Elements Of Music Sonata Essay Research Paper free essay sample

Elementss Of Music: Sonata Essay, Research Paper The Sonata Christian Corah 10/6/96 In the late 1700 # 8217 ; s and early 1800 # 8217 ; s the Baroque period gave manner to the classical epoch, presenting many radical new scientific finds and theories. This drastically changed the peoples societal positions and brought on the # 8220 ; age of enlightenment. # 8221 ; With this alteration in societal doctrine came alterations in musical tendencies. One of the most of import new tendencies of the clip was a more common usage of the sonata. During the Classical epoch, the sonata evolved into a more restricted function, and in making so, embodied the new manner of musical signifier for the clip. The sonata originated in Italy and bit by bit gained popularity over the remainder of Europe. During the Baroque period the sonata was composed of several dance motions, nevertheless, in the Classical epoch it changed to a fast-slow manner motion, with each motion composed in one of four signifiers popular during the Classical period. These signifiers consisted of sonata-allegro, rondeau, treble, and subject and fluctuations. Through history many features of the sonata have remained unchanged ; # 8220 ; most sonatas have been instrumental music, without voice parts, absolute music without plan ; concert or divisional music, without societal map ; solo or chamber music for one to four participants, without or multiple public presentation of the parts ; cyclic music, in two to four motions instead than one ; and loosely conceived music, exhibiting some of the most drawn-out designs of absolute music # 8221 ; ( Newman 479 ) . The sonata was played by, and written for, recreational instrumentalists who # 8220 ; practiced and performed for polite society in the comfort of their ain places # 8221 ; ( Wright 196 ) . The sonata is a type of chamber music, that gained popularity during the classical epoch. Sonata translates as, # 8220 ; something played # 8221 ; as opposed to it near cousin, the oratorio, which mean s # 8220 ; something Sung # 8221 ; . It was besides during this clip that the keyboard sonata evolved from cembalo and clavichord and eventually, to the piano ( Newman 485 ) . During 1830s the popularity of soft music increased drastically. This was because the Industrial Revolution allowed piano makers to developed methods for constructing many more pianos at lower costs. Pianos were no longer so expensive that ownership was reserved entirely for the wealthy. Middle category could besides have them and do music at place greatly spread outing the musical audience. The sonata was still used at tribunal and to a lesser extent in the church. These locations are chiefly due to the Baroque epoch, nevertheless, during the Classical period the sonata took on clearly different maps. The sonata was a, # 8221 ; recreation of the amateur or dabbler, a launching vehicle for the professional composer and performing artist, a preparation resource for the pupil ; an occasional point in private and public concerts ; and a conventional music accoutrement in the church # 8221 ; ( Newman 486 ) . The sonata was fundamentally used during little societal assemblages, or as musical preparation. Another, and probably most of import map of the sonata was as manner for composers to go known. # 8220 ; Every instrumentalist who aspired to fall in the company of composers working for the public by and large began his calling with keyboard composings, viz. with solo sonatas # 8221 ; ( Newman 487 ) . The first composers to significantly development the sonata during the Classical epoch were Haydn and Mozart. Little is known about Haydn # 8217 ; s piano sonatas, even though his piano sonatas and threading fours stand apart from most of his other composings. Haydn # 8217 ; s initial plants for the keyboard are reminiscent of the sonata and intended as an instructional assistance ( Larson 336 ) . Following these, he composed 14 sonatas. It is unknown who the sonatas were written for. They are hard pieces to play and expose few Baroque concerto features. However, they do exhibit # 8220 ; Haydn # 8217 ; s originality and independency of manner # 8221 ; ( Larson 336 ) . Mozart was one of the sonata # 8217 ; s first great composers, making short keyboard composings while still a immature kid. These composings are # 8220 ; slightly mechanical in their textures ( with heavy trust on consecutive forms ; much here seems to stand for the attentive male child # 8217 ; s geographic expedition of harmonic and textural possibilities # 8221 ; ( Plath 687 ) . As the popularity of sonata # 8217 ; s grew, even composers in London began to compose pieces in sonata signifier. The sonatas which were written in London portion many of the same features and promotions exposing a, # 8220 ; singular appreciation of the rules of J.S. Bach # 8217 ; s symphonic manner # 8221 ; ( Plath 687 ) . Mozart besides composed a figure of sonatas for usage in church which were written for three portion strings with the organ continue. Initially these pieces were really short, nevertheless, his last church sonatas had larger orchestral support. While populating in Vienna, Mozar t composed some of his greatest piano sonatas, which shared some features with those composed by Bach. Mozart went on to compose more sonatas while on a trip to Mannheim and Paris. He composed piano sonatas for the Cannabich # 8217 ; s girl Rosa. Mozart noted that he designed the Andante to picture her. In this composing the contrasts in kineticss, and a sense # 8220 ; expressive fondness # 8221 ; are clearly discernible ( Plath 697 ) . While Mozart was in Paris, he composed six more piano and fiddle sonatas. These composings reflect the local manner of the clip. Mozart composed merely one piece in E minor, # 8220 ; with its mated textures and hesitating pensive mode stand foring a universe of delicate esthesia, its reasoning minuet in par ticular, a rondeau