Sonata form is a musical form that has been used widely since the early Classical period. It has typically been used in the first movement of multimovement pieces, and is therefore more specifically referred to as sonata-allegro form or first-movement form.

Sonata form was traditionally seen as a way of organizing the musical ideas in a movement on the basis of key. While not described and named until the early 19th century, the form derived from the binary form used by 18th century early Classical composers such as Johann Stamitz, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, and Johann Christian Bach, and came into common usage in the works of later composers of the period, most notably Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

The term "sonata" has been used both synonymously with "sonata form" and as the title for a wide range of musical genres. This article concerns the form of individual sonata movements.

Overview

Charles Rosen defines "sonata form" like this:

Sonata form, as that term is most frequently encountered, refers to the form of a single movement rather than to the whole of a three- or four-movement sonata, symphony, or work of chamber music. It is sometimes called first movement form, or sonata allegro form.^[1]

The most recent edition of Encyclopædia Britannica concurs. After a discussion of the multi-movement forms loosely called sonata, it goes on:

Quite distinct from all of the preceding, however, is the use of the term in "sonata form." This denotes a particular form or method of musical organization normally used within instrumental sonatas, string quartets, and other chamber music, and symphonies written since the beginning of the Classical period (the period of CPE Bach, Haydn, Mozart, and early Beethoven and Schubert) in the mid-18th century. ... Sonata form denotes a particularly fertile manner of organizing the musical structure of a single movement. It commonly occurs within the larger context of a multimovement scheme.

Since the clearly most frequent usage is to use the term sonata form to describe the form of individual movements, and the term sonata without hyphen as applying to whole works, this article will focus on the schematic of the sonata-allegro form as a movement layout. The term sonata cycle is sometimes used in musicology to describe the layout and features of multi-movement works as they relate to sonata form.

A sonata-allegro movement is divided into sections. It may begin with an introduction, which is generally slower than the main movement, and then proceeds to the exposition. The exposition presents the primary thematic material for the movement: one or two theme groups, often in contrasting styles and in opposing keys, bridged by a transition. The exposition typically concludes with a closing theme, a codetta, or both. The exposition is followed by the development where the harmonic and textural possibilities of the thematic material are explored, and which then transitions to the recapitulation where the thematic material returns in the tonic key. The movement may conclude with a coda, beyond the final cadence of the recapitulation.

The term 'sonata form' is controversial, and arguably quite misleading, implying that there was a set template to which classical and romantic composers aspired. In fact, 'sonata form' is more of a model developed for musical analysis, and should be viewed as such. Although the descriptions on this page could be considered an adequate analysis of many first-movement structures, there are enough variations to warrant the plural in 'Sonata forms',^[2] Charles Rosen's thoughtful study of the term and its usage. In the classical period, these variations include (but are not limited to) a monothematic exposition, where the same material is presented in different keys (used extensively by Haydn), a 'third subject group' in a different key to the other two (used by Schubert and Brahms), the second subject group recapitulationg in the 'wrong' key (often the subdominant, as in Mozart's C major piano sonata KV. 545, and Schubert's third symphony) and an extended coda section in which typically developmental, rather than concluding, processes are persued (found in most of Beethoven's middle-period works, such as his third symphony). Through the romantic period, formal distortions and variations become so widespread (Mahler, Elgar and Sibelius, among others, are cited and studied by James Hepakowski) that 'sonata form' as it is outlined here is not adequate to describe the complex musical structures that it is often applied to.

The terms Sonata-Allegro, Sonata Form, and First Movement Form all describe the same process. Sonata form became almost standard for the first movement of a symphony, especially in the period 1780 to 1900. These movements are also often marked allegro, hence the names 'Sonata-Allegro Form' and 'First Movement Form'.

In the context of the many late Baroque extended binary forms that bear similarities to sonata form, sonata form can be distinguished by the following three characteristics:^[3]

• a separate development section including a retransition
• the simultaneous return of the first subject group and the tonic
• a full (or close to full) recapitulation of the second subject group

Outline of sonata form

The standard description of the sonata form is as follows:

Introduction

The Introduction section is optional, or may be reduced to a minimum. If it is extended, it is generally slower than the main section, and frequently focuses on the dominant key. It may or may not contain material which is later stated in the exposition. The introduction increases the weight of the movement, and also permits the composer to begin the exposition with a theme that would be too light to start on its own, as in Haydn's Symphony No. 103 ("Drumroll"). Usually, but not always, the introduction is excluded from the exposition repeat.

