Steve PMHThe world of music isn’t short of confusing (and a bit scary) terms. As part of my mission to make music less complicated for you -one term at a time-, today I’m answering the question: what is a sonata in music?
A lot of uncertainty and difficulty seems to be surrounding this subject, mainly because many intricate words such as “exposition”, “movement”, and “recapitulation” get thrown around when discussing it.
In this article, I’ll be explaining the meaning of a sonata, what structures it includes, what a sonata form is, what sections it consists of, as well as sharing examples along the way to tie everything together.
What is a Sonata in Music?
The word sonata comes from Latin and Italian origins (sonate and sonare; to sound), and it literally translates into a piece played.
Starting from the early 19th century, the term sonata was used to refer to a form of composition for large-scale works that feature 3 or 4 movements using only 1 or 2 instruments (either piano alone or alongside violin).
A sonata in music can also refer to the sonata form, which is a type of musical structure used to create a movement within an instrumental piece of music. A sonata form consists of 3 major sections: exposition, development, and recapitulation.
What does «Sonata» Mean?
From the two meanings of the term “sonata’ in music, we’ll now talk about the first one, which has to do with composing large-scale pieces.
Throughout music history, the word “sonata” came to represent many different forms. It wasn’t until the classical era that the term started to be more important and take on a grander role.
By the beginning of the 19th century, the term “sonata” was widely used to designate a composition principle that applied specifically to large-scale works. These works came from just about every instrumental genre, so “sonata” was heavily regarded as a fundamental technique of building, organizing, and interpreting concert music.
When we compare sonatas from the modern time with ones from the classical period, it’s pretty clear that the musical style has changed. Still, the majority of sonatas from the 20th and 21st centuries are structured the same way.
It’s no secret that the practice of music during the classical era was crucial for the development of the sonata from a lost drop in the vague sea of terms used to describe various forms or genres, to distinctive words used to indicate a fundamental organization and composition form for large-scale pieces.
This evolution didn’t happen overnight, it took time — about 50 years to give you a better perspective. From there, the term “sonata” came to describe the layout of movements in a work with multiple movements, as well as the sections of an individual movement within the workpiece (more on this later).
A lot of names were given to multi-movement works during transitioning into the classical era, such as serenade, divertimento, and partita. A good chunk of these is now included under the umbrella of a sonata.
The first use of the word sonata as the standard name for multi-movement works can be traced back to the 1770s. In 1771, Haydn called his piano piece a sonata for the first time, and he rarely used the term divertimento to describe his work from thereon.
A sonata was commonly applied to works that involved 1 or 2 instruments only — either the piano alone or alongside the violin or cello. It wasn’t often that the term referred to works involving more than 2 instruments, even if it was a trio consisting of piano, violin, and cello.
Movement Structure of the Sonata
As I mentioned above, the term “sonata” can refer to the layout of movements in a work with multiple movements. At first, the following was the most common arrangement of movements:
- An allegro — back in the day, allegro didn’t just refer to a type of tempo, but it was also a certain level of theme development.
- A middle movement — mostly occurs as a slow-paced movement like an adagio, an andante, or a largo.
- A closing movement — usually a presto or an allegro, and often considered the finale.
Besides 3-movement layouts, there are also 2-movement layouts. In the early classical era, there were 4-movement layouts as well that involved a dance movement placed prior to the slow movement. For example, Haydn’s no. 6 and no. 8 sonatas.
Most of Mozart’s sonatas mainly consisted of 3 movements. Haydn’s piano sonatas in Hob XIV include 7 pieces that are 2-movement works, 35 pieces that are 3-movement works, and 3 pieces that are 4-movement works.
There are also composers who would release sonatas with an optional 3rd movement for piano along with an obbligato instrument. For example, Boccherini and his 28 cello sonatas.
Over time, however, instrumental pieces were arranged in 4 movements instead of 3. Some of the very first examples of this practice are symphonies and string quartets. Later on, we can see the sonata properly emerging in Beethoven’s early sonatas.
This doesn’t mean that 2- and 3-movement sonatas disappeared or anything. In fact, composers kept pumping them out during the classical era. For instance, you can hear a 2-movement sonata in C major and a 3-movement sonata in D-major as part of Beethoven’s opus 102.
But as works with more or less than 4 movements became increasingly uncommon, they were labeled as exception sonatas that have “extra” or “omitted” movements.
As a result, the standard layout of the symphony and the string quartet became 4 movements, typically arranged in the following order:
- An allegro —by this time, it was structured in what’s referred to as sonata form -which I’ll get into in a bit-, consisting of an exposition, a development, and a recapitulation.
- A slow movement —mostly occurs as an adagio, an andante, or a largo.
- A dance movement —mostly either a minuet and trio or a scherzo and trio (particularly towards the end of the classical era).
- A finale —always has a quicker tempo, usually in the sonata-rondo form.
Note that sometimes composers arrange these movements in a different order, which is often said to be “reversed”. An example of this is Beethoven’s 9th in which the slow movement comes after the scherzo.
What is the Sonata Form?
Now that you have a better idea of what a sonata is in terms of musical composition, it’s time I explain what a sonata form is.
I mentioned earlier that the sonata form is a technique of structuring an individual movement within a multi-movement work. It consists of 3 key sections, each of which revolves around a main motif or theme.
Key Sections of the Sonata Form
There are 3 major sections that make up the sonata form: an exposition, a development, and a recapitulation. Here’s a simple breakdown:
1. Exposition
In the sonata form, the exposition is where the composer introduces the listeners to the central musical themes of their piece. The themes are laid out in the first subject group and played in the same tonic key designated for the piece.
For example, if the piece is expressed in C major, then the central themes would be written in C major first.
After that, the exposition modulates so that if the piece is expressed in a major key, it modulates to the dominant key, and if the sonata is written in a minor key, it modulates to the relative major key first.
For example, a sonata expressed in C major would first modulate to G major. Also, a sonata written in C minor would first modulate to E♭ major.
From this point, the first 2 themes are expressed in multiple new keys. So in a C major sonata, this may involve E minor, D major, or other a bit more distant keys.
Finally, a codetta wraps up the exposition section.
2. Development
In this section, composers take the themes from the expression section and manifest them in several keys with different variations. Generally, they pick up from the key where they left off at the conclusion of the exposition section.
In the sonatas of the 18th century and the classical period, the development is on the shorter side. The sonatas of the romantic era in the 19th century, on the other hand, featured comparatively longer development sections that ventured into newer musical notions.
The development section is traditionally wrapped up by a re-transition to prepare listeners for going back to the original key. This is done by hanging the music on a dominant 7th chord for a while.
3. Recapitulation
In the final section, composers reproduce the principal themes highlighted in the exposition. They may also include a brief transition, occasionally referred to as secondary development.
Ultimately, the musical themes conclude in a cadence in the original tone. Sometimes, a coda section will follow the recapitulation section to finish the piece.
