The Sonata
Part of Cambridge Introductions to Music
- Author: Thomas Schmidt-Beste, University of Wales, Bangor
- Date Published: March 2011
- availability: Available
- format: Paperback
- isbn: 9780521756310
Paperback
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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.
Read more- Provides the first one-volume survey of the sonata, allowing students and performance professionals to gain a deep insight into a genre with which they are in constant contact
- Includes detailed analyses of selected works or movements, presenting readers with a study tool for analysing formal patterns transcending the genre of the sonata itself
- Encourages readers to think about overarching historical developments beyond conventional pigeonholing in periods or style, for example by seeing the Baroque trio sonata and the Classical piano sonata side by side
Reviews & endorsements
'This book packs a lot in and is highly recommended for the careful reader.' Music Teacher
See more reviews'This volume seems particularly relevant to first-year undergraduates, who will surely fall upon its jargon-free vocabulary and crystal-clear layout with delight … as a history of works called sonatas, this keenly-focused study is essential reading.' The Musical Times
'5 stars: In this outstanding book Schmidt-Beste covers every conceivable aspect of sonata history.' Classical Music
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×Product details
- Date Published: March 2011
- format: Paperback
- isbn: 9780521756310
- length: 278 pages
- dimensions: 246 x 175 x 14 mm
- weight: 0.55kg
- contains: 12 tables 45 music examples
- availability: Available
Table of Contents
Part I. Definitions:
1. Sonata and canzona
2. Sonata and sinfonia
3. Sonata and concerto
4. Sonata and suite/partita
5. The sonata and free instrumental genres: toccata - ricercar - capriccio - fantasia
Part II. Form:
6. The 'free' sonata in the seventeenth century
7. Corelli and his legacy
8. Sonata cycles and 'sonata form' after 1750
9. Beethoven's sonatas - consummating or transcending Classical form?
10. The cycle
11. The sonata after Beethoven
12. Sonata composition in the twentieth century
Part III. Functions and Aesthetics:
13. Locations and occasions
14. Target groups: professionals, connoisseurs and amateurs
15. Learned style
16. Virtuosity
17. Sonata form as an aesthetic paradigm
18. Absolute music? On meaning and programmaticism
Part IV. Scoring and Texture:
19. Developments in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
20. The paradigm shift of c.1750
21. The age of the piano sonata
22. Piano and others
23. The sonata for unaccompanied solo instrument
24. The organ sonata
Bibliography.
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