Occasionally the material of introduction reappears in its original tempo later in the movement. Often, this occurs as late as the coda, as in Mozart's String Quintet K. 593, Haydn's Drumroll Symphony, or Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 8 ("Pathétique").

Exposition

The primary thematic material for the movement is presented in the Exposition. This section can be further divided into several sections. The same section in most sonata form movements has prominent harmonic and thematic parallelisms (although in some works from the nineteenth century and onward, some of these parallelisms are subject to considerable exceptions), which include:

• First subject group – this consists of one or more themes, all of them in the home key (also called the tonic). So if the piece is in C major, all of the music in the first group will be in C major.
• Transition – in this section the composer modulates from the key of the first subject to the key of the second. However, many classical-period works move straight from 1st to 2nd subject groups without any transition.
• Second subject group – one or more themes in a different key from the first group. If the first group is in a major key, the second group will usually be in the dominant. In pieces in a major key this will be the perfect fifth higher; if the original key is C major, for example, the key of the music of the second group will be G major. If the first group is in a minor key, the second group will generally be in the relative major, so that if the original key is C minor, the second group will be in E flat major. The material of the second group is often different in rhythm or mood from that of the first group (frequently, it is more lyrical).
• Codetta – the purpose of this is to bring the exposition section to a close with a perfect cadence in the same key as the second group. Often the codetta contains a sequence of themes, each of which arrives at a perfect cadence. The whole of the exposition may then be repeated. Often the last measure or measures of the exposition are slightly different between the repeats, one to point back to the tonic, where the exposition began, and the second to point towards the development.

Development

Main article: Development (music)

The development generally starts in the same key as the exposition ended, and may move through many different keys during its course. It will usually consist of one or more themes from the exposition altered and occasionally juxtaposed and may include new material or themes – though exactly what is acceptable practice is a famous point of contention. Alterations include taking material through distant keys, breaking down of themes and sequencing of motifs, and so forth.

The development varies greatly in length from piece to piece, sometimes being relatively short compared to the exposition (e.g. the first movement of Eine kleine Nachtmusik, K 525/I by Mozart) and in other cases quite long and detailed (e.g. the first movement of the "Eroica" Symphony by Beethoven). However, it almost always shows a greater degree of tonal, harmonic and rhythmic instability than the other sections. At the end, the music will turn towards the home key and enter the recapitulation. The transition from the development to the recapitulation is a crucial moment in the work.

The last part of the development section is called the retransition: it prepares for the return of the first subject group in the tonic, most often through a grand prolongation of the dominant seventh. Thus, if the key of the movement is C major, the retransition would most typically stress the dominant seventh chord on G. In addition, the character of the music would signal such a return, often becoming more frenetic (as in the case of the first movement of Beethoven's "Waldstein" Sonata, Op. 53). A rather notable exception to the harmonic norm of the retransition occurs in the first movement of Brahms's Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 1. The general key of the movement is C major, and it would then follow that the retransition should stress the dominant seventh chord on G. Instead, it builds in strength over the seventh chord on C, as if the music were proceeding to F major. At the height of the musical tension, this chord triumphs with great volume and wide registral scope on the downbeat, only to take up immediately the first theme in C major – that is, without any standard harmonic preparation.

Recapitulation

Main article: Recapitulation (music)

The Recapitulation is an altered repeat of the exposition, and consists of:

• First subject group – normally given prominence as the highlight of a recapitulation, it is usually in exactly the same key and form as in the exposition.
• Transition – now altered so that it does not change key, but remains in the piece's home key.
• Second subject group and codetta – usually in roughly the same form as in the exposition, but now in the home key, which sometimes involves transformation from major to minor, or vice versa, as occurs in the first movement of Mozart's Symphony No. 40 (K. 550). More often, however, it may be recast in the parallel major of the home key (for example, C major when the movement is in C minor like Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, op. 67/I). Key here is more important than mode (major or minor) - the recapitulation provides the needed balance even if the material's mode is changed, so long as there is no longer any key conflict.

