Piano sonata

Form of music for solo piano
Ludwig van Beethoven's manuscript sketch for Piano Sonata No. 28, Movement IV, Geschwind, doch nicht zu sehr und mit Entschlossenheit (Allegro), in his own handwriting. The piece was completed in 1816.

A piano sonata is a sonata written for a solo piano. Piano sonatas are usually written in three or four movements, although some piano sonatas have been written with a single movement (Scarlatti, Liszt, Scriabin, Medtner, Berg), others with two movements (Haydn, Beethoven), some contain five (Brahms' Third Piano Sonata, Czerny's Piano Sonata No. 1) or even more movements. The first movement is generally composed in sonata form.

The Baroque keyboard sonata

In the Baroque era, the use of the term "sonata" generally referred to either the sonata da chiesa (church sonata) or sonata da camera (chamber sonata), both of which were sonatas for various instruments (usually one or more violins plus basso continuo). The keyboard sonata was relatively neglected by most composers.

The sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti (of which there are over 500) were the hallmark of the Baroque keyboard sonata, though they were, for the most part, unpublished during Scarlatti's lifetime.[1] The majority of these sonatas are in one-movement binary form, both sections being in the same tempo and utilizing the same thematic material. These sonatas are prized for both their technical difficulty and their musical and formal ingenuity. The influence of Spanish folk music is evident in Scarlatti's sonatas.

Other composers of keyboard sonatas (which were primarily written in two or three movements) include Marcello, Giustini, Durante and Platti. J.S. Bach's popular Italian Concerto, despite the name, can also be considered a keyboard sonata.

Piano sonatas in the Classical era

Although various composers in the 17th century had written keyboard pieces which they entitled "Sonata", it was only in the classical era, when the piano displaced the earlier harpsichord and sonata form rose to prominence as a principle of musical composition, that the term "piano sonata" acquired a definite meaning and a characteristic form.

All the well-known Classical era composers, especially Joseph Haydn, Muzio Clementi, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven, wrote many piano sonatas. Muzio Clementi wrote more than 110 piano sonatas. He is well known as "The Father of the Pianoforte". Clementi's Opus 2 was the first real piano sonata composed. The much younger Franz Schubert also wrote many.

The 32 sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven, including the well-known Pathétique Sonata and the Moonlight Sonata, are often considered the pinnacle of piano sonata composition.

Piano sonatas in the Romantic era

As the Romantic era progressed after Beethoven and Schubert, piano sonatas continued to be composed, but in lesser numbers as the form took on a somewhat academic tinge and competed with shorter genres more compatible with Romantic compositional style. Franz Liszt's comprehensive "three-movements-in-one" Sonata in B minor draws on the concept of thematic transformation first introduced by Schubert in his Wanderer Fantasie of 1822. Piano sonatas have been written throughout the 19th and 20th centuries and up to the present day.

Noted piano sonatas

Classical Era

Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 10 in C Major, Movement II, Andante cantabile
Performed by Johannes V. Schmidt
Problems playing this file? See media help.
  • Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
    • Württemberg Sonata No. 1 in A minor, H. 30, Wq. 49/1
    • 'Prussian' Sonata No. 4 in C minor, Wq. 48/4
  • Ludwig van Beethoven
    • Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 2 No. 1
    • Piano Sonata No. 4 in E-flat Major, Op. 7 "Grand Sonata"
    • Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 "Pathétique"
    • Piano Sonata No. 12 in A-flat Major Op. 26 "Funeral March"
    • Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 27 No. 2 "Moonlight"
    • Piano Sonata No. 15 in D major, Op. 28 "Pastoral"
    • Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor, Op. 31 No. 2 "Tempest"
    • Piano Sonata No. 18 in E-flat major, Op. 31 No. 3 "The Hunt"
    • Piano Sonata No. 19 in G minor, Op. 49 No. 1
    • Piano Sonata No. 20 in G Major, Op. 49 No. 2
    • Piano Sonata No. 21 in C Major, Op. 53 "Waldstein"
    • Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57 "Appassionata"
    • Piano Sonata No. 25 in G Major, Op. 79 "Cuckoo"
    • Piano Sonata No. 26 in E-flat Major, Op. 81a "Les Adieux"
    • Piano Sonata No. 28 in A Major, Op. 101
    • Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-flat Major, Op. 106 "Hammerklavier"
    • Piano Sonata No. 30 in E Major, Op. 109
    • Piano Sonata No. 31 in A♭ major, Op. 110
    • Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111
  • Clementi, Muzio
    • Piano Sonata in B-flat major, Op. 24 No. 2
    • Piano Sonata in F-sharp minor, Op. 25 No. 5
    • Piano Sonata in G major, Op. 40 No. 1
    • Piano Sonata in B minor, Op. 40 No. 2
    • Piano Sonata in G minor, Op. 50 No. 3
  • Dussek, Jan Ladislav
    • Piano Sonata No. 18 in E-flat major, Op. 44
    • Piano Sonata No. 24 in F-sharp minor "Élégie Harmonique", Op. 61
    • Piano Sonata No. 28 in F minor, "L'Invocation", Op. 77
  • Haydn, Franz Joseph
  • Hummel, Johann Nepomuk
    • Piano Sonata No. 5 in F-sharp minor, Op. 81
  • Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus
    • Piano Sonata No. 3 in B-flat major (K. 281/189f)
    • Piano Sonata No. 5 in G Major (K. 283)
    • Piano Sonata No. 8 in A minor (K. 310/300d)
    • Piano Sonata No. 10 in C major (K. 330)
    • Piano Sonata No. 11 in A major (K. 331/300i)
    • Piano Sonata No. 13 in B-flat major (K. 333/315c)
    • Piano Sonata No. 14 in C minor (K. 457)
    • Piano Sonata No. 16 in C major (K. 545)
    • Piano Sonata No. 17 in B-flat major (K. 570)

