This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (August 2010)

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.

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 listening to these files? See media help.

Sonata ( /səˈnɑːtə/; Italian: [soˈnaːta], pl. sonate; from Latin and Italian: sonare, "to sound"), in music, literally means a piece played as opposed to a cantata (Latin and Italian cantare, "to sing"), a piece sung. The term, being vague, naturally evolved through the history of music, designating a variety of forms prior to the Classical era. The term took on increasing importance in the Classical period, and by the early 19th century the word came to represent a principle of composing large scale works. It was applied to most instrumental genres and regarded alongside the fugue as one of two fundamental methods of organizing, interpreting and analyzing concert music. Though the musical style of sonatas has changed since the Classical Era, most 20th- and 21st- century sonatas still maintain the same structure.

[edit] Usage of sonata

In the Baroque, the term "sonata" was applied to a variety of works for solo instrument such as keyboard or violin, and for groups of instruments.^{[citation needed]} In the transition from the Baroque to the Classical period, the term sonata underwent a change in usage, coming to mean a chamber-music genre for either a solo instrument (usually a keyboard), or a solo melody instrument with piano. Increasingly after 1800, the term applied to a form of large-scale musical argument, and it was generally used in this sense in musicology and musical analysis.^{[citation needed]} Most of the time if some more specific usage was meant, then the particular body of work would be noted: for example the sonatas of Beethoven would mean the works specifically labeled sonata, whereas Beethoven sonata form would apply to all of his large-scale instrumental works, whether concert or chamber. In the 20th century, sonatas in this sense would continue to be composed by influential and famous composers, though many works which did not meet the strict criterion of "sonata" in the formal sense would also be created and performed.^{[citation needed]} The term sonatina, literally "small sonata", is often used for a short or technically easy sonata.

Instrumentation[link]

In the Baroque period, a sonata was for one or more instruments almost always with continuo. After the Baroque period most works designated as sonatas specifically are performed by a solo instrument, most often a keyboard instrument, or by a solo instrument together with a keyboard instrument. In the late Baroque and early Classical period, a work with instrument and written-out keyboard part was referred to as having an obbligato keyboard part, in order to distinguish this from use of an instrument or instruments as continuo, though this fell out of usage by the early 19th century. Beginning in the early 19th century, works were termed sonata if, according to the understanding of that time, they were part of the genre, even if they were not designated sonata when originally published, or by the composer.^[vague] A related term at the time was "Fantasia" (Italian), "Fantaisie" (French), Phantasie (German), or Fantasy (English), which was applied to movements or works which had a much freer form than the Sonata (for example Schubert's Wanderer Fantasy).^{[citation needed]}

In the Classical period and afterwards, sonatas for piano solo were the most common genre of sonata, with sonatas for violin and piano or cello and piano being next.^{[citation needed]} However, sonatas for a solo instrument other than keyboard have been composed, as have sonatas for other combinations of instruments, and for other instruments with piano.

Brief history of the usage of sonata[link]

The Baroque sonata[link]

In the works of Arcangelo Corelli and his contemporaries, two broad classes of sonata were established, and were first described by Sébastien de Brossard in his Dictionaire de musique (third edition, Amsterdam, ca. 1710): the sonata da chiesa (that is, suitable for use in church), which was the type "rightly known as Sonatas", and the sonata da camera (proper for use at court), which consists of a prelude followed by a succession of dances, all in the same key. Although the four, five, or six movements of the sonata da chiesa are also most often in one key, one or two of the internal movements are sometimes in a contrasting tonality, according to Brossard (Newman 1972a, 23–24).

The sonata da chiesa, generally for one or more violins and bass, consisted normally of a slow introduction, a loosely fugued allegro, a cantabile slow movement, and a lively finale in some binary form suggesting affinity with the dance-tunes of the suite. This scheme, however, was not very clearly defined, until the works of Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel,^{[citation needed]} when it became the essential sonata and persisted as a tradition of Italian violin music – even into the early 19th century, in the works of Boccherini.

The sonata da camera consisted almost entirely of idealized dance-tunes, but by the time of Bach and Handel such a composition drew apart from the sonata, and came to be called a suite, a partita, an ordre, or, when it had a prelude in the form of a French opera-overture, an overture.^{[citation needed]} On the other hand, the features of sonata da chiesa and sonata da camera then tended to be freely intermixed. Bach is also cited^{[weasel words]} as being among the first composers to have the keyboard and solo instrument share a melodic line, whereas previously most sonatas for keyboard and instrument had kept the melody exclusively in the solo instrument.^{[citation needed]} Although nearly half of Bach's 1,100 surviving compositions, arrangements, and transcriptions are instrumental works, only about 4% are sonatas (Newman 1972a, 266).

The term sonata is also applied to the series of over 500 works for harpsichord solo, or sometimes for other keyboard instruments, by Domenico Scarlatti, originally published under the name Essercizi per il gravicembalo (Exercises for the Harpsichord). Most of these pieces are in one binary-form movement only, with two parts that are in the same tempo and use the same thematic material, though occasionally there will be changes in tempo within the sections. Many of the sonatas were composed in pairs, one being in the major and the other in the parallel minor.^{[citation needed]} They are frequently virtuosic, and use more distant harmonic transitions and modulations than were common for other works of their time. They are admired for their great variety and invention.

The genre—particularly for solo instruments with just the continuo or ripieno—eventually influenced the solo movements of suites or concerti that occurred between movements with the full orchestra playing, for example in the Brandenburg Concerti of Bach.^{[citation needed]} Both the solo and trio sonatas of Vivaldi show parallels with the concerti he was writing at the same time. Vivaldi composed over 70 sonatas, the great majority of which are of the solo type; most of the rest are trio sonatas, and a very small number are of the multivoice type (Newman 1972a, 169–70).