Coda

Main article: Coda

After the final cadence of the recapitulation, the movement may continue with a coda, which will contain material from the movement proper. Codas, when present, vary considerably in length, but, like introductions, are not part of the "argument" of the work. The coda will end, however, with a perfect cadence in the home key. Codas may be quite brief tailpieces, or they may be very long and elaborate. A famous example is the finale of Beethoven's Symphony No. 8 along with the first and fourth movements of the Symphony No. 5; further examples of extended codas from Beethoven include the first movement from the Piano Sonata No. 23 ("Appassionata") and also the third movements from the Piano Sonata No. 14 ("Moonlight") and the Piano Sonata No. 17 ("Tempest").

A note on terminology

Some, in lieu of the above terminology, refer to the "primary theme" and "secondary theme" (abbreviated P. and S., respectively) instead of the first and second subject groups as well as the "closing" (abbreviated Cl. or Kl., as in the German term "Klose") instead of the codetta. Parts of the sonata form are also sometimes called the "main" and "subordinate theme" or the first and second "subjects".

Variations on the standard schema

Monothematic expositions

It is not necessarily the case that the move to the dominant key in the exposition is marked by a new theme. Haydn in particular was fond of using the opening theme, often in a truncated or otherwise altered form, to announce the move to the dominant. Mozart, despite his prodigious melodic gift, also occasionally wrote such expositions: for instance in the Piano Sonata K. 570 or the String Quintet K. 593. Such expositions are often called monothematic, meaning that one theme serves to establish the opposition between tonic and dominant keys. This term is misleading, since most "monothematic" works have multiple themes: most works so labeled have additional themes in the second subject group. Only on occasion (for example, in Haydn's String Quartet Op. 50 no. 1) did composers perform the tour de force of writing a complete sonata exposition with just one theme. A more recent example is Edmund Rubbra's 2nd Symphony.

The fact that so-called monothematic expositions usually have additional themes is used by Charles Rosen to illustrate his theory that the Classical sonata form's crucial element is some sort of dramatisation of the arrival of the dominant. Using a new theme was a very common way to achieve this, but other resources such as changes in texture, salient cadences and so on were also accepted practice.

Modulation to keys other than the dominant

The key of the second subject may be something other than the dominant or the relative major (or relative minor). About halfway through his career, Beethoven began to experiment with other tonal relationships between the tonic and the second subject group. Most commonly, both in Beethoven and other composers, the mediant or submediant, rather than the dominant, is used for the second group. For instance, the first movement of the "Waldstein" sonata, in C major, modulates to the mediant E major, while the opening movement of the "Hammerklavier" sonata, in B-flat major, modulates to the submediant G major.

Expositions with more than two key areas

''Main article: Three-key exposition

The exposition need not only have two key areas. Some composers, most notably Schubert, composed sonata forms with three or more key areas. The first movement of Schubert's Quartet in D minor, D. 810 ("Death and the Maiden"), for example, has three separate key and thematic areas, in D minor, F major, and A minor.^[4]

Modulations within the first subject group

The first subject group need not be entirely in the tonic key. In the more complex sonata expositions there can be brief modulations to fairly remote keys, followed by reassertion of the tonic. For example, Mozart's String Quintet in C, K. 515, visits C minor, D-flat major, and D major, before finally moving to the dominant major (G major), and many works by Schubert and later composers utilized even further harmonic convolutions. In the first subject group of Schubert's Piano Sonata in B flat, D. 960, for example, the theme is presented three times, in B flat major, in G flat major, and then again in B flat major. The second subject group is even more wide ranging. It begins in F sharp minor, moves into A major, then through B flat major to F major.^[5]

Sonata form in concerti

An important variant on traditional sonata-allegro form is found in the first movement of the Classical concerto. Here, the orchestra usually prepares for the entrance of the soloist by playing some of the themes that will be heard during the main part of the movement – a sort of introduction but in the main tempo. The solo instrument then enters, sometimes with material of its own (as in Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20, and others), and continues with a sonata-form exposition – usually, but not always, closely related to that opening orchestral introduction. (With Mozart, for instance, some of the most memorable themes of those opening orchestral tutti are held off until the development. In his Piano Concerto No. 25, a theme that had not been heard since the introduction becomes the main "subject" treated in the development. One of the earliest books devoted to his concertos, by Cuthbert Girdlestone, points this out often.)