Romantic

Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 28 in A Major, Op. 101, Movement I
Piano Sonata No. 28 in A Major, Op. 101, Movement II
Piano Sonata No. 28 in A Major, Op. 101, Movements III and IV
Performed by Daniel Veesey. From Musopen.com.
Problems playing these files? See media help.

Modern (1900-present)

  • Alwyn, William
    • Sonata alla Toccata (1945–46)
  • Barber, Samuel
    • Sonata for Piano, Op. 26
  • Barraqué, Jean
    • Piano Sonata (1950–52)
  • Bartók, Béla
    • Piano Sonata, Sz.80
  • Bax, Arnold
    • Piano Sonata No. 1 (1910)
    • Piano Sonata No. 2 (1919)
    • Piano Sonata No. 3 (1926)
    • Piano Sonata No. 4 in G major (1934)
  • Berg, Alban
    • Piano Sonata, Op. 1
  • Berkeley, Lennox
    • Piano Sonata in A major, Op. 20 (1941–45)
  • Boulez, Pierre
    • Piano Sonata No. 1
    • Piano Sonata No. 2
    • Piano Sonata No. 3 (Unfinished: only two of the five movements have been published.)
  • Bridge, Frank
    • Piano Sonata (1921–24)
  • Cochran, Julian
    • Piano Sonata No. 1
    • Piano Sonata No. 2
  • Copland, Aaron
    • Piano Sonata
  • Corea, Chick
    • Piano Sonata: The Moon (recorded on Trilogy)
  • Dutilleux, Henri
    • Piano Sonata, Op. 1
  • Fairouz, Mohammed
    • Piano Sonata No. 1 "Reflections on Exile"
    • Piano Sonata No. 2 "The Last Resistance"
  • Ferguson, Howard
    • Piano Sonata in F minor, Op. 8 (1938–40)
  • Ginastera, Alberto
    • Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 22
  • Gould, Glenn
    • Piano Sonata
  • Habibi, Iman
    • Piano Sonata (Voyage) (2013)
  • Hindemith, Paul
    • Piano Sonata No. 1 in A Major "Der Main"
    • Piano Sonata No. 2 in G Major
    • Piano Sonata No. 3 in B flat Major
  • Hough, Stephen
    • Sonata for piano (Broken Branches) (2010)
    • 2nd Piano Sonata (Notturno luminoso) (2012)
    • Piano Sonata III (Trinitas) (2014)
    • Piano Sonata no. 4 (Vida Breve) (2016)
  • Ireland, John
    • Piano Sonata (1920)
  • Ives, Charles
    • Piano Sonata No.2, Concord, Mass., 1840-60
  • Janáček, Leoš
  • Jennings, David
    • Piano Sonata, Op. 1 (1988, revised 1995 and 2009)
  • Leighton, Kenneth
    • Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 2 (1948)
    • Piano Sonata No. 2, Op. 17 (1953)
    • Piano Sonata No. 3 Op. 27 (1954)
    • Piano Sonata, Op. 64 (1971–72)
  • Liebermann, Lowell
    • Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 1 (1977)
    • Piano Sonata No.2 ("Sonata Notturna") Op. 10 (1983)
    • Piano Sonata No.3 Op. 82 (2002)
  • Lilburn, Douglas
    • Piano Sonata No. 1 in C minor Op. 1 (1932)
    • Piano Sonata No. 3 in F♯ minor (1939)
    • Piano Sonata No. 4 in A minor (1939)
    • Piano Sonata No. 5 (1949)
    • Piano Sonata No. 6 (1956)
  • Medtner, Nikolai
    • Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 5 (1901–3)
