Sonata form
Sonata form or sonata-allegro form is a musical form, a way of organising a work of music. The original idea of a central organizing form has been very widely used by classical composers since the 18th century, and was originally described by an Italian theorist as "a two part form" where each part was repeated. By the early 19th century, Carl Czerny, a student of Beethoven's, described it in terms of themes, which is how it is generally still described today. It was also considered to be the standard form for the first movement of any important work of instrumental music, for example a symphony, concerto, sonata or other works based on them, such as string quartets. For this reason, it is sometimes called first movement form, although this is somewhat of a misnomer, as it has been used in other movements of pieces. It is also sometimes known as compound binary form.The description we now apply to the Sonata form was outlined by Antonin Reicha in 1826, and codified by A.B. Marx in 1845 and Czerny in 1848. Each of them elaborated rules for composing, and intended the outline to be as much proscriptive as descriptive.
The central idea of the sonata-allegro form is to organize either harmony or themes from their being introduced, to their "development" or working out, through to a "recapitulation" where the original theme returns, and then, sometimes, to a "coda" which extends the music onward after the formal closure of the work. If this sounds complex, it is because it is an idea which has been progressively expanded on by new generations of composers, each seeking to refine, or enlarge, the same general shape to fit their own ideas. There are commonly played "sonata-allegro" movements which last only a few minutes, and some which extend for half an hour.
In music theory, the word "sonata" refers to works in the sonata form, even if those works are not labelled "sonata". For example a symphony is thought of as a "sonata for orchestra". The term "sonata form" is also applied to the use the layout of all of the movements, for example, Schumann relabelled a piano work as a "sonata" only when he included a fourth dance movement. This article will focus primarily on the sonata-allegro form, its structure and development over time.
The classical sonata form movement in its simplest version consists of the following sections:
Theorists have long sought to understand why the arrangements of keys and themes used in classical sonata form have held such importance for classical composers and their listeners. One influential view is that of Charles Rosen, who conceives the classical era's sonata form movement as a kind of dramatic journey through the system of musical keys. Modulations that move upward in the circle of fifths (in the direction of the sharp keys) increase musical tension, and modulations that move downward reduce it. Sonata form first increases tension through the move to the dominant (the crucial musical event of the exposition), then increases tension further in the development through the exploration of remote keys. The recapitulation resolves all this tension by returning everything to the tonic. He also argues that, over time, this idea would become the basis for all musical movements, regardless of their formal plan.
The use of the circle of fifths makes sense of a number of observations about the deployment of keys in the classical sonata form:
Sonata form may be varied in a number of ways.
Occasionally the material of introduction reappears (in its original tempo) later in the movement. Often, this occurs in the coda, as in Mozart's string quintet K. 593, the Drumroll Symphony, or Beethoven's Pathetique piano sonata Op. 13.
That monothematic expositions usually have additional theme is used by Charles Rosen to illustrate his theory that the Classical sonata form's crucial element of the is that the arrival of the dominant be dramatized in some way. Using a new theme was a very common way to achieve this effect, but other resources such as changes in texture, salient cadences and so on were also accepted practice.
It is a open question why Beethoven never modulated just two fifths higher, a major second; possibly this is because it might be perceived as a crude stepwise modulation. (For a modern criticism of such modulations, see the discussion of the "truck driver's gear change" in Modulation (music).)
Beethoven ultimately abandoned the three-key principle, as he came to adopt a tighter conception of sonata form. Franz Schubert also used three-key expositions in many of his sonatas.
An important variant on traditional sonata-allegro form is found in the first movement of the Classical concerto. Here, the exposition is not repeated, but is played through in two different versions. The first is played by the orchestra alone, and remains in the tonic throughout the first and second thematic groups. Then, after a cadence on the tonic, the movement returns to its opening material, this time with the solo instrument. This second time, the form is as in standard sonata form, with a modulation to the dominant or relative major before the second group.
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 serves, generally, to prolong the harmonic tension on a dominant chord before the orchestra ends the piece in the tonic.
Properly speaking, the "Sonata Form" does not exist in the Baroque period, however, the forms which lead to the standard defintion are present, and, in fact, there are a greater variety of harmonic patterns in Baroque works labelled "Sonata" than in the classical period that is to follow. The rich examples of the sonatas of Scarlatti provide an example of the range of possible relationships of theme and harmony possible in the 1730's and 1740's.
