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sonata

soe-NAH-tah

[Italian]

An instrumental genre in several movements for a soloist or an ensemble. The original usage for the term "sonata" implied a composition that was to be performed by instruments rather than sung. Later, the term "sonata" came to be understood as a four movement composition: slow, fast, slow, fast, as was used in the church sonata (sonata da cheese), or allemande, courante, sarabande, and gigue, as was used in the chamber sonata (sonata da camera). As the sonata developed, it became longer and adopted the sonata-allegro form for the first movement, which was generally fast. The following movement was generally somewhat slower, and the number of movements varied, but was generally about three.
 
The term sonata is the same word in English, Italian and Spanish.

Example


BAROQUE CHAMBER: Arcangelo Corelli: Violin Sonata in A major, Op. 5, No. 9, "Gigue"


Rebecca Clarke: Sonata for Viola and Piano, II


TRIO: Johann Sebastian Bach: Trio Sonata in G major, I


Johann Sebastian Bach: Flute Sonata No. 2 in E-flat major, BWV 1031, "Siciliano"

See Also

[French] sonate (f)
[Russian] cohata

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Last Updated: 2016-06-17 01:55:12
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