Johann Christian Bach - Sonata in D 3rd Mvt. Ragazzi Sonata a Quattro Op.1 No. 2 in C minor. Johann Christian Bach - Sonata in D 1st Mvt. History of sonata form. Sonata form is one of the most influential ideas in the history of Western classical music. Since the establishment of the practice by composers like C.P.E. Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert and the codification of this practice into teaching and theory, the practice of writing works in sonata form has changed considerably. Late Baroque era (ca 1710 – ca 1750)[edit] Classical era (ca 1750 – ca 1820)[edit] The older Italian sonata form differs considerably from the later sonata in the works of the Viennese Classical masters.[1] Between the two main types, the older Italian and the more "modern" Viennese sonata, various transitional types are manifest in the middle of the 18th century, in the works of the Mannheim composers, Johann Stamitz, Franz Xaver Richter, C.P.E.
Bach, and many others. The piano sonata had its inception with Johann Kuhnau, the predecessor of J.S. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart applied the large-scale ideas of Haydn to opera and the piano concerto. Modern era[edit] Sonata (music) : The Baroque era. Sonata. Sonata (/səˈnɑːtə/; Italian: [soˈnaːta], pl. sonate; from Latin and Italian: sonare, "to sound"), in music, literally means a piece played as opposed to a cantata (Latin and Italian cantare, "to sing"), a piece sung.
The term, being vague, evolved through the history of music, designating a variety of forms until the Classical era, when it took on increasing importance, and by the early 19th century came to represent a principle of composing large scale works. It was applied to most instrumental genres and regarded—alongside the fugue—as one of two fundamental methods of organizing, interpreting and analyzing concert music. Though the musical style of sonatas has changed since the Classical era, most 20th- and 21st-century sonatas still maintain the same structure. Usage of sonata[edit] The term sonatina, literally "small sonata", is often used for a short or technically easy sonata.
Instrumentation[edit] Brief history of the usage of sonata[edit] The Baroque sonata[edit]