Towards the end of the recapitulation, there is usually a cadenza for the soloist alone. This has an improvisatory character (it may or may not actually be improvised), and generally serves to prolong the harmonic tension on a dominant chord before the orchestra ends the piece in the tonic.

The history of sonata form

Main article: History of sonata form

The term sonata is first found in the 17th century, when instrumental music had just begun to separate itself from vocal music. Originally the term (derived from the Italian word suonare, to sound on instrument) meant a piece for playing, distinguished from cantata, a piece for singing. At this time the term implies a binary form, usually AABB with some aspects of three part forms.

The classical era established the norms of structuring first movements and the standard layouts of multi-movement works. There was a period of a wide variety of layouts and formal structures within first movements which gradually became expected norms of composition. The practice of Haydn and Mozart, as well as other notable composers, became increasingly influential on a generation which sought to exploit the possibilities offered by the forms which Haydn and Mozart had established in their works. Gradually theory on the layout of the first movement became more and more focused on understanding the practice of Haydn, Mozart and, later, Beethoven. Their works were studied, patterns and exceptions to those patterns identified, and the boundaries of acceptable or usual practice set by the understanding of their works. The sonata form as it is described is strongly identified with the norms of the Classical period in music. Even before it had been described the form had become central to music making, absorbing or altering other formal schemas for works.

The Romantic era in music was to accept the centrality of this practice, codify the form explicitly and make instrumental music in this form central to concert and chamber composition and practice, particularly for works which were meant to be regarded as "serious" works of music. Various controversies in the 19th century would center on exactly what the implications of "development" and sonata practice actually meant, and what the role of the classical masters was in music. Ironically, at the same time that the form was being codified (by the likes of Czerny and so forth), the composers of the day - both major and minor masters - were writing works that flagrantly violated some of the principles of the codified form.

It has continued to be influential through the subsequent history of classical music through to the modern period. The 20th century brought a wealth of scholarship that sought to found the theory of the sonata form on basic tonal laws. The 20th century would see a continued expansion of acceptable practice, leading to the formulation of ideas that there existed a "sonata principle" or "sonata idea" which unified works of the type, even if they did not explicitly mean the demands of the normative description.

Sonata form and other musical forms

Sonata form shares characteristics with both binary form and ternary form. In terms of key relationships, it is very like binary form, with a first half moving from the home key to the dominant and the second half moving back again (this is why sonata form is sometimes known as compound binary form); in other ways it is very like ternary form, being divided into three sections, the first (exposition) of a particular character, the second (development) in contrast to it, the third section (recapitulation) the same as the first.

The early binary sonatas (more than 500) by Domenico Scarlatti provide excellent examples of the transition from binary to sonata-allegro form. Among the many sonatas are numerous examples of the true sonata form being crafted into place. During the 18th century many other composers like Scarlatti were discovering this same musical form by experimenting at their keyboards harmonically and melodically.

Theory of sonata form

The sonata form is a guide to composers as to the schematic for their works, for interpreters to understand the grammar and meaning of a work, and for listeners to understand the significance of musical events. A host of musical details are determined by the harmonic meaning of a particular note, chord or phrase. The sonata form, because it describes the shape and hierarchy of a movement, tells performers what to emphasize and how to shape phrases of music. Its theory begins with the description, in the 1700s, of schematics for works, and was codified in the early 19th century. This codified form is still used in the pedagogy of the sonata form.

In the 20th century, emphasis moved from the study of themes and keys to how harmony changed through the course of a work and the importance of cadences and transitions in establishing a sense of "closeness" and "distance in a sonata". The work of Heinrich Schenker and his ideas about "foreground", "middleground" and "background" became enormously influential in the teaching of composition and interpretation. Schenker believed that inevitability was the key hallmark of a successful composer, and that therefore works in sonata form should demonstrate an inevitable logic.