The sonatas of Domenico Paradies are mild and elongated works of this type,^[vague] with a graceful and melodious little second movement included. The manuscript on which Longo bases his edition of Scarlatti frequently shows a similar juxtaposition of movements, though without any definite indication of their connection.^{[citation needed]} The style^[vague] is still traceable in the sonatas of the later classics, whenever a first movement is in a uniform rush of rapid motion, as in Mozart's violin sonata in F (K. 377), and in several of Clementi's best works.^{[citation needed]}

The sonata in the Classical period[link]

The practice of the Classical period would become decisive for the sonata; the term moved from being one of many terms indicating genres or forms, to designating the fundamental form of organization for large-scale works. This evolution stretched over fifty years. The term came to apply both to the structure of individual movements (see Sonata form and History of sonata form) and to the layout of the movements in a multi-movement work. In the transition to the Classical period there were several names given to multimovement works, including divertimento, serenade, and partita, many of which are now regarded effectively as sonatas. The usage of sonata as the standard term for such works began somewhere in the 1770s. Haydn labels his first piano sonata as such in 1771, after which the term divertimento is used very sparingly in his output. The term sonata was increasingly applied to either a work for keyboard alone (see piano sonata), or for keyboard and one other instrument, often the violin or cello. It was less and less frequently applied to works with more than two instrumentalists; for example piano trios were not often labelled sonata for piano, violin, and cello.

Initially the most common layout of movements was:

1. Allegro, which at the time was understood to mean not only a tempo, but also some degree of "working out", or development, of the theme. (See Charles Rosen's The Classical Style, and his Sonata Forms.)
2. A middle movement which was, most frequently, a slow movement: an Andante, an Adagio, or a Largo; or, less frequently, a Minuet or Theme and Variations form.
3. A closing movement was generally an Allegro or a Presto, often labeled Finale. The form was often a Rondo or Minuet.

However, two-movement layouts also occur, a practice Haydn uses as late as the 1790s. There was also in the early Classical period the possibility of using four movements, with a dance movement inserted before the slow movement, as in Haydn's Piano sonatas No. 6 and No. 8. Mozart's sonatas were also primarily in three movements. Of the works that Haydn labelled piano sonata, divertimento, or partita in Hob XIV, 7 are in two movements, 35 are in three movements, and 3 are in four movements; and there are several in three or four movements whose authenticity is listed as "doubtful." Composers such as Boccherini would publish sonatas for piano and obbligato instrument with an optional third movement – in Boccherini's case, 28 cello sonatas.

But increasingly instrumental works were laid out in four, not three movements, a practice seen first in string quartets and symphonies, and reaching the sonata proper in the early sonatas of Beethoven. However, two- and three-movement sonatas continued to be written throughout the Classical period: Beethoven's opus 102 pair has a two-movement C major sonata and a three-movement D major sonata.

The four-movement layout was by this point standard for the string quartet, and overwhelmingly the most common for the symphony. The usual order of the four movements was:

1. An allegro, which by this point was in what is called sonata form, complete with exposition, development, and recapitulation.
2. A slow movement, an Andante, Adagio or Largo.
3. A dance movement, frequently Minuet and trio or – especially later in the classical period – a Scherzo and trio.
4. A finale in faster tempo, often in a sonata–rondo form.

This four-movement layout came to be considered the standard for a sonata, and works without four movements, or with more than four, were increasingly felt to be exceptions; they were labelled as having movements "omitted," or had "extra" movements. Movements when they appeared out of this order would be described as "reversed", such as the Scherzo coming before the slow movement in Beethoven's 9th Symphony. This usage would be noted by critics in the early 19th century, and it was codified into teaching soon thereafter.

It is difficult to overstate the importance of Beethoven's output of sonatas: 32 piano sonatas, plus sonatas for cello and piano and violin and piano, forming a large body of music which would over time increasingly be thought essential for any serious instrumentalist to master.

The sonata in the Romantic period[link]

In the early 19th century conservatories of music were established, leading to a codification of the practice of the Classical period.^{[citation needed]} In this setting, our current usage of the term sonata was established, both as regards form per se, and in the sense that a fully elaborated sonata serves as a norm for concert music in general, which other forms are seen in relation to.^[vague] Carl Czerny declared that he had invented the idea of sonata form, and music theorists began to write of the sonata as an ideal in music.^{[cite this quote]} From this point forward, the word sonata in music theory as often labels the abstract musical form as well as much as particular works. Hence there are references to a symphony as a sonata for orchestra. This is referred to by William Newman as the sonata idea, and by others as the sonata principle.^{[citation needed]}

Among works expressly labeled sonata, some of the most famous were composed in this era.^{[citation needed]} Among piano sonatas alone, there are the three of Frédéric Chopin, those of Felix Mendelssohn, the three of Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt's Sonata in B Minor, and later the sonatas of Johannes Brahms and Sergei Rachmaninoff.

In the early 19th century the sonata form was rigorously defined, from a combination of previous practice and the works of important Classical composers, particularly Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, but composers such as Clementi also.^{[citation needed]} Works not explicitly labeled sonata were nevertheless felt^{[weasel words]} to be an expression of the same governing structural practice. Because the word became definitively attached to an entire concept of musical layout, the differences in Classical practice began to be seen as important to classify and explain.^{[citation needed]} It is during this period that the differences between the three- and the four-movement layouts became a subject of commentary, with emphasis on the concerto being laid out in three movements, and the symphony in four. Many thought^{[weasel words]} that the four movement form was the superior layout. The concerto form was thought to be^{[weasel words]} Italianate, while the four-movement form's predominance was ascribed^{[weasel words]} to Haydn, and was considered German.