The crucial elements that lead to the sonata form are: the weakening of the difference between binary and ternary form; the shift of texture away from full polyphony, many voices in imitation, to homophony, or a single dominant voice and supporting harmony; and the increasing reliance on juxtaposing different keys and textures. As different key relationships took on a more and more specific meaning, the schematic of works altered. Devices such as the "false reprise" fell out of favor, while other patterns grew in importance.
Quite probably the most influential composer on the later development of the Sonata form is C.P.E Bach whose father J.S. Bach was one of the great masters of the older baroque style. Taking the harmonic and voice leading techniques that his father had developed, he applied them to the homphonic style - allowing him to make dramatic shifts in key and mood, while maintaining an overall coherence. C.P.E. Bach becomes an decisive influence on Haydn. One of CPE Bach's most lasting innovations was the shortening of the theme to a motif, which could be shaped more dramatically in pursuit of "development". By 1765, CPE Bach's themes, rather than being long melodies, have taken on the style of sonata form themes: short, characteristic, and flexible. By linking hte changes in the theme to the harmonic function of the section, CPE Bach has laid the ground work which composers such as Haydn and Mozart would exploit.
Byt the 1730's and 1740's the direction of instrumental works, considered less important than vocal music in most cases, were showing a movement towards taking an over all two part layout, the binary form, and adding a section of contrasting material which served as a bridge between them. The symphonies of Stamitz have a soft, piano, interlude between forte sections.
It is the practice of the classical period, specifically Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, the forms the basis for the description of the sonata form. Their works served both as the model for the form, and as the source for new works aiming at the sonata form itself. Debates about sonata form thus reference the practice of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven extensively.
Joseph Haydn as the first of these three composers, and the most prolific, is thought of as "the Father of the Symphony" and "the Father of the String Quartet". He can also be thought of as the father of the sonata form as a means of structuring works. His string quartets and symphonies in particular display not merely the range of uses of the form, but also the way to emphasize its dramatic effect. It was Haydn who, more than any other composer, created the transition to the development, and the transition from the development to the recapitulation as moments of supreme tension and interest. It is also Haydn who begins to create larger shape for works by making every aspect of the harmony of a work implicit in the theme. This is no small innovation, in that it creates a homphonic analog to the polyphonic fugue, a seed of potential from which the composer will draw different effects. Haydn's variety of dramatic effect and ability to create tension was remarked upon in his own time. His music increasingly became seen by his contemporaries as the standard against which to measure other practice.
His set of string quartets Opus 33, is often pointed to as the first examples of the coordinated use of all of the resources of the "sonata form" in characteristic fashion. The composer himself listed them as being written on completely new principles and marking the turning point in his technique.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart applied the large scale ideas of Haydn to opera, and to the piano concerto. His greater variety of themes and desire for a wider chord vocabulary. Mozart's fluidity with the creation of themes, and the dense network of motives and their parts gave his work a surface polish which was remarked upon even by his professional rivals. His own aesthetic was to both please the public, and to create moments which would appeal to the more sensitive ear. By the end of his short life, Mozart has absorbed Haydn's technique, and applied it to his own more elongated sense of theme, for example in the Prauge Symphony.
Ludwig van Beethoven was the composer who most directly inspired the writers who codified sonata form as a particular practice. While he was grounded in the fluid phrase structures and wider variety of schematic layouts possible which came from Haydn and Mozart, his deepest innovation is to work from both ends of a sonata form, conceiving of the entire structure, and then polishing themes which would support that over arching design. He continued to expand the length and weight of the sonata forms used by Haydn and Mozart, as well as frequently using motives and harmonic models drawn from the two older composers. Because of his use of increasingly characteristic rhythms and disruptive devices, he is seen as a transitional figure between the classical and romantic periods, with which side of the gap often depending on the tastes and needs of the era.
