The Sonata

Abstract

What is a sonata? Literally translated, it simply means 'instrumental piece'. It is the epitome of instrumental music, and is certainly the oldest and most enduring form of 'pure' and independent instrumental composition, beginning around 1600 and lasting to the present day. Schmidt-Beste analyses key aspects of the genre including form, scoring and its social context - who composed, played and listened to sonatas? In giving a comprehensive overview of all forms of music which were called 'sonatas' at some point in musical history, this book is more about change than about consistency - an ensemble sonata by Gabrieli appears to share little with a Beethoven sonata, or a trio sonata by Corelli with one of Boulez's piano sonatas, apart from the generic designation. However, common features do emerge, and the look across the centuries - never before addressed in a single-volume survey - opens up new and significant perspectives.

‘It’s in the silence you feel you hear’

“…The music of Vinteuil is absolute in its literary appearance. This is important, as the very preface of Thomas Schmidt‐Beste’s impressive 2010 sonata study defines the sonata as the ‘epitome of instrumental music’: Literally translated, a “sonata” is simply a “sounding piece”, or, more specifically, a piece written purely for instruments’ (Schmidt‐Beste, 2011, xii). Remarkably, this purest form of instrumental music is the one genre that Proust renders into literature—and without any real‐life references to other F Sharp sonatas, it has to be experienced purely in its literary form.…”

“…In musicology, the discussion and history of the sonata is much more complex. See, for instance, Thomas Schmidt‐Beste’s The Sonata (2011) or Burkholder, Grout and Palisca, A History of Western Music (Burkholder et al, 2014, 505–508).…”