The importance of the sonata in the clash between Brahmsians and Wagnerians is also of note.^{[citation needed]} Brahms represented, to his advocates, adherence to the form as it was strictly construed, while Wagner and Liszt claimed to have transcended the Procrustean nature of its outline.^{[citation needed]} For example Ernest Newman wrote, in the essay "Brahms and the Serpent":

That, perhaps, will be the ideal of the instrumental music of the future; the way to it, indeed, seems at last to be opening out before modern composers in proportion as they discard the last tiresome vestiges of sonata form. This, from being what it was originally, the natural mode of expression of a certain eighteenth century way of thinking in music, became in the nineteenth century a drag upon both individual thinking and the free unfolding of the inner vital force of an idea, and is now simply a shop device by which a bad composer may persuade himself and the innocent reader of textbooks that he is a good one. (Newman 1958, 51)

This view, that the sonata is truly only at home in the Classical style, and had become a road block to later musical development, is one that has been held at various times by composers and musicologists, including recently by Charles Rosen.^{[citation needed]} In this view the sonata called for no explicit analysis in Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven's era, in the same sense that Bach "knew" what a fugue was and how to compose one, whereas later composers were bound by an "academic" sense of form that was not well suited to the Romantic era's more frequent and more rapid modulations.

The sonata after the Romantic period[link]

The sonata was closely tied in the Romantic period to tonal harmony and practice. Even before the demise of this practice, large-scale works increasingly deviated from the four-movement layout that had been considered standard for almost a century, and the internal structure of movements began to alter as well. The "sonata idea," along with the term sonata itself, continued to be central to musical analysis, and a strong influence on composers, both in large-scale works and in chamber music.^{[citation needed]} The role of the sonata as an extremely important form of extended musical argument would inspire composers such as Hindemith, Prokofiev, Shostakovich to compose in sonata form, and works with traditional sonata structures continue to be composed and performed.

The piano sonatas of Scriabin began from standard forms of the late Romantic period, but progressively abandoned the formal markers that had been taught, and were usually composed as single-movement works.^{[citation needed]}

Charles Ives's massive Concord Sonata (1920) for piano bore little resemblance to the traditional Sonata. It had four movements (though not with the usual tempos), very few barlines, and the tonality, where present, is fleeting or often compounded with polytonality.^{[citation needed]} It even contained optional (and very minor) parts for viola and flute.

Still later, Pierre Boulez would compose three sonatas in the early 1950s, which, while they were neither tonal nor laid out in the standard four-movement form, were intended to have the same significance as sonatas.^[vague] Elliott Carter began his transition from neo-classical composer to avant-garde with his Cello Sonata (1948).^{[citation needed]}

The sonata in scholarship and musicology[link]

The sonata idea or principle[link]

Research into the practice and meaning of sonata form, style, and structure has been the motivation for important theoretical works by Heinrich Schenker, Arnold Schoenberg, and Charles Rosen among others; and the pedagogy of music continued to rest on an understanding and application of the rules of sonata form as almost two centuries of development in practice and theory had codified it.

The development of the classical style and its norms of composition formed the basis for much of the music theory of the 19th and 20th centuries. As an overarching formal principle, sonata was accorded the same central status as Baroque fugue; and generations of composers, instrumentalists, and audiences were guided by this understanding of sonata as an enduring and dominant principle in Western music. The sonata idea begins before the term had taken on its present importance, along with the evolution of the Classical period's changing norms. The reasons for these changes, and how they relate to the evolving sense of a new formal order in music, is a matter to which research is devoted. Some common factors which were pointed to include: the shift of focus from vocal music to instrumental music; changes in performance practice, including the loss of the continuo (Rosen 1997, 196) and the playing of all movements of a work straight through, without "mechanical" repeats; the shift away from the idea that each movement should express one dominant emotion (see Affekt), to a notion of accommodating contrasting themes and sections in an integrated whole; the move from a polyphonic mode of composition to a homophonic mode; changes in the availability of instruments, and new technical developments in instruments; the obsolescence of straightforward binary organization of movements; the rise of more dance rhythms; and changes in patronage and presentation.^{[citation needed]}

Crucial to most interpretations of the sonata form is the idea of a tonal center; and, as the Grove Concise Dictionary of Music puts it: "The main form of the group embodying the 'sonata principle', the most important principle of musical structure from the Classical period to the 20th century: that material first stated in a complementary key be restated in the home key" (Sadie 1988,^{[page needed]}).

The sonata idea has been thoroughly explored by William Newman in his monumental three-volume work Sonata in the Classic Era (A History of the Sonata Idea), begun in the 1950s and published in what has become the standard edition of all three volumes in 1972. He notes that according to his research, theorists had generally shown "a hazy recognition of 'sonata form' during the Classical Era and up to the late 1830s"^{[cite this quote]} and places particular emphasis on Reicha's 1826 work describing the "fully developed binary form", for its fixing of key relationships,^{[cite this quote]} Czerny's 1837 note in the preface to his Opus 600, and Adolf Bernhard Marx, who in 1845 wrote a long treatise on sonata form. Up until this point, Newman argues, the definitions available were quite imprecise, requiring only instrumental character and contrasting character of movements.^{[cite this quote]}

William Newman also notes, however, that these codifications were in response to a growing understanding that the 18th century did have a formal organization of music.^{[cite this quote]} Before those publications of Reicha, Czerny, or Marx, there are references to the "customary sonata form", and in particular to the organization of the first movement of sonatas and related works. He documents the evolution of sonata analysis as well, showing that early critical works on sonatas, with some very notable exceptions, dealt with structural and technical details only loosely.^{[cite this quote]} Instead, many important works belonging to the sonata genre, or in sonata form, were not analyzed comprehensively in terms of their thematic and harmonic resources until the 20th century.^{[citation needed]}

20th century theory[link]

Two of the most important theorists in European musicology of the 20th century, Heinrich Schenker and Arnold Schoenberg, both had ideas of central importance for the analysis and general understanding of the sonata. Their ideas were extremely rigorous, and placed tremendous emphasis on the long range influence of tonal materials. Both advanced theories of analysis of works which would be adopted by later theorists. While the two men disagreed with each other, their ideas have often been used in combination.^{[citation needed]}

