SONATA (It., sonata, sonata, p.p. fem. of sonar(, to sound, from Lat. sonare, to sound, from sonns, sound). In music, an instrumental composition in cyclical form, originally any instrumental work as opposed to a cantata or vocal work. At first the sonata was almost iden tical with the suite (q.v.), but it soon aban doned the pure dance forms which the suite embodied. The violin sonata attained a some what perfected form before that of any of the keyed instruments. Its slow introductory first movement generally shows traces of ecclesiastical influence: the second movement, an allegro, which corresponds to the first movement of a modern sonata, was derived from vocal madrigals or part music; the third movement, which is charac teristically slow, was evolved from solo vocal music, while the last movement showed elements of dance music, and was therefore a pure suite movement. Of the popular dance forms, the minuet survived the longest but was ultimately supplanted by the scherzo, while the gigue and ehaconne, of which Bach left so many examples, were succeeded by the finale or rondo. The first noteworthy advance is in a set of seven sonatas for the clavier, Frischc Klanierfriiehte (1703), by Johann KuIthau, in which he shows a partial recognition of the relation and balance of keys. Johann Alattheson chose the gigue for the concluding movement of his sonatas, and both he and Alessandro Scarlatti did much to define and unify the sonata form. In the works
of Domenico Scarlatti are found the first traces of a distinct secondary subject in the first al legro. The domain of the sonata was long mo nopolized by writers for the violin, and through the advances made by Locutefli. Geminiani, and Tartiui the sonata finally reached the four-move ment type. Johann Sebastian Bach wrote many sonatas for various instruments and for com binations of instruments, but he did not aid in the direct development of the form. His son, Philipp Emanuel Bach, established the number of movements as three. Haydn is important principally for having clearly indicated the out lines and for having made the use of the minuet and the rondo imperative. :Mozart adds to Haydn's unemotional forms symmetry, grace, and more mature and elaborate themes and har monies. Beethoven brought the sonata to its greatest perfection. In the Kreutzer sonata. for violin and pianoforte. and in the pianoforte sonatas, in D minor (Op. 31), C major F minor (Op. 57). B flat (Op. 106), and C minor (01. Ill), he attains to such a command of technical resource and emotional expression that the form seems incapable of further develop ment.