While in literature the "Romantic Period" is conventionally dated from the late 18th century to the early 19th century, in music, the overwhelming usage is to date the Romantic Period from post-Beethovenian works through the first decade of the 20th century. While not all critics and composers agree with this usage, it remains the predominant paradigm to see this period as a relatively continuous evolution in style, even though many influential composers and critics drew a sharp break around mid-century, for example Hanslick and Richard Wagner both agreed that their era was not "Romantic". Jacque Barzun has argued that the last half of the 19th century in both music and the arts should be seen as "Realist" and "Naturalist" rather than "Romantic".
In the Romantic era, sonata form was defined, and became institutionalized. Academic scholars like Adolph Bernhard Marx wrote descriptions of the form, often with a normative goal; that is, of stating how works sonata form should be composed. While the first movement form had been the subject of theoretical works, it was not seen as the pinnacle of musical technique. Nineteenth century composers were often overtly trained to write in sonata form, and to favor the "Sonata-Allegro" movement form over others.
The 19th century's schematic for writing sonatas diverged from earlier Classical practice, in that it focused more on themes, than on the placement of cadences. The monothematic exposition largely disappeared, and it was expected that the themes of the first and second groups would always contrast in character. More generally, the formal outline of a sonata came to be viewed more in terms of its themes or groups of themes, rather than the sharp differentiation of tonic areas based on cadences. In the classical period establishing the expectation of a particular cadence, and then delaying or avoiding it was a common way of creating tension, in the 19th century, with its dramatically expanded harmonic vocabularly, sliding away from a cadence did not have the same character of unexpectedness. Instead more distant key regions were established by a variety of other means, including use of increasingly dissonant chords, pedal points, texture, and alteration of the main theme itself.
In the classical period, the contrast between theme groups, while useful, was not required. The first theme group tended to outline the tonic chord, and the second theme tended to be more "cantible" in character, but this was far from universal - as Haydn's monothematic expositions, and Beethoven's rhythmic themes show. Because the power of harmonic opposition, both between tonic and dominant and between major and minor, had less force in the Romantic vocabularly, stereotypes of the "character" of themes became stronger. As the theory of the 19th century described the "sonata principle" as one of opposition between two groups of themes, it was thought by many that the characteristic of the firt theme should be "masculine", that is strident, rhythmic and implying a dissonance, where as the second theme group should be drawn more from vocal melody, and be "feminine". It is this contrast between "rhythmic" and "singing" which Wagner argued was the core of the tension in music in his very influential work "On Conducting". This lead to the belief among many interpreters and composers that texture was the most important contrast, and that tempo should be used to emphasize this contrast: fast sections were conducted faster, slower sections were conducted or played more slowly.
As with many older terminologies, there are modern readers who find it objectionable or sterotypical to describe musical ideas in gendered terms, see below.
By requiring that harmony move with the themes, 19th century sonata form imposed a kind of discipline on composers, and also allowed audiences to feel where the music was by following the appearance of recognizable melodies. However, the sonata form, as an inherited "mold", also created a kind of tension for Romantic composers: the desire to combine poetical expression and academic rigour were often seen as being in conflict.
Later romantic commentators and theorists detected a "sonata idea", of increasing formalization. The drew a progression of works from Haydn, through Mozart and Beethoven where by more and more movements in a multi-movement work were felt to be in "sonata-allegro form". The theory these theorists present is that originally only first movements were, and then first and often last movements, for Example Mozart's Prague Symphony, and finally that the "sonata principle" should extend through an entire work - for example Beethoven's String Quartet Opus 59 No 2 was said to have all four movements in Sonata-Allegro form. By this theorists such as Tovey meant the academically laid out Sonata Form. Charles Rosen has argued that, properly understood, this was always the case that the real "sonata forms", plural, were always present, though this is not universally agreed on.
As the 19th Century progressed, the complexity of sonata form grew, as new ways of moving through the harmony of a work were introduced by Johannes Brahms and Franz Liszt. Instead of focusing exclusively on keys related by the circle of fifths, they used movement along circles based on minor or major triads. Following the trend established by Beethoven, the focus became more and more on the development section. This was in line with the Romantic comparison of music to poetry. Poetic terms, such as "rhapsody" and "recital" and "tone poem" entered music, and increasingly musicians felt that they should not take the repeats in symphonies because there was no point. This changed their interpretation of previous sonata forms.
