What does sonata

Neerja Indian. Zira US English. Oliver British. Wendy British. Fred US English. Tessa South African. How to say sonata in sign language? Examples of sonata in a Sentence Dejan Stojanovic : There is a moonlight note in the Moonlight Sonata ; there is a thunder note in an angry sky.

Popularity rank by frequency of use sonata Select another language:. Please enter your email address: Subscribe. Discuss these sonata definitions with the community: 0 Comments. Notify me of new comments via email. Cancel Report. Create a new account. Log In. I've avoided this subject for years, not so much because it's difficult, but because so many words have already been spilled about it in so many music appreciation classes, where sonata form often winds up sounding like a road map with a lot of strange names like "exposition" and "recapitulation," and what not.

But I hope that by the end of today's session, the idea of the word sonata is going to have much more meaning for you than that. Here's the way we're going to do it. We're going to start out by playing for you the first movement of Mozart's great Symphony in C major—the last symphony he ever wrote—which is known as the Jupiter symphony. I'm not going to tell you anything about it in advance; we'll just play it for your pleasure.

Then, at the very end of the program we'll play it for you again, and by that time I hope you'll be hearing it with new ears. But you're probably wondering why we're playing a symphony on a program that's about sonatas. Well, the answer to that one is easy; a symphony is a sonata. You see, a sonata is a piece, usually in several movements, that has a certain basic musical form; and when that form is used in a piece for a solo instrument, like a piano, or violin or flute, or a solo instrument with piano accompaniment, the piece is called a sonata.

Now when the same form is used in a piece for three instruments, it's called a trio; and for four instruments, it's called a quartet; for five, a quintet, and so on. But when this form is used in a piece for a full orchestra, it's called a symphony. A symphony is merely a sonata for orchestra. And that's all I'm going to tell you for the moment. Now let's just sit back and enjoy this glorious, first movement of Mozart's Jupiter Symphony.

Now that we've had the pure pleasure of listening to that divine Mozart, let's get to work and find out why that music gives us such pleasure. The thing that interests us most today about it is its form—the musical shape of the piece. You know, the shape of a musical composition is the hardest thing for most people to grasp; they can remember a tune or a rhythm easily enough—even harmonies and counterpoints.

But the form is harder to understand because grasping the form of a piece means seeing it all at once, or I should say hearing it all at once, which is of course impossible since music takes place in time instead of in space. So how could you hear it all at once.

You can see the form of a painting, or a church, more or less all at once because their forms exist in space. Then you look at this stage, for instance you see its whole form instantly and you can take pleasure in its proportions and its balances. But with a piece of music it takes time to hear the form; you have to keep in your head all the notes you've already heard while you're listening to the new ones, so that by the time the piece is over, it all adds up to one continuous form.

Maybe that sounds impossible, but it's not. Of course, it's not easy, either. But if you know a little about the form in advance, for instance, if you know the piece is going to be in sonata form it all becomes much easier, because you can almost predict what musical shapes are going to happen. That's what we're going to do now, by finding out what a sonata is.

This word sonata originally meant simply a piece of music. It comes from the Latin word sonare, to sound; so a sonata is anything that is sounded by instruments, as opposed to a cantata, which is anything that is sung from the Latin word, cantare, to sing. But it's only in the last two hundred years or so that the word sonata has acquired a special meaning, which describes the form of a piece, and in particular, the first movement of the piece.

And this first movement form, which is known as sonata form, laid the foundations of the symphony as we have known it from that time, almost two hundred years ago right into our own twentieth century. How can we explain this immense popularity and growth of sonata form over two hundred years? What makes it so satisfying, so complete? Two things really: first, its perfect three-part balance, remember that, and second, the excitement of its contrasting elements.

Balance and contrast—in these two words we have the main secrets of the sonata form. Let's consider first that three-part design; this is something we can see all around us. Think of a bridge with two great towers rising on either side of the river, and the connecting span sweeping over the water between them.

That's a three-part form. You must all have felt the pleasure and satisfaction that comes from looking at such a three-part structure. Or think of an elm tree, with its central trunk, and the umbrella-shaped branches arching out on both sides. The Waltz without opus number and the Sonata , Op.

A musical composition for one or two instruments, usually in three or four movements. New Word List Word List. Save This Word! We could talk until we're blue in the face about this quiz on words for the color "blue," but we think you should take the quiz and find out if you're a whiz at these colorful terms.

Need even more definitions? Just between us: it's complicated. Ask the Editors 'Everyday' vs. What Is 'Semantic Bleaching'? How 'literally' can mean "figuratively". Literally How to use a word that literally drives some pe Is Singular 'They' a Better Choice?

The awkward case of 'his or her'.