In the simplest example, playing of a cadence should be in relationship to the importance of that cadence in the overall form of the work. More important cadences are emphasized by pauses, dynamics, sustaining and so on. False or deceptive cadences are given some of the characteristics of a real cadence, and then this impression is undercut by going forward more quickly. For this reason changes in performance practice bring changes to the understanding of the relative importance of various aspects of the sonata form. In the Classical era, the importance of sections and cadences and underlying harmonic progressions gives way to an emphasis on themes. The clarity of strongly differentiated major and minor sections gives way to a more equivocal sense of key and mode. These changes produce changes in performance practice: when sections are clear, then there is less need to emphasize the points of articulation. When they are less clear, greater importance is placed on varying the tempo during the course of the music to give "shape" to the music.

Over the last half-century a critical tradition of examining scores, autographs, annotations and the historical record has changed, sometimes subtly, occasionally dramatically, the way the sonata form is viewed. It has led to changes in how works are edited; for example, the phrasing of Beethoven's piano works has undergone a shift to longer and longer phrases which are not always in step with the cadences and other formal markers of the sections of the underlying form. Compare the recordings of Schnabel, from the beginning of modern recording, with those of Barenboim and then Pratt shows a distinct shift in how the structure of the sonata form is presented to the listener over time.

For composers, the sonata form is like the plot of a play or movie script, describing when the crucial plot points are, and the kinds of material that should be used to connect them into a coherent and orderly whole. At different times the sonata form has been taken to be quite rigid, and at other times a freer interpretation has been generally considered permissible.

In the theory of sonata form it is often asserted that other movements stand in relation to the sonata-allegro form, either, per Charles Rosen that they are really "sonata forms", plural - or as Edward T. Cone asserts, that the sonata-allegro is the ideal to which other movement structures "aspire". This is particularly seen to be the case with other movement forms which commonly occur in works thought of as sonatas. As a sign of this the word "sonata" is sometimes prepended to the name of the form, particularly in the case of the "sonata-rondo" form. Slow movements, in particular, are seen as being similar to sonata-allegro form, with differences in phrasing and less emphasis on the development.

Conversely Schoenberg and other theorists who used his ideas as a point of departure see the theme and variations as having an underlying role in the construction of formal music, calling the process continuing variation, and argue from this idea that the sonata-allegro form is a means of structuring the continuing variation process. Theorists of this school include Erwin Ratz and William E. Caplin.

Subsections of works are sometimes analyzed as being in sonata form, particularly single movement works, such as the Konzertstück in F minor of Carl Maria von Weber.

Recently two musicologists, James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy, have presented an analysis of the Sonata-Allegro form and the Sonata Cycle which argues that sonata play on genre expectations, and that it is possible to categorize both the sonata-allegro movement and the sonata cycle by the compositional choices made to respect or depart from conventions. Their study focuses on the normative period of sonata practice, namely the works of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, and their close contemporaries, projecting this practice forward to development of the sonata-allegro form into the 19th and 20th centuries.

Musical criticism and sonata form

Due to its centrality to classical music, the sonata form has been a topic of interest to musical critics ever since its origin. For full discussion, see Criticism and sonata form.

Notes

References

• William E. Caplin A Theory of Formal Functions for the Instrumental Music of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-514399-X
• James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy Elements of Sonata Theory: Norms, Types, and Deformations in the Late-Eighteenth-Century Sonata Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-514640-9
• William S. Newman Sonata in the Classic Era (A History of the Sonata Idea) ISBN 0-393-00623-9
• William S. Newman The sonata in the Baroque Era ISBN 0-393-00622-0
• William S. Newman The sonata in the Classic Era ISBN 0-393-95286-X
• William S. Newman The sonata since Beethoven ISBN 0-393-95290-8
• William S. Newman Beethoven on Beethoven: Playing His Piano Music His Way ISBN 0-393-30719-0
• Charles Rosen (1988) Sonata Forms, 2nd ed. New York: Norton. ISBN 0-393-02658-2
• Charles Rosen (1997) The Classical Style. 2nd ed.. New York: Norton. ISBN 0-393-31712-9
• Charles Rosen The Romantic Generation ISBN 0-674-77934-7
• Arnold Schoenberg Harmonielehre
• Heinrich Schenker Free Composition
• Felix Salzer Structural Hearing Volumes I & II
• Stanley Sadie ed, The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music.

See also

• Closely related key
• Sonata rondo form