The Romantic sonata form was an especially congenial mold for Brahms, who felt a strong affinity with the composers of the Classical era. Brahms adopted and extended Beethoven's practice of modulating to more remote keys in the exposition, and combined it with the use of counterpoint in the inner voices of the music. For example, his piano quintet has the first subject in F minor, but the second subject is in C sharp minor, an augmented fifth higher. In the same work, the key scheme of the recapitulation is also altered - the second subject in the recapitulation is in F-sharp minor, rather than the F minor of the first subject.
Another force acting on sonata form was the school of composers centering on Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner. They sought to integrate more roving harmonies and unprepared chords into the musical structure, in order to attain both formal coherence and a full expressive range of keys. Increasingly, themes began to have notes which were far from the original key, a procedure later labelled "extended tonality". This trend strongly influenced the next generation of composers, for instance Gustav Mahler. The first movements of several of his symphonies are described as being in sonata form, although they diverge from the above scheme quite dramatically. Some have even argued that the entirety of his first symphony (in which material from the first movement returns in the fourth movement) is meant to a massive sonata-allegro form.
As the result of these innovations, works became more sectional, composers such as Liszt and Anton Bruckner even began to include explicit pauses in works between sections. The length of sonata movements grew starting in the 1830's. The "Prize Symphony" by Lachner, a work seldom played today, had a first movement longer than any symphonic first movement by Beethoven. The length of whole works also increased correspondingly. Another area where the sonata form expanded was in the realm of "tone poems" or "symphonic poems", which would often use the first movement form, and greatly extended their length versus traditional overtures. Berlioz's "Waverly" overture is almost as long as many middle period Haydn symphonies.
One of the debates in the 19th century was over whether it was acceptable to use the layout of a poem or other literary work to structure a work of instrumental music. The compositional school focused around Liszt and Wagner - the so called "New German School" - argued in favor of literary inspiration, while another camp, centered around Schumann, Brahms, and Hanslick argued that "pure" music should follow the forms laid out by Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. This conflict was eventually internalized and by 1900, while the debate still raged, composers such as Richard Strauss would freely combine program with symphonic structure, such as in the work "An Heroic Life".
In the Modern period, sonata form became unhooked from its traditional harmonic basis. The works of Schoenberg, Debussy, Sibelius and Richard Strauss emphasized different scales other than the traditional major-minor scale and chords which did not establish a tonality clearly. It could be argued that by the 1930's, "sonata form" was merely a rhetorical term for any movement which stated themes, took them apart, and put them back together again. However, even composers of atonal music, such as Roger Sessions and Hartman continued to use outlines which clearly pointed back to the practice of Beethoven and Haydn, even if the method and style were quite different. At the same time, composers such as Sergei Prokofiev, Benjamin Britten and Dmitri Shostakovich revived the idea of a sonata form by more complex and extended use of tonality.
In more recent times, Minimalism has searched for new ways to develop form, and new outlines which, again, while not being based on the same harmonic plan as the Classical sonata, are clearly related to it. An example is Aaron Jay Kernis's Symphony In Waves from the early 1990's.
Sonata form shares characteristics with both binary form and ternary form. It 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 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 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 hiearchy of a movement, tells performers what to emphasize and how to shape phrases of music.
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 in which the sonata form is viewed. It has lead to changes in the way 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 lock step with the cadences and other formal markers of the sections of the underlying sonata form. Compare the recordings of Schnabel from the beginning of the recording era, 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. Questions such as whether themes may be presented in the "wrong" keys or the "reverse order" show eras with a stricter understanding of sonata form.
Because of its centrality to classical music, the critical literature on sonata form is voluminous.
In the late 1700s as the form began to emerge, the emphasis was on a regular layout of works for performers and listeners. Since most works received, at most, one rehearsal, and seldom more than a few performances, this accessibility of layout was considered important. Emphasis was on effects within the course of a strongly framed work.
In the 1800s the sonata form assumed a place next to the fugue as a cardinal musical structure, and works were laid out in increasingly complex ways to utilize the sectional nature of the sonata form. In this period ETA Hoffman and Robert Schumann proselytized for the use of the sonata form as the poetic means of expressing pure music, unallied with words or other arts.
