Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A composition for one or more solo instruments, one of which is usually a keyboard instrument, usually consisting of three or four independent movements varying in key, mood, and tempo.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In music, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, any composition for instruments: opposed to cantata.
- noun In recent music, an instrumental work, especially for the pianoforte, made up of three or four movements in contrasted rhythms but related keys, one or more of which are written in sonata form.
- noun exposition, containing the first subject, followed by the second, properly in the key of the dominant or in the relative major (if the first be minor);
- noun development or working out, consisting of a somewhat free treatment of the two subjects or parts of them, either singly or in conjunction;
- noun restatement containing the two subjects in succession, both in the original key, with a conclusion. The succession of sections and the relations of keys are open to considerable variation, and episodes often occur. The sonata form is distinctive of at least one movement of a sonata or symphony, and usually of the first and last; it also appears in many overtures.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Mus.) An extended composition for one or two instruments, consisting usually of three or four movements
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun music A musical
composition for one or a fewinstruments , one of which is frequently apiano , in three or fourmovements that vary inkey andtempo
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a musical composition of 3 or 4 movements of contrasting forms
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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By the term sonata-piece, however, is meant the particular movement of the sonata which gives the name to the whole piece.
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The term sonata was originally used in two senses: in its larger sense it indicates an extended musical composition with three or four movements, all which taken together form the sonata.
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The term sonata in common usage can have one or more of three different meanings:
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The term sonata in common usage can have one or more of three different meanings:
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The term sonata in common usage can have one or more of three different meanings:
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This sonata is a major piece of music for both the violin and, in transcription, the guitar.
The Boy from Thuringia David Booth 2010
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Choices include the third movement of violin sonata no. 24 in C major (the high tones of the violin work wonders on the parasympathetic nerve), first movement of the oboe quartet in F major (the high frequency tones have a soothing effect on the cranial nerves) and the second movement of 35th symphony in D major (the calm arpeggios relieve tension from the body).
Medically proven Mozart music for mobiles Jan Kuczynski 2007
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Choices include the third movement of violin sonata no. 24 in C major (the high tones of the violin work wonders on the parasympathetic nerve), first movement of the oboe quartet in F major (the high frequency tones have a soothing effect on the cranial nerves) and the second movement of 35th symphony in D major (the calm arpeggios relieve tension from the body).
Archive 2007-03-01 Jan Kuczynski 2007
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But whether they can be called a sonata is another question.
Frederic Chopin as a Man and Musician Niecks, Frederick 1888
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In it, in fact, Beethoven may be said to have broken away from form, for after the word sonata he adds the qualifying phrase "quasi una fantasia," signifying that, although he calls the work a sonata, it has the characteristics of a free fantasy.
The Pianolist A Guide for Pianola Players Gustav Kobb�� 1887
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