Heinrich Schenker argued that there was an Urlinie or basic tonal melody, and a basic bass figuration. He held that when these two were present, there was basic structure, and that the sonata represented this basic structure in a whole work with a process known as interruption (Schenker 1979, 1:134). Arnold Schoenberg advanced the theory of monotonality, according to which a single work should be played as if in one key, even if movements were in different keys, and that the capable composer would reference everything in a work to a single tonic triad.^{[citation needed]}

For Schenker, tonal function was the essential defining characteristic of comprehensible structure in music, and his definition of the sonata form rested, not on themes groups or sections, but on the basic interplay between the different "layers" of a composition.^{[citation needed]} For Schoenberg, tonality was not essential to comprehensibility, but he accorded similar importance to the structural role of notes, in "explaining" the relationships of chords and counterpoint in musical structure.^{[citation needed]} Both theorists held that tonality, and hence sonata structure in tonal form, is essentially hierarchical: what is immediately audible is subordinate to large-scale movements of harmony. They argued that transient chords and events are less significant than movement between certain crucial underlying chords.^{[citation needed]}

As a practical matter, Schenker applied his ideas to the editing of the piano sonatas of Beethoven, using original manuscripts and his own theories to "correct" the available sources. The basic procedure was the use of tonal theory to infer meaning from available sources as part of the critical process, even to the extent of completing works left unfinished by their composers. While many of these changes were and are controversial, that procedure has a central role today in music theory, and is an essential part of the theory of sonata structure as taught in most music schools.

Famous sonatas[link]

For a more comprehensive list of sonatas, see List of sonatas.

Baroque (ca 1600 – ca 1760)[link]

• Johann Sebastian Bach
  • Three Sonatas for solo violin

• Giuseppe Tartini
  • Devil's Trill Sonata

Classical (ca 1760 – ca 1830)[link]

• Ludwig van Beethoven
  • Piano Sonata No. 8 "Pathétique"
  • Piano Sonata No. 14 "Moonlight"
  • Piano Sonata No. 17 "Tempest"
  • Piano Sonata No. 21 "Waldstein"
  • Piano Sonata No. 23 "Appassionata"
  • Piano Sonata No. 29 "Hammerklavier"
  • Violin Sonata No. 5 "Spring"
  • Violin Sonata No. 9 "Kreutzer"
  • Cello Sonata No. 1 in F Major Op. 5
  • Cello Sonata No. 2 in G Minor Op. 5
  • Cello Sonata No. 3 in A Major Op. 69

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Piano Sonata No. 8 in A Minor (K. 310)
  • Piano Sonata No. 11 in A Major (K. 331/300i)
  • Piano Sonata No. 12 in F Major (K. 332)
  • Piano Sonata No. 13 in B-flat Major (K. 333)
  • Piano Sonata No. 14 in C Minor (K. 457)
  • Piano Sonata No. 15 in F Major (K. 533/494)
  • Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major (K. 545)
  • Sonata in A for Violin and Keyboard (K. 526)

Romantic (ca 1830 – ca 1900)[link]

• Johannes Brahms
  • Cello Sonata No. 1
  • Clarinet Sonata No.1 and No.2
  • Violin Sonata No. 1
  • Violin Sonata No. 2
  • Violin Sonata No. 3

• Johannes Brahms, Albert Dietrich, and Robert Schumann
  • 'F-A-E' Sonata

• Frédéric Chopin
  • Piano Sonata No. 2 in B♭ Minor
  • Piano Sonata No. 3 in B Minor

• Edvard Grieg
  • Three sonatas for Violin and Piano

• Franz Liszt
  • Sonata after a Reading of Dante (Fantasia Quasi Sonata)
  • Sonata in B minor

• Robert Schumann
  • Violin Sonata No 1 in A minor opus 105

20th Century (including contemporary) (ca 1910–2012)[link]

• Samuel Barber
  • Cello Sonata Op. 6
  • Piano Sonata Op. 26 (1949)

• Jean Barraqué
  • Piano Sonata (1950–52)

• Béla Bartók
  • Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion
  • Sonata for Piano (1926)
  • Sonata for Solo Violin
  • Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano
  • Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Piano

• Leonard Bernstein
  • Sonata for Clarinet and Piano

• Pierre Boulez
  • Piano Sonata No. 1
  • Piano Sonata No. 2
  • Piano Sonata No. 3

• John Cage
  • Sonata for Unaccompanied Clarinet
  • Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano (1946–48)

• Brian Ferneyhough
  • Sonatas for String Quartet (1967)

• Robb Flynn and Phil Demmel
  • Unto the Locust
    • I Am Hell (Sonata in C♯)^{[citation needed]}

• Alberto Ginastera
  • Piano Sonata No. 1 (1952)
  • Piano Sonata No. 2 (1981)
  • Piano Sonata No. 3 (1982)
  • Sonata for Cello and Piano (1979)
  • Sonata for Guitar (1976, rev. 1981)

• Karel Goeyvaerts
  • Sonata for Two Pianos, Op. 1

• Hans Werner Henze
  • Royal Winter Music, Guitar Sonatas No. 1 and 2

• György Ligeti
  • Sonata, for solo cello (1948/1953)

• Charles Ives
  • Piano Sonata No. 2, Concord, Mass., 1840-60

• Leoš Janáček
  • 1. X. 1905 (Janáček's Sonata for Piano)