The late 19th century was the pinnacle of the idea of the sonata form as the means of containing the huge number of influences in music. Hanslick argued that formal comprehensibility rested on the use of the sonata form. He criticized what he regarded as radical innovations by Richard Wagner and by needless extension. The critical dialog between explosive trends in Wagner and Liszt, and implosive trends in Brahms, reached outward into politics, art and science for metaphors. There was a great deal of internal tension, even among composers, between the formal rules and the desire for expression. Tchaikovsky berated himself for not being able to produce highly structured symphonies.
The early 20th century saw an attack on the extended sonata form, and a search my many composers for more organic and more compressed sonata forms. Critics such as Olin Downes proclaimed the idea that the sonata form's vigor was an analogy for social and artistic vigor, and a defense against empty works. At the same time, adherence to established structures took on a different meaning in Soviet Russia, where composers who failed to compose along established lines were accused of "formalism", as opposed to the established sonata forms which were called "natural" and "realistic". At various times even prominent composers such as Shostakovich and Prokofiev were denounced for their music.
The later 20th century saw the rise of postmodern and literary criticism, critical theory, narratology, feminism and other identity politics, and film theory, all which was applied to sonata forms. One particulary controversial work is 1991's Feminine Endings, by Susan McClary. Her book describes describes how sonata form may be interpreted as sexist or misogynistic and imperialistic, and that, "tonality itself - with its process of instilling expectations and subsequently withholding promised fulfillment until climax - is the principal musical means during the period from 1600 to 1900 for arousing and channeling desire." She analyzes the sonata procedure for its constructions of gender and sexual identity. The primary, once "masculine", key (or first subject group) represents the, always in narrative, male, self, while the secondary, "feminine" key (or second subject group) represents the Other: female, foreigner, difference, a terrority to be explored and conquered, assimilated into the self and stated in the tonic home key. This reading is based in the work of Lacan and Derrida.Outline of sonata form
The above terminology is not universally used: some writers speak of the first and second subjects rather than groups, others speak of the principal or main theme and the subordinate theme.The function of classical sonata form
Variation in classical sonata form
Codas
Quite often, there is an additional section, the coda, which follows the end of the recapitulation. The coda rounds the movement off with a perfect cadence in the home key. Codas may be quite brief tailpieces, or they may very long and elaborate; a famous example is the finale of Beethoven's Eighth Symphony.Introductions
Less often, the entire movement is preceded by a slow introduction. 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 Joseph Haydn's Drumroll Symphony. Usually, but not always, the introduction is excluded from the exposition repeat.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 keyes. This term is misleading: most "monothematic" works have multiple themes: most works so labelled 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: another more recent example is Edmund Rubbra's 2nd Symphony.Modulation to keys other than the dominant
The key of the second subject may be something other than the dominant or the relative major. About halfway through his career, Ludwig van Beethoven began to experiment with new keys for the second subject group. These keys likewise move upward along the circle of fifths, but three or four fifths instead of just one. Thus,the second subject of the Waldstein sonata for piano is in E major, fourth fifths higher (C --> G --> D --> A --> E) than the tonic key of C. The Hammerklavier sonata Op. 106 moves three fifths higher (Bb --> F --> C --> G). 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. Thus, Mozart's String quintet in C, K. 515 visits C minor, Db major, and D major before finally moving to the dominant of G major.The three-key exposition
In the early part of Beethoven's career, he favored for his grander works a kind of exposition in which the exposition dwells on a third key before finally moving to the dominant. For example, in the early major-key piano sonatas this intermediate key is the dominant minor (Op. 2, no. 2), the supertonic minor (Op. 2, no. 3), and the relative minor (Op. 10, no. 3). Later, Beethoven used the supertonic major (Op. 14, no. 1, Op. 22), which is only a mild sort of three-key exposition, since the supertonic major is simply is the dominant of the dominant, and commonly arises in any event as part of modulation. Sonata form in concertos
Sonata form in the late Baroque era (ca 1710- ca 1770)
Sonata form in the Classical era (ca 1770-ca 1825)
Sonata form in the Romantic era (ca 1820 - ca 1910)
Sonata form in the Modern era
Sonata form and other musical forms
The purpose of the Sonata Form
Criticism and the Sonata Form