or an elegant, hapless tune of a Gallic dramatis personae with a soft 2nd episode in E major supplying harmonic balm† ( Plath 697 ) . Mozart’s last sonatas are thought to be composed for the Prussian princess between 1789 and 1791, nevertheless, the truth remains unknown. Another composer who contributed in developing the sonata was Muzio Clementi. Clementi was an acclaimed composer known for his many keyboard pieces. His sonatas gained popularity due to his frequent public concerts. Clementi # 8217 ; s composings consisted chiefly of sonatas and keyboard pieces which extended # 8220 ; from the simplest dandy composing to the rhetorical passion of the romantic piano music # 8221 ; ( Plantinga 487 ) . Clementi # 8217 ; s earlier sonatas contain intense kineticss and tunes with wide runing notes ( Plantinga, 462 ) . These elements are besides characteristic of those in Beethoven # 8217 ; s early composings a decennary subsequently. Besides found in Clementi # 8217 ; s works is # 8220 ; an enduring fancy for uncompromising counterpoint, for two portion running figurations, and for assorted sorts of consummate transition work # 8221 ; ( Plantinga 487 ) . These sonatas demonstrate Clementi # 8217 ; s command of the techniques used in the sonata. T hey besides show motions which demonstrate stable construction. The motions show promotions in structural unity and a successful blending of the diverse techniques used in old sonatas ( Plantinga 487 ) . Clementi # 8217 ; s subsequently sonatas are renown for their modernity, experimental signifier, and largeness. In 1802, Clementi published three large-scale sonatas. # 8220 ; They are technically demanding and experimental in signifier. All three of these sonatas are notably long ; all show multiple subjects and drawn-out stretches of transition work merely tenuously related to those subjects, making an consequence of prolixness new to Clementi # 8217 ; s music # 8221 ; ( Plantinga 488 ) . In his ulterior old ages of composition, Clementi earned a repute that rested about entirely on his ability to compose for the piano. He was even referred to as the, # 8220 ; male parent of the forte-piano sonata # 8221 ; ( Plantinga 489 ) . It has taken clip for consciousness of Clementi # 8217 ; s part to the development of the sonata to be recognized. Recognition of the influence Clementi had on other great composers of the sonata, such as Beethoven, has increased throughout music history. Haydn, Mozart, and Clementi set the phase for one of the greatest maestro composers, Ludwig new wave Beethoven, who besides contributed vastly to the development of the piano sonata. Early in his life he established himself as a great piano player and composer for the piano. During this clip Beethoven produced one of his most famed plants, the Sonata Pathetique. Sonata Pathetique possessed, # 8220 ; a certain rational and inventive quality # 8221 ; ( Kerman 379 ) . During this clip Beethoven composed sonatas in four motions alternatively of three. His ulterior plants, such as the Piano Sonates in E Minor, incorporated a new characteristic of familiarity and daintiness ( Kerman 385 ) . A turning involvement in common people music compelled Beethoven to seek a new and more sophi sticated manner usage for the sonata ( Kerman 385 ) . This new involvement acquired by Beethoven resulted in a new degree of development for the sonata. Through his usage of a new type of fluctuation, Beethoven showed that the different parts express a greater individualism and a wholly changed position of the original subject. # 8220 ; The subject seems transformed or probed to its basicss, instead than simply varied # 8221 ; ( Kerman 385 ) . Beethoven # 8217 ; s last great sonata was the Sonata in B Flat, besides known as The Hammerklavier. Written from 1817 to 1818, it besides represented a immense point of alteration in Beethoven # 8217 ; s manner. # 8220 ; The Hammerklavier paradoxically represents a reaction, in that Beethoven reverted to the traditional four-movement form in topographic point of the fluid formal experiments of the sonatas of 1814, and turned off from their tone of lyrical familiarity # 8221 ; ( Kerman 387 ) . The sonata originally began as a four or five motion genre. During the classical epoch, it evolved into a fast-slow-fast motion manner, and finally developed into music composed about entirely for the keyboard. Though during the Classical epoch it was performed largely by amateurs for a more modest audience, or merely for pattern entirely, the sonata was able to derive world-wide celebrity and play a cardinal function in the development of Classical music. The sonata has played an indispensable function in the callings of many of the traditionally accepted great composers of the Baroque and Classical epochs. Joseph Kerman expresses what the sonata embodies most when he states that the sonata was able to set up, # 8221 ; a new basic degree of human contact through basic vocal # 8221 ; ( Kerman, 385 ) . Bibliography Kerman, Joseph and Alan Tyson. # 8220 ; Beethoven, Ludwig van. # 8221 ; The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. vol. 2. London: Macmillan Publishers, 1980. Larson, Peter. # 8220 ; Haydn, Joseph. # 8221 ; The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. vol. 8 London: Macmillan Publishers, 1980. Newman, William S. # 8220 ; Classical Sonata. # 8221 ; The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. vol. 17. London: Macmillan Publishers, 1980. Plantinga, Leon. # 8220 ; Clementim, Muzio. # 8221 ; The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. vol. 4. London: Macmillan Publishers, 1980. Plath, Wolfgang. # 8220 ; Wolfgang Amadeus. # 8221 ; The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. vol. 12. London: Macmillan Publishers, 1980. The New Oxford History of Music. 10 vol. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1954-86. Wright, Craig. # 8220 ; Listening to Music. # 8221 ; 2nd edition. St. Paul: West Printing Company, 1996.