• Ben Johnston
  • Sonata for Microtonal Piano

• Sergei Prokofiev
  • Piano Sonatas—six juvenile (1904, 1907, 1907, 1907–08, 1908, 1908–09)
  • Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 1 (1907–09)
  • Piano Sonata No. 2 in D minor, Op. 14 (1912)
  • Piano Sonata No. 3 in A minor, Op. 28 (1907–17)
  • Piano Sonata No. 4 in C minor, Op. 29 (1917)
  • Piano Sonata No. 5 in C major (original version), Op. 38 (1923)
  • Violin Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 80 (1938–46)
  • Piano Sonata No. 6 in A major, Op. 82 (1939–40)
  • Piano Sonata No. 7 in B-flat major Stalingrad, Op. 83 (1939–42)
  • Piano Sonata No. 8 in B-flat major, Op. 84 (1939–44)
  • Flute Soanata in D major, Op. 94 (1943)
  • Violin Sonata No. 2 in D major, Op. 94 bis (1943)
  • Piano Sonata No. 9 in C major, Op. 103 (1947)
  • Sonata for Solo Violin (Unison Violins) in D major, Op. 115
  • Cello Sonata in C major, Op. 119
  • Sonata for Solo Cello in C-sharp minor, Op. 133
  • Piano Sonata No. 5 in C major (revised version), Op. 135 (1952–53)
  • Piano Sonata No. 10 in E minor, Op. 137 (unfinished) (1952)
  • Piano Sonata No. 11, Op. 138 (unrealized)

• Alexander Scriabin
  • Piano Sonata No. 2 (Sonata-Fantasy)
  • Piano Sonata No. 3
  • Piano Sonata No. 4
  • Piano Sonata No. 5
  • Piano Sonata No. 6
  • Piano Sonata No. 7 "White Mass"
  • Piano Sonata No. 8
  • Piano Sonata No. 9 "Black Mass"
  • Piano Sonata No. 10

• Igor Stravinsky
  • Sonata for Piano in F♯ minor (1903–04)
  • Sonata for Piano (1924)
  • Sonata for Two Pianos (1943)

References[link]

• Mangsen, Sandra, John Irving, John Rink, and Paul Griffiths. 2001. "Sonata". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.
• Newman, Ernest. 1958. More Essays from the World of Music: Essays from the London Sunday Times, selected by Felix Aprahamian. London: John Calder; New York: Coward-McCann, Inc.
• Newman, William S. 1966. The Sonata in the Baroque Era, revised ed. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. LCCN 66-19475.
• Newman, William S. 1972a. The Sonata in the Baroque Era, third edition. A History of the Sonata Idea 1. New York: W. W. Norton. ISBN 0-393-00622-0.
• Newman, William S. 1972b. The Sonata in the Classic Era: The Second Volume of a History of the Sonata Idea, second edition. A History of the Sonata Idea 2; The Norton Library N623. New York: W. W. Norton. ISBN 0-393-00623-9.
• Newman, William S. 1983a. The Sonata in the Baroque Era, fourth edition. A History of the Sonata Idea 1. New York: W. W. Norton. ISBN 0-393-95275-4.
• Newman, William S. 1983b. The Sonata in the Classic Era, third edition. A History of the Sonata Idea 2. New York: W. W. Norton. ISBN 0-393-95286-X.
• Newman, William S. 1983c. The Sonata since Beethoven, third edition. A History of the Sonata Idea 3. New York: W. W. Norton. ISBN 0-393-95290-8.
• Newman, William S. 1988. Beethoven on Beethoven: Playing His Piano Music His Way. New York: W. W. Norton. ISBN 0-393-02538-1 (cloth) ISBN 0-393-30719-0 (pbk).
• Rosen, Charles. 1988. Sonata Forms, revised edition. New York: W. W. Norton. ISBN 0-393-02658-2
• Rosen, Charles. 1997. The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, expanded edition, with CD recording. New York: W. W. Norton. ISBN 0-393-31712-9.
• Rosen, Charles. 1995. The Romantic Generation. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-77933-9 ISBN 0-674-77934-7 (pbk).
• Sadie, Stanley (ed). 1988. The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music. London: Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 0-333-43236-3 (cloth); ISBN 0-393-02620-5 (pbk).
• Salzer, Felix Structural Hearing: Tonal Coherence in Music. 2 vols. New York: Dover Publications.
• Schenker, Heinrich. 1979. Free Composition (Der freie Satz): Volume III of New Musical Theories and Fantasies, edited by Oswald Jonas, translated by Ernst Oster. 2 vols. New York: Longman. ISBN 0-582-28073-7.
• Schoenberg, Arnold. 1966. Harmonielehre, 7th edition. Vienna: Universal-Edition. ISBN 3-7024-0029-X.

See also[link]

Henry Purcell by John Closterman

Engraved portrait of Henry Purcell by R. White after Closterman, from Orpheus Britannicus

Henry Purcell ( /ˈpɜrsəl/;^[1] 10 September 1659 (?)^[2]– 21 November 1695), was an English composer. Although incorporating Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, Purcell's legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music. He is generally considered to be one of the greatest English composers; no other native-born English composer approached his fame until Edward Elgar.

Early life and career[link]

Purcell was born in St Ann's Lane Old Pye Street, Westminster. Henry Purcell Senior,^[3] whose older brother Thomas Purcell (d. 1682) was also a musician, was a gentleman of the Chapel Royal and sang at the coronation of King Charles II of England.^[4] Henry the elder had three sons: Edward, Henry and Daniel. Daniel Purcell (d. 1717), the youngest of the brothers, was also a prolific composer who wrote the music for much of the final act of The Indian Queen after Henry Purcell's death. Henry Purcell's family lived just a few hundred yards west of Westminster Abbey from the year 1659 and onward.^[5]

After his father's death in 1664, Purcell was placed under the guardianship of his uncle who showed him great affection and kindness.^[6] Thomas was himself a gentleman of His Majesty's chapel, and arranged for Henry to be admitted as a chorister. Henry studied first under Captain Henry Cooke (d. 1672),^[7] Master of the Children, and afterwards under Pelham Humfrey (d. 1674), Cooke's successor.^[8] Henry was a chorister in the Chapel Royal until his voice broke in 1673, when he became assistant to the organ-builder John Hingston, who held the post of keeper of wind instruments to the King.^[5]

