Sonata form

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For the Sonata as a complete multi-movement structure, and related musical forms, see Sonata.
Simplest sonata form pattern and its relation to binary form.[1]
Classical sonata form in minor.[2]
"Early examples of sonata form resemble two-reprise continuous ternary form."[3]


While it is typically used in the first movement of multi-movement pieces, it is sometimes used in subsequent movements as well—particularly the final movement. The teaching of sonata form in music theory rests on a standard definition and a series of hypotheses about the underlying reasons for the durability and variety of the form—a definition that arose in the second quarter of the 19th century.[4] There is little disagreement that on the largest level, the form consists of three main sections: an exposition, a development, and a recapitulation;[5] however, beneath this, sonata form is difficult to pin down in a single model.


Since its establishment, the sonata form became the most common form in the first movement of works entitled "sonata", as well as other long works of classical music, including the symphony, concerto, string quartet, and so on.[5] Accordingly, there is a large body of theory on what unifies and distinguishes practice in the sonata form, both within eras and between eras. Even works that do not adhere to the standard description of a sonata form often present analogous structures or can be analyzed as elaborations or expansions of the standard description of sonata form.

Defining 'sonata form'[edit]



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, 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 H. C. 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 and principal cadences, without saying a great deal about the treatment of themes. Seen in this way, sonata form was closest to binary form, out of which it probably developed.[6] 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 study and criticism of Beethoven's piano sonatas.

Definition as a formal model[edit]



The first required section is the exposition. The exposition presents the primary thematic material for the movement: one or two themes or theme groups, often in contrasting styles and in opposing keys, connected by a modulating transition. The exposition typically concludes with a closing theme, a codetta, or both.





However, sonata form is presently viewed as a model for musical analysis, rather than compositional practice. Although the descriptions on this page could be considered an adequate analysis of many first-movement structures, there are enough variations that theorists such as Charles Rosen have felt them to warrant the plural in 'Sonata forms.'[7]

These variations include, but are not limited to:



  • a separate development section including a retransition
  • the simultaneous return of the first subject group and the tonic

Outline of sonata form[edit]

The standard description of the sonata form is:


Main article: Introduction (music)


On occasion, the material of introduction reappears in its original tempo later in the movement. Often, this occurs as late as the coda, as in Mozart's String Quintet in D major K. 593, Haydn's "Drumroll" Symphony, or Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 8 ("Pathétique").


Main article: Exposition (music)


First theme (G major) and transition (to D major) from Haydn's Keyboard Sonata, Hob. XVI: G1, I, mm. 1–12 About this sound Play  .[8]
  • First subject group, P (Prime) – this consists of one or more themes, all of them in the tonic key. Although some pieces are written differently, most follow this form.
Start of second subject (D major) of Haydn's Sonata in G Major, Hob. XVI: G1, I, mm. 13–16 About this sound Play .
  • Transition, T – in this section the composer modulates from the key of the first subject to the key of the second. If the first group is in a major key, the second group will usually be in the dominant key. However, if the first group is in minor key, the second group will usually be the relative major.
End of second subject and Codetta (D major) of Haydn's Sonata in G Major, Hob. XVI: G1, I, mm. 17–28 About this sound Play 
  • Second subject group, S – one or more themes in a different key from the first group. The material of the second group is often different in rhythm or mood from that of the first group (frequently, it is more lyrical).
  • Codetta, K – the purpose of this is to bring the exposition section to a close with a perfect cadence in the same key as the second group. It is not always used, and some works end the exposition on the second subject group. The exposition is commonly repeated, particularly in classical works, and more likely in solo or chamber works than for concerti. Often, though not always, the last measure or measures of the exposition are slightly different between the repeats, one to point back to the tonic, where the exposition began, and the second to point towards the development.


Main article: Musical development
Development Haydn's Sonata in G Major, Hob. XVI: G1, I, mm. 29–53 About this sound Play .[9]


The development varies greatly in length from piece to piece and from time period to time period, sometimes being relatively short compared to the exposition (e.g., the first movement of Eine kleine Nachtmusik, K 525/i by Mozart) and in other cases quite long and detailed (e.g., the first movement of the "Eroica" Symphony by Beethoven). Developments in the classical era are typically shorter due to how much composers of that era valued symmetry, unlike the more expressive romantic era in which development sections gain a much greater importance. However, it almost always shows a greater degree of tonal, harmonic, and rhythmic instability than the other sections. In a few cases, usually in late Classical and early Romantic concertos, the development section consists of or ends with another exposition, often in the relative minor of the tonic key.

