Sonata Form
The word sonata has been used, over the centuries, to mean many things musical, perhaps too many things musical, so before we begin our exploration of sonata form, it behooves us to get a handle on the various meanings of the overused term.
Sonata means "sounded piece" implying a work that is played, or "sounded" on an instrument or instruments. In its earliest usage (during the Renaissance) the word sonata was a generic term, synonymous with "instrumental music". (For our information, the complementary term to sonata is cantata, a "sung piece" of music).
By the Baroque era, the word sonata began to be applied to various multi-movement instrumental works for both solo instruments and chamber groups. It wasn't until the Classical era that the term took on the two meanings for which it is still understood today.
First, sonata is an instrumental genre: a multi-movement work for solo piano or piano plus one other instrument. Since the Classical era, a piano sonata has been understood to be a multi-movement work for piano, and a designation such as violin sonata or cello sonata or clarinet sonata is understood to mean that instrument plus a piano.
Second, sonata as we understand it today refers to a specific musical form, sonata form. We will often see sonata form referred to as sonata allegro form, in order to further differentiate it from the instrumental genre of sonata.
In order to establish what makes sonata form special, we would step back for just a moment and observe other Classical era forms.
Theme and Variations form (unless entitled "double variations") features one theme only - no contrasts, departure, or returns. In Minuet and Trio form, the opening minuet is perceived as the principal theme. It is departed from and contrasted by the trio; it then returns to create thematic closure. Rondo form features one principal theme; it is departed from, contrasted, and returned to multiple times. Sonata form is that formal process that evolved to accommodate the presentation, interaction, and re conciliation of multiple principal themes, most typically two in number, Our first job, then, is to deconstruct sonata form.
Technically, sonata form evolved from something called Baroque binary dance form. Spiritually, sonata form was inspired by dramatic procedures inherent in opera. Let us discuss these dramatic procedures and, at the same time, observe their parallel in sonata form.
In the first act of an opera, we meet the principal characters and encounter the situation on which the drama will turn. In the first large section of a sonata form movement - a section called the exposition - we meet the (typically two) principal theme that become the characters in the musical drama. The expressive nature of those themes, and the degree of contrast between them, create the situation on which the musical drama will turn.
As an opera progresses, stuff happens: action and interaction between the characters, drama, comedy, pathos, bathos, whatever. In the second large part of a sonata form movement, called the development section, the themes interact in passages characterised by great harmonic instability and expressive interest to create drama, comedy, pathos, bathos, whatever.
The closing scene of an opera sees the denouement - the moment of truth - during which the dramatic situation plays itself out; the characters learn something of themselves and thus reconcile themselves to the events that have taken place. In the third part of a sonata form movement - called the recapitulation - the theme return in their original order but with important changes, changes that reduce the degree of contrast (and conflict) between them and that, as a result, allow the themes to be reconciled to one another. An opera will typically conclude with finale and curtain calls. A sonata form movement, much more often than not, will conclude with a coda, there to create a convincing sense of conclusion.
From the book "How To Listen To Great Music", by Robert Greenberg
Theme and Variations form (unless entitled "double variations") features one theme only - no contrasts, departure, or returns. In Minuet and Trio form, the opening minuet is perceived as the principal theme. It is departed from and contrasted by the trio; it then returns to create thematic closure. Rondo form features one principal theme; it is departed from, contrasted, and returned to multiple times. Sonata form is that formal process that evolved to accommodate the presentation, interaction, and re conciliation of multiple principal themes, most typically two in number, Our first job, then, is to deconstruct sonata form.
Technically, sonata form evolved from something called Baroque binary dance form. Spiritually, sonata form was inspired by dramatic procedures inherent in opera. Let us discuss these dramatic procedures and, at the same time, observe their parallel in sonata form.
In the first act of an opera, we meet the principal characters and encounter the situation on which the drama will turn. In the first large section of a sonata form movement - a section called the exposition - we meet the (typically two) principal theme that become the characters in the musical drama. The expressive nature of those themes, and the degree of contrast between them, create the situation on which the musical drama will turn.
As an opera progresses, stuff happens: action and interaction between the characters, drama, comedy, pathos, bathos, whatever. In the second large part of a sonata form movement, called the development section, the themes interact in passages characterised by great harmonic instability and expressive interest to create drama, comedy, pathos, bathos, whatever.
The closing scene of an opera sees the denouement - the moment of truth - during which the dramatic situation plays itself out; the characters learn something of themselves and thus reconcile themselves to the events that have taken place. In the third part of a sonata form movement - called the recapitulation - the theme return in their original order but with important changes, changes that reduce the degree of contrast (and conflict) between them and that, as a result, allow the themes to be reconciled to one another. An opera will typically conclude with finale and curtain calls. A sonata form movement, much more often than not, will conclude with a coda, there to create a convincing sense of conclusion.
From the book "How To Listen To Great Music", by Robert Greenberg
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