Purcell is said to have been composing at nine years old, but the earliest work that can be certainly identified as his is an ode for the King's birthday, written in 1670.^[9] (The dates for his compositions are often uncertain, despite considerable research.) It is assumed that the three-part song "Sweet tyranness, I now resign" was written by him as a child.^[6] After Humfrey's death, Purcell continued his studies under Dr. John Blow. He attended Westminster School and in 1676 was appointed copyist at Westminster Abbey.^[4] Henry Purcell's earliest anthem "Lord, who can tell" was composed in 1678. It is a psalm that is prescribed for Christmas Day and also to be read at morning prayer on the fourth day of the month.^[10]

In 1679, he wrote some songs for John Playford's Choice Ayres, Songs and Dialogues and also an anthem, the name of which is not known, for the Chapel Royal. From a letter written by Thomas Purcell, and still extant, we learn that this anthem was composed for the exceptionally fine voice of the Rev. John Gostling, then at Canterbury, but afterwards a gentleman of His Majesty's chapel. Purcell wrote several anthems at different times for Gostling's extraordinary basso profondo voice, which is known to have had a range of at least two full octaves, from D below the bass staff to the D above it. The dates of very few of these sacred compositions are known; perhaps the most notable example is the anthem "They that go down to the sea in ships." In gratitude for the providential escape of King Charles II from shipwreck, Gostling, who had been of the royal party, put together some verses from the Psalms in the form of an anthem and requested Purcell to set them to music. The work is a very difficult one, opening with a passage which traverses the full extent of Gostling's range, beginning on the upper D and descending two octaves to the lower.

Later career and death[link]

Another portrait of Henry Purcell

In 1679, Blow, who had been appointed organist of Westminster Abbey in 1669, resigned his office in favour of his pupil.^[11] Purcell now devoted himself almost entirely to the composition of sacred music, and for six years severed his connection with the theatre. However, during the early part of the year, probably before taking up his new office, he had produced two important works for the stage, the music for Nathaniel Lee's Theodosius, and Thomas d'Urfey's Virtuous Wife.^[11] Between 1680 and 1688 Purcell wrote music for seven plays.^[12] The composition of his chamber opera Dido and Aeneas, which forms a very important landmark in the history of English dramatic music, has been attributed to this period, and its earliest production may well have predated the documented one of 1689.^[11] It was written to a libretto furnished by Nahum Tate, and performed in 1689 in cooperation with Josias Priest, a dancing master and the choreographer for the Dorset Garden Theatre. Priest's wife kept a boarding school for young gentlewomen, first in Leicester Fields and afterwards at Chelsea, where the opera was performed.^[13] It is occasionally considered the first genuine English opera, though that title is usually given to Blow's Venus and Adonis: as in Blow's work, the action does not progress in spoken dialogue but in Italian-style recitative. Both works run to less than one hour. At the time Dido and Aeneas never found its way to the theatre, though it appears to have been very popular in private circles. It is believed to have been extensively copied, but only one song was printed by Purcell's widow in Orpheus Britannicus, and the complete work remained in manuscript until 1840, when it was printed by the Musical Antiquarian Society under the editorship of Sir George Macfarren. The composition of Dido and Aeneas gave Purcell his first chance to write a sustained musical setting of a dramatic text. It was his only opportunity to compose a work in which the music carried the entire drama.^[12] The story of Dido and Aeneas derives from the original source in Virgil's epic the Aeneid.^[14]

Soon after Purcell's marriage, in 1682, on the death of Edward Lowe, he was appointed organist of the Chapel Royal, an office which he was able to hold simultaneously with his position at Westminster Abbey.^[15] His eldest son was born in this same year, but his life was short lived.^[16] His first printed composition, Twelve Sonatas, was published in 1683.^[17][18] For some years after this, he was busy in the production of sacred music, odes addressed to the king and royal family, and other similar works.^[19][20] In 1685, he wrote two of his finest anthems, "I was glad" and "My heart is inditing", for the coronation of King James II.^[15] One of Purcell's most elaborate, most important and most magnificent works was a birthday ode for Queen Mary. It is titled Come ye Sons of Art, and was written by Nahum Tate and set by Purcell.^[21]

In 1687, he resumed his connection with the theatre by furnishing the music for Dryden's tragedy, Tyrannick Love. In this year, Purcell also composed a march and quick-step, which became so popular that Lord Wharton adapted the latter to the fatal verses of Lillibullero; and in or before January 1688, he composed his anthem "Blessed are they that fear the Lord" by express command of the King. A few months later, he wrote the music for D'Urfey's play, The Fool's Preferment. In 1690, he composed the music for Betterton's adaptation of Fletcher and Massinger's Prophetess (afterwards called Dioclesian)^[22] and Dryden's Amphitryon. During the first ten years of his mastership, Purcell composed much- precisely how much we can only guess. In 1691, he wrote the music for what is sometimes considered his dramatic masterpiece, King Arthur, with the libretto by Dryden and first published by the Musical Antiquarian Society in 1843. Another one of Purcell's operas is King Arthur, or The British Worthy in 1691.^[13] In 1692, he composed The Fairy-Queen (an adaptation of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream), the score of which (his longest for theatre)^[23] was rediscovered in 1901 and published by the Purcell Society.^[24] The Indian Queen followed in 1695, in which year he also wrote songs for Dryden and Davenant's version of Shakespeare's The Tempest (recently, this has been disputed by music scholars^[25]), probably including "Full fathom five" and "Come unto these yellow sands". The Indian Queen was adapted from a tragedy by Dryden and Sir Robert Howard.^[23] In these semi-operas (another term for which at the time was "dramatic opera"), the main characters of the plays do not sing but speak their lines: the action moves in dialogue rather than recitative. The related songs are sung "for" them by singers, who have minor dramatic roles.

