Sonata Form in Music: A Basic Guide to Sonata Form

Sonata form is a three-section musical form where each of the main sections explores a central theme or motif. While the term "sonata" has meant different things at different points in music history, the term “sonata form” refers to a method of structuring a movement within a piece of instrumental music.

The three key sections of sonata form are exposition, development, and recapitulation.

1. 1. Exposition: In the exposition of a sonata, the composer lays out the principal musical themes of the piece in the first subject group. These themes are initially played in the tonic key of the piece. (For a sonata written in C major, the principal themes would first be expressed in C major.) From there, the exposition section modulates. If the piece is in a major key, it modulates to the dominant key (in C major, this would be the key of G major). Sonatas written in a minor key first modulate to the relative major (in C minor, the first modulation would be to E♭ major). From there, the first theme and second theme manifest in several new keys (in the key of C major, this might involve slightly more distant keys like D major or E minor). Finally the exposition ends in a codetta.
2. 2. Development: In the development section, the thematic material from the first section cycles through different keys with different variations—typically starting with the key from the end of the exposition. In eighteenth-century Baroque and Classical-era sonatas, the development section is comparatively brief. In the Romantic-era music that dominated the nineteenth century, the development section can feature long explorations and many new musical ideas. (To see this in practice, compare the development section in the first movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 Eroica with the first movement of Mozart's Symphony No. 40.) Traditional developments end with a re-transition, where the music hangs on a dominant seventh chord for some time to prepare the ear for a return to the home key.
3. 3. Recapitulation: In this final sonata-form movement, the music reprises the main themes of the exposition section. It also features a short transition subsection that is sometimes called a secondary development. Eventually, the themes resolve in another perfect authentic cadence in the home tonality.

The three sections of sonata form are sometimes prefaced by an overture section and followed by a coda section.

Sonatas first emerged in the early eighteenth century, and they rose to prominence in the Classical and Romantic eras.

• Origin in the Baroque era: The word "sonata" traces back to the Baroque period of the seventeenth century. It combines the word "cantata," which is a type of vocal music, with Italian word suonare, which refers to instrumental music. A strong early example of the sonata form in practice is Pergolesi's Trio Sonata No. 3 in G Major, written some time before the composer's death in 1736.
• Classical-era popularity: Classical-period composers like Franz Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart eventually adopted the form, emphasizing its clear order and structure in their multi-movement works.
• Incorporation into symphonies: Sonatas became a popular template for the first movement of a symphony. Typically called sonata-allegro form, this musical structure introduces the principal themes in a symphony before giving way to a markedly different second movement. (Traditionally, Classical and Romantic symphonies begin with a lively allegro first movement, and the second movement is often called the "slow movement.")
• Incorporation into other musical forms: Sonata form can provide structure to string quartets and instrumental concertos from the Classical and Romantic periods. Sonata form also blends with other musical forms such as the minuet (an A-B-A binary form) and the rondo, which is normally structured A-B-A-C-A-D. Sonata rondo form was a particularly popular musical structure in the Classical period.
• Evolution in the Romantic and Modern eras: The most strictly organized sonatas tend to come from the Classical period, which ranged from approximately 1750 to 1820. As music became more boldly experimental in the nineteenth-century Romantic era and the twentieth-century Modern era, the sonata form began to deviate from fixed rules.

One of the best ways to comprehend the sonata musical structure is to immerse yourself in playing an actual sonata. The following piano sonatas are relatively accessible for pianists who have mastered the basics of playing piano.

1. 1. Sonata in G Major Hob XVI:8 by Franz Joseph Haydn
2. 2. Sonata in F major Hob. XVI:9 by Franz Joseph Haydn
3. 3. Sonatina Op. 36 No. 1 by Muzio Clementi
4. 4. Sonatina Op. 49 by Ludwig van Beethoven
5. 5. Sonata No. 14 ("Moonlight") by Ludwig van Beethoven
6. 6. Sonata in C Major K 545 ("Sonata Facile") by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
7. 7. Sonata in G Major K 283 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

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