Editing Sonata form (section)

==Defining 'sonata form'==
[[File:Baroque binary forms roots in sonata form.png|thumb|upright=1.5|Baroque binary forms roots in sonata form<ref name="White, John D. 1976">{{cite book|last=White|first=John D.|date=1976|title=The Analysis of Music|publisher=Prentice-Hall |url=https://archive.org/details/analysisofmusic00whit|url-access=registration|isbn=0-13-033233-X}}</ref>{{rp|57}}]]

According to the ''[[Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]'', sonata form is "the most important principle of musical form, or formal type, from the [[Classical period (music)|Classical period]] well into the [[20th-century classical music|20th century]]".<ref name=webster-grove>{{cite book|first=James|last=Webster|contribution=Sonata form|title=Grove Music Online|editor-first=L.|editor-last=Macy|access-date=2008-03-27|url=http://www.grovemusic.com}}</ref> As a formal model it is usually best exemplified in the first movements of multi-movement works from this period, whether [[orchestra]]l or [[Chamber music|chamber]], and has, thus, been referred to frequently as "first-movement form" or "sonata-allegro form" (since the typical first movement in a three- or four-movement cycle will be in [[Tempo#Italian tempo markings|allegro tempo]]). However, as what Grove, following [[Charles Rosen]], calls a "principle"—a typical approach to shaping a large piece of [[instrumental]] music—it can be seen to be active in a much greater variety of pieces and [[Music genre|genres]], from [[minuet]] to [[concerto]] to [[Sonata rondo form|sonata-rondo]]. It also carries with it expressive and stylistic connotations: "sonata style"—for [[Donald Tovey]] and other theorists of his time—was characterized by drama, dynamism, and a "psychological" approach to theme and expression.<ref name=webster-grove/>

Although the Italian term ''[[sonata]]'' often refers to a piece in sonata form, it is important to separate the two. As the title for a single-movement piece of instrumental music, ''sonata''—the past participle of ''suonare'', "to play [an instrument]", as opposed to ''[[cantata]]'', the past participle of ''cantare'', "to sing"—covers many pieces from the [[Baroque]] and mid-18th century that are not "in sonata form". Conversely, in the late 18th century or [[Classical period (music)|"Classical" period]], the title "sonata" is typically given to a work composed of three or four movements. Nonetheless, this multi-movement sequence is not what is meant by sonata form, which refers to the structure of an individual movement.

The definition of sonata form in terms of musical elements sits uneasily between two historical eras. Although the late 18th century witnessed the most exemplary achievements in the form, above all from [[Joseph Haydn]] and [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]], a compositional theory of the time did not use the term "sonata form". Perhaps the most extensive contemporary description of the sonata-form type of movement may have been given by the theorist [[Heinrich Christoph Koch]] in 1793: like earlier German theorists and unlike many of the descriptions of the form we are used to today, he defined it in terms of the movement's plan of [[Modulation (music)|modulation]] and principal [[cadences]], without saying a great deal about the treatment of [[Theme (music)|themes]]. Seen in this way, sonata form was closest to [[binary form]], out of which it probably developed.<ref name=webster-grove/>

The model of the form that is often taught currently tends to be more thematically differentiated. It was originally promulgated by [[Anton Reicha]] in ''Traité de haute composition musicale'' in 1826, by [[Adolf Bernhard Marx]] in ''Die Lehre von der musikalischen Komposition'' in 1845, and by [[Carl Czerny]] in 1848. Marx may be the originator of the term "sonata form". This model was derived from the study and criticism of [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]]'s [[piano]] sonatas.