Sonata is the name for an instrumental genre that usually has several movements and is performed a soloist or a chamber ensemble. It is derived from the Italian word sonare, which means “to sound.” When multiple instruments are used, the keyboard instrument is frequently one of them. The term is also a common name for the form that became the foundation for the organization of that genre’s first movement, which is also known as “sonata form” or “first-movement form.”
The genre dates back to the 1200s, and it was first used in mystery plays, Elizabethan plays, and fanfares. The sonata was written for instruments, while the cantata was written for voices.
During the Baroque period, two distinct types of architecture rose to prominence. The sonata da camera, also known as a “chamber sonata,” is a three- to four-movement work written for one or more melodic instruments and continuo. Many of these works were intended as dance music, and they were well-liked in Austria, Germany, and Italy, where Arcangelo Corelli’s sonatas for violin and harpsichord were well-known.
The sonata da chiesa, or “church sonata,” was popularized in four movements during Mass and Vespers during the Baroque era. Sonatas of this type were also written Corelli. Both types were generally replaced as movements in larger works in the 18th century, and when applied to dance music, they were given new names.
The first movement’s form became important in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Sonatas were increasingly written as three-movement works for piano or piano and violin, with a sonata-like first movement. Sonatas are well-known works Josef Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven.
The Classical age’s form had many variations, but it can generally be described as having three sections. It begins with an exposition in which two opposing themes are introduced, then moves on to a development section aimed at expanding on that material, and finally concludes with a recapitulation in which the expositional material is heard once more.
Among the most well-known works are:
Ludwig van Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata — Violin Sonata No. 9 in A Major
Moonlight Sonata — Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Sonata Op. 27 No. 2
Sonata facile — Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major, K. 545
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 11 in A Major, K. 331
Other well-known works include harpsichord sonatas Domenico Scarlatti, sonatas and partitas for solo violin and flute and continuo Johann Sebastian Bach, and works Johannes Brahms, Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt, Felix Mendelssohn, Sergei Prokofiev, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Alexander Scriabin, and Dmitri Shostakovich.