , often with a keyboard or other chording instrument ( harpsichord ...
Although various composers in the 17th century had written keyboard pieces which they entitled "Sonata", it was only in the classical era, when the piano displaced the earlier harpsichord and sonata form rose to prominence as a principle of musical composition, that the term "piano sonata" acquired a definite meaning and a characteristic form.
A sonatina (French: “sonatine”, German: “Sonatine") is a small sonata.As a musical term, sonatina has no single strict definition; it is rather a title applied by the composer to a piece that is in basic sonata form, but is shorter and lighter in character, or technically more elementary, than a typical sonata. [1]