SONATA FORM • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Sonata form

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/sənˈɑtə fɔrm/ Listen

Sonata form

noun

A musical form having 3 sections -- exposition and development and recapitulation; characteristic of 1st movement of a sonata or symphony.

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Etymology of 'Sonata form'

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"Sonata form" Quotes from Famous Books

... major quartet, the second subject of the finale of his D major quintet, and the exposition of quintuple counterpoint in the coda of the finale of the Jupiter Symphony, and countless other passages in the developments and main subjects of classical and modern works in sonata form. The ordinary use of the term implies an adherence to a definite set of rules quite incompatible with the sonata style, and therefore inapplicable to these passages, and at the same time equally devoid of real connexion with the idea of fugue ...

— Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 2 - "Constantine Pavlovich" to "Convention" • Various

... is that we must understand the development in musical form from the cut and dried sonata form to the wayward yet infinitely greater beauty of Beethoven; and thence to the "free forms" of modern music. "Infinite melody" is a contradiction in terms, because when the first term cannot be present in consciousness with the last there is nothing ...

— The Psychology of Beauty • Ethel D. Puffer

... again for a moment to the question of Jumboism. I do not know whether he was a German or a French critic who first wrote that Chopin, although great in short pieces, was not great enough to master the sonata form. Once in print, this silly opinion was repeated parrot-like by scores of other critics. How silly it is may be inferred from the fact that such third-rate composerlings as Herz and Hummel were able to write sonatas of the most approved pattern—and that, in ...

— Chopin and Other Musical Essays • Henry T. Finck