A Brief History of Western Music
Classical Sonata
The word sonata comes from the Italian word sonare, which means "to sound" (this is in contrast with cantata, which means "to sing"). During the Baroque era, sonatas simply referred to pieces written for instruments, rather than voice. The Baroque sonata would usually consist of a single movement, or part. Over time, the sonata evolved into a multi-movement
form, called the sonata cycle. These sonatas would usually contain three or four movements, and were an extremely common type of composition during the classical era. The composers Franz Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791), and Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827) developed the sonata form and wrote a vast amount of sonatas for the piano.
Structure
A typical three-movement sonata cycle consists of fast first and third movements, with a slow second movement in between. Each of these movements have their own internal structure. Whereas the second and third movements are usually written in simple forms such as ternary (ABA) or rondo (ABACA or ABACABA), the first movement is usually written in a much more complex form known as sonata form.
Sonata form consists of three parts: the exposition, the development, and the recapitulation. In the exposition, two contrasting themes, A and B, are introduced. A bridge separates A and B, and a codetta, a "concluding" theme, is played after B. An introduction is also occasionally added at the beginning. So, the exposition has the following overall form:
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Introduction (optional)
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Theme A
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Bridge
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Theme B
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Codetta
Mozart (left), Haydn (top right), and Beethoven (bottom right)
In the development, the themes introduced in the exposition are "mixed up" and modified in various ways. Finally, in the recapitulation, the themes are restated in the same order as the exposition, and a coda is sometimes added to the end of the movement. This complex and symmetrical structure exemplifies the ideals of classicism: balance, proportion, and symmetry.
Examples
Below, you can listen to several examples of sonatas. The first is "Sonata in D Major", by Haydn. The second is "Piano Sonata No. 16" by Mozart. The third and final sonata is the famous "Moonlight Sonata" by Beethoven. Note the differences in style/mood amongst the three composers.