Purcell's Te Deum and Jubilate Deo were written for Saint Cecilia's Day, 1694, the first English Te Deum ever composed with orchestral accompaniment. This work was annually performed at St Paul's Cathedral until 1712, after which it was performed alternately with Handel's Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate until 1743, when both works were replaced by Handel's Dettingen Te Deum.^[26]

He composed an anthem and two elegies for Queen Mary II's funeral.^[27] Besides the operas and semi-operas already mentioned, Purcell wrote the music and songs for Thomas d'Urfey's The Comical History of Don Quixote, Boudicca, The Indian Queen and others, a vast quantity of sacred music, and numerous odes, cantatas, and other miscellaneous pieces. The quantity of his instrumental chamber music is minimal after his early career, and his keyboard music consists of an even more minimal number of harpsichord suites and organ pieces.^[28] In 1693, Purcell composed music for two Comedies: The Old Bachelor, and The Double Dealer. Purcell also composed for five other plays within the same year.^[11] In July 1695, Henry Purcell composed an ode for the Duke of Gloucester for his sixth birthday. The ode is titled Who can from joy refrain?^[29] Purcell's four-part sonatas were issued in 1697.^[11] In the remaining six years of his life, Henry Purcell wrote music for forty two plays.^[11]

Purcell died in 1695 at his home in Dean's Yard, Westminster, at the height of his career. He is believed to have been 35 or 36 years old at the time. The cause of his death is unclear: one theory is that he caught a chill after returning home late from the theatre one night to find that his wife had locked him out. Another is that he succumbed to tuberculosis.^[30] The beginning of Purcell's will reads:

"In the name of God Amen. I, Henry Purcell, of the City of Westminster, gentleman, being dangerously ill as to the constitution of my body, but in good and perfect mind and memory (thanks be to God) do by these presents publish and declare this to be my last Will and Testament. And I do hereby give and bequeath unto my loving wife, Frances Purcell, all my estate both real and personal of what nature and kind soever..."^[31]

Purcell is buried adjacent to the organ in Westminster Abbey. The music that he had earlier composed for Queen Mary's funeral was performed during his as well. Purcell was universally mourned as 'a very great master of music.'  Following his death, the officials at Westminster honoured him by unanimously voting that he be buried with no expense in the north aisle of the Abbey.^[32] His epitaph reads: "Here lyes Henry Purcell Esq., who left this life and is gone to that blessed place where only his harmony can be exceeded."^[33]

Henry Purcell fathered six children by his wife Frances, four of whom died in infancy. His wife, as well as his son Edward (1689–1740) and daughter Frances, survived him.^[11] Frances the elder died in 1706, having published a number of her husband's works, including the now famous collection called Orpheus Britannicus, in two volumes, printed in 1698 and 1702, respectively. Edward was appointed organist of St Clement Eastcheap, London, in 1711 and was succeeded by his son Edward Henry Purcell (d. 1765). Both men were buried in St Clement's near the organ gallery.

Influence and reputation[link]

"The Flowering of the English Baroque", bronze memorial sculpture by Glynn Williams in a small park on Victoria St, Westminster.

After his death, Purcell was honoured by many of his contemporaries, including his old friend John Blow, who wrote "An Ode, on the Death of Mr. Henry Purcell (Mark how the lark and linnet sing)" with text by his old collaborator, John Dryden. More recently, the English poet Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote a famous sonnet entitled simply "Henry Purcell", with a headnote reading: "The poet wishes well to the divine genius of Purcell and praises him that, whereas other musicians have given utterance to the moods of man's mind, he has, beyond that, uttered in notes the very make and species of man as created both in him and in all men generally."

Purcell also had a strong influence on the composers of the English musical renaissance of the early 20th century, most notably Benjamin Britten, who created and performed a realisation of Dido and Aeneas and whose The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra is based on a theme from Purcell's Abdelazar. Stylistically, the aria "I know a bank" from Britten's opera A Midsummer Night's Dream is clearly inspired by Purcell's aria "Sweeter than Roses", which Purcell originally wrote as part of incidental music to Richard Norton's Pausanias, the Betrayer of His Country.

Purcell is honoured together with Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel with a feast day on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA) on 28 July.^[34] In a 1940 interview Ignaz Friedman stated that he considered Purcell as great as Bach and Beethoven. In Victoria Street, Westminster, England, there is a bronze monument to Purcell (right), sculpted by Glynn Williams and erected in 1994.

Purcell's works have been catalogued by Franklin Zimmerman, who gave them a number preceded by Z. A Purcell Club was founded in London in 1836 for promoting the performance of his music, but was dissolved in 1863. In 1876 a Purcell Society was founded, which published new editions of his works. A modern day Purcell Club has been created, and provides guided tours and concerts in support of Westminster Abbey.

So strong was his reputation that a popular wedding processional was incorrectly attributed to Purcell for many years. The so-called Purcell's Trumpet Voluntary was in fact written around 1700 by a British composer named Jeremiah Clarke as the Prince of Denmark's March.

In 2009 Pete Townshend of The Who, an English rock band that established itself in the 1960s, identified Purcell's harmonies as an influence on the band's music (in songs such as "Won't Get Fooled Again" (1971), "I Can See for Miles" (1967) and the very Purcellian intro to "Pinball Wizard").^[35]

Michael Nyman, at the request of the director, built the score of Peter Greenaway's 1982 film, The Draughtsman's Contract on ostinati by Purcell from various sources, one misattributed. He credited Purcell as a "music consultant." Another of Purcell's ostinati, the Cold Genius aria from King Arthur, was used in Nyman's Memorial.