    • Piano Sonata No. 2 in A♭, Op. 11 (1904–7)
    • Piano Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Sonate-Elegie, Op. 11 (1904–7)
    • Piano Sonata No. 4 in C, Op. 11 (1904–7)
    • Piano Sonata No. 5 in G minor, Op. 22 (1909–10)
    • Piano Sonata No. 6 in C minor, Sonata-Skazka, Op. 22 (1910–11)
    • Piano Sonata No. 7 in E minor, Night Wind, Op. 22 (1910–11)
    • Piano Sonata No. 8 in F♯, Sonata-Ballade, Op. 27 (1912–14)
    • Piano Sonata No. 9 in A minor, War Sonata , Op. 30 (1914–17)
    • Piano Sonata No. 10 in A minor, Sonata-reminiscenza, Op. 38 No. 1 (1920)
    • Piano Sonata No. 11 in C minor, Sonata Tragica, Op. 39, No. 5 (1920)
    • Piano Sonata No. 12 in B♭ minor, Romantica, Op. 53 No. 1 (1930)
    • Piano Sonata No. 13 in F minor, Minacciosa, Op. 53, No. 2 (1930)
    • Piano Sonata No. 14 in G, Sonata-Idyll, Op. 56 (1937)
  • Ornstein, Leo
    • Piano Sonata No. 4
    • Piano Sonata No. 8
  • Pejačević, Dora
    • Sonata in B flat minor, Op. 36 (1914; dedicated to Anny von Lange)
    • Sonata in A flat major, Op. 57 (in one movement; 1921)
  • Persichetti, Vincent
    • Sonata No. 12 (Mirror Sonata)
  • Price, Florence
    • Piano Sonata in E Minor
  • Prokofiev, Sergei
    • Piano Sonata No. 3 in A minor, Op. 28 ("From Old Notebooks")
    • Piano Sonata No. 6 in A major, Op. 82 ("War Sonata 1")
    • Piano Sonata No. 7 in B-flat major, Op. 83 ("War Sonata 2/Stalingrad")
    • Piano Sonata No. 8 in B-flat major, Op. 84 ("War Sonata 3")
  • Rzewski, Frederic
    • Sonata for Solo Piano
  • Schnittke, Alfred
    • Piano Sonata No. 1
    • Piano Sonata No. 2
    • Piano Sonata No. 3
  • Scriabin, Alexander
    • Piano Sonata No. 2 "Sonata-Fantasy"
    • Piano Sonata No. 4
    • Piano Sonata No. 5
    • Piano Sonata No. 6
    • Piano Sonata No. 7 "White Mass"
    • Piano Sonata No. 9 "Black Mass"
  • Shostakovich, Dmitri
    • Piano Sonata No. 2 in B minor, Op. 61
  • Stoker, Richard
    • Piano Sonata No.1, Op.26 (1970)
    • Piano Sonata No.2, Op.71 (1998)
  • Stravinsky, Igor
    • Sonata for Piano
  • Szymanowski, Karol
    • Piano Sonata No. 2 in A Major op. 21
    • Piano Sonata No. 3 op. 36
  • Tippett, Michael
    • Piano Sonata No. 1 (1936–38)
    • Piano Sonata No. 2 (1962)
    • Piano Sonata No. 3 (1972–73)
    • Piano Sonata No. 4 (1983–84)
  • Vine, Carl
    • Piano Sonata No. 1
  • Williams, John
    • Piano Sonata (1951)
  • Wuorinen, Charles
    • Piano Sonata (1969)
    • Second Piano Sonata (1976)
    • Third Piano Sonata (1986)
    • Fourth Piano Sonata (2007)

References

  1. ^ Kirkpatrick, Ralph (19 July 2023). "Domenico Scarlatti". Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
  • v
  • t
  • e
TypesBy instrumentMiscellaneous
Authority control databases: National Edit this at Wikidata
  • Germany
  • Israel
  • United States
  • Japan