In popular culture[link]

Purcell is among the Baroque composers who has had a direct influence on modern rock and roll; according to Pete Townshend of The Who, Purcell was among his influences, particularly evident in the opening bars of The Who's "Pinball Wizard".^[36] The processional section from Purcell's "Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary," was also adapted for the synthesiser by Wendy Carlos to serve as the theme music for the 1971 film A Clockwork Orange, the music is also featured in the final scene of the 1995 film The Young Poisoner's Handbook. Noted cult New Wave artist Klaus Nomi regularly performed "The Cold Song" from King Arthur during his career, including a version on his debut self-titled album, Klaus Nomi, from 1981; his last public performance before his untimely death was an interpretation of the piece done with a full orchestra in December 1982 in Munich. Purcell wrote the song for a bass, but numerous countertenors have performed the piece in homage to Nomi. Sting recorded it on his 2009 album If On a Winter's Night....

In the 1995 film England, My England, the life of Purcell (played by Michael Ball) was depicted as seen through the eyes of a playwright in the 1960s who is trying to write a play about him.

In the 21st century, the soundtrack of the 2005 film version of Pride and Prejudice features a dance titled "A Postcard to Henry Purcell." This is a version by composer Dario Marianelli of Purcell's Abdelazar theme. In the German-language 2004 movie, Der Untergang ([the] Downfall (film), the music of Dido's Lament is used repeatedly as the end of the Third Reich culminates.

I was Glad Ode 1 – Sinfonia Ode 2 – Welcome to All Ode 3 – Hail to this Happy Assembly Ode 4 – Here the Deities Approve Ode 5 – While Joys Celestial Ode 6 – Then Lift Up Your Voices Ode 7 – Beauty, Thou Scene of Love Ode 8 – In a Consort of Voices Hear my prayer, O Lord (1.9 Mb)

	Toccata in A major Performed by Sylvia Kind on a harpsichord of the type made in the early 20th century
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

	"The Queen's Dolour (A Farewell)" Realised by Ronald Stevenson (1958), performed live by Mark Gasser
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

See also[link]

• List of compositions by Henry Purcell

References[link]

Notes

Bibliography

• Burden, Michael, ed. Performing the Music of Henry Purcell, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1996.
• Burden, Michael, ed. Henry Purcell's Operas; The Complete Texts, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2000.
• Dent, Edward J. Foundations of English Opera, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1928.
• Duffy, Maureen, Henry Purcell, Fourth Estate Ltd, Londen, 1994.
• Holman, Peter and Robert Thompson. "Henry Purcell (ii)," Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed 17 March 2006), grovemusic.com (subscription access).
• Holman, Peter, Henry Purcell, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1994.
• Holst, Imogen, ed. Henry Purcell 1659–1695: Essays on His Music, Oxford University Press, London, 1959.
• Keates, Jonathan, Purcell, Chatto & Windus, Londen, 1995
• Moore, R. E., Henry Purcell and the Restoration Theatre, Greenwood Press, Westport CT, 1961.
• Muller, Julia, Words and Music in Henry Purcell's First Semi-Opera, Dioclesian, Edwin Mellen Press, New York, 1990.
• Orrey, Leslie and Rodney Milnes, Opera: A Concise History, World of Art, Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-20217-6.
• Price, Curtis A., Henry Purcell and the London Stage,Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1984.
• Shay, Robert, and Robert Thompson, Purcell Manuscripts: The Principal Musical Sources Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2000.
• Westrup, Jack A., Purcell, Dent & Sons, Londen 1980
• Zimmerman, Franklin B., Henry Purcell, 1659–1695, His Life and Times, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia PA, 1983
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Henry Purcell

Listen to this article (info/dl)

This audio file was created from a revision of the "Henry Purcell" article dated 2006-08-15, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. (Audio help)

More spoken articles

• Purcell by John F. Runciman, a biography forming part of Bell's Miniature Series of Musicians published in 1909, from Project Gutenberg
• Free scores by Henry Purcell in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
• Works by or about Henry Purcell in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Free scores by Henry Purcell in the Werner Icking Music Archive (WIMA)
• Free scores by Henry Purcell at the International Music Score Library Project
• The Mutopia Project has compositions by Henry Purcell
• Short biography, audio samples and images of Purcell
• Monument to Purcell
• Harpsichord Suites played on virtual harpsichord
• Dido's Lament – Research leading to a narrative account of how Henry Purcell’s opera Dido and Aeneas was created.
• Henry Purcell at Allmusic

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2009)

Wilhelm Walter Friedrich Kempff (25 November 1895 – 23 May 1991) was a German pianist and composer. Although his repertory included Bach, Liszt, Chopin, Schumann, and Brahms, Kempff was particularly well known for his interpretations of the music of Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert, both of whose complete sonatas he also recorded.^[1] He is considered to have been one of the chief exponents of the Germanic tradition during the 20th century.^[2]

Early life[link]

Kempff was born in Jüterbog, Brandenburg, in 1895.^[1] He grew up in nearby Potsdam where his father was a royal music director and organist at St. Nicolai Church. His grandfather was also an organist and his brother Georg became director of church music at the University of Erlangen. Kempff studied music at first at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik at the age of nine after receiving lessons from his father at a younger age. Whilst there he studied composition with Robert Kahn and piano with Karl Heinrich Barth^[1] (with whom Arthur Rubinstein also studied). In 1914 Kempff moved on to study at the Viktoria gymnasium in Potsdam before returning to Berlin to finish his training.^[1]

As a pianist[link]

In 1917, Kempff made his first major recital, consisting of predominantly major works, including Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata and Brahms Variations on a theme of Paganini.^[1] Kempff toured very widely in Europe and much of the rest of the world. Between 1936 and 1979 he performed ten times in Japan (a small Japanese island was named Kenpu-san in his honor)^{[citation needed]}. Kempff made his first London appearance in 1951 and in New York in 1964. He gave his last public performance in Paris in 1981, and then retired for health reasons (Parkinson's Disease). He died in Positano, Italy at the age of 95, five years after his wife, whom he had married in 1926. They are survived by seven children.^[1]

Wilhelm Kempff recorded over a period of some sixty years. His recorded legacy includes works of Schumann, Brahms, Schubert, Mozart, Bach, Liszt, Chopin and particularly, of Beethoven.^[1]