At the end, the music will usually return to the tonic key in preparation of the recapitulation. (On occasion it will actually return to the sub-dominant key and then proceed with the same transition as in the exposition). The transition from the development to the recapitulation is a crucial moment in the work.

Retransition Haydn's Sonata in G Major, Hob. XVI: G1, I, mm. 54–57 About this sound Play  .[10]

The last part of the development section is called the retransition: It prepares for the return of the first subject group in the tonic, most often through a grand prolongation of the dominant seventh. In addition, the character of the music would signal such a return.[clarification needed]

Exceptions include the first movement of Brahms's Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 1. The general key of the movement is C major, and it would then follow that the retransition should stress the dominant seventh chord on G. Instead, it builds in strength over the dominant seventh chord on C, as if the music were proceeding to F major, only to take up immediately the first theme in C major.



Recapitulation Haydn's Sonata in G Major, Hob. XVI: G1, I, mm. 58–80 About this sound Play  .[11]


  • Second subject group – usually in roughly the same form as in the exposition, but now in the home key, which sometimes involves change of mode from major to minor, or vice versa, as occurs in the first movement of Mozart's Symphony No. 40 (K. 550). More often, however, it may be recast in the parallel major of the home key (for example, C major when the movement is in C minor like Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, op. 67/I). Key here is more important than mode (major or minor) – the recapitulation provides the needed balance even if the material's mode is changed, so long as there is no longer any key conflict.


After the closing cadence, the musical argument proper is said to be completed. If the movement continues, it is said to have a coda.


Main article: Coda (music)
Coda Mozart's Sonata in C Major, K. 309, I, mm. 148–155 About this sound Play  .[12]

The Coda is optional. After the final cadence of the recapitulation, the movement may continue with a coda which will contain material from the movement proper. Codas, when present, vary considerably in length, but like introductions are not part of the "argument" of the work. The coda will end, however, with a perfect authentic cadence in the original key. Codas may be quite brief tailpieces, or they may be very long and elaborate. An example of the more extended type is the coda to the first movement of Beethoven's Eroica Symphony.

Explanations for why an extended coda is present vary. One reason may be to omit the repeat of the development and recapitulation sections found in earlier sonata forms of the eighteenth century. Indeed, Beethoven's extended codas often serve the purpose of further development of thematic material. Another role that these codas sometimes serve is to return to the minor mode in minor-key movements where the recapitulation proper concludes in the parallel major, as in the first movements of Beethoven's 5th Symphony or Schumann's Piano Concerto - or, rarely, to restore the home key after an off-tonic recapitulation, such as in the first movements of Brahms' Clarinet Quintet and Dvorak's Symphony No. 9.

Variations on the standard schema[edit]

Monothematic expositions[edit]



Expositions that modulate to other keys[edit]

The key of the second subject may be something other than the dominant (for a major-mode sonata movement) or relative major (for a minor-key movement). A second option for minor-mode sonata form movements was to modulate to the minor dominant; this option, however, robs the sonata structure of the space of relief and comfort that a major-mode second theme would bring, and was therefore used primarily for a bleak, grim effect, as Beethoven did with some frequency.

About halfway through his career, Beethoven also began to experiment with other tonal relationships between the tonic and the second subject group. The most common practice, for Beethoven and many other composers from the Romantic era, was to use the mediant or submediant, rather than the dominant, for the second group. For instance, the first movement of the "Waldstein" sonata, in C major, modulates to the mediant E major, while the opening movement of the "Hammerklavier" sonata, in B-flat major, modulates to the submediant G major, and the thirteenth string quartet in the same key modulates to the flattened submediant G-flat major.

Beethoven began also to use the submediant major with more frequency in minor-key sonata-form movements, as in the first movements of the ninth symphony, the final piano sonata, and the eleventh and fifteenth string quartets. Interestingly, the latter case transposes the second repeat of its exposition by a fifth, starting on the minor dominant (instead of the tonic) and finishing on the major mediant (instead of the submediant). The first movement of Richard Strauss's second symphony, in F minor, modulates to the submediant D-flat major, as do the F minor first movements of Brahms' first clarinet sonata and piano quintet; all three works balance this downward third by moving up to the major mediant (A-flat major) for the key of the second movement.

Rarely, a major-mode sonata form movement will modulate to a minor key for the second subject area, such as the mediant minor (Beethoven Sonata Op. 31/1, i), the relative minor (first movements of Beethoven Triple Concerto and Brahms Piano Trio No. 1) or even the minor dominant (Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2, i). In such cases, the second theme will often return initially in the tonic minor in the recapitulation, with the major mode restored later on.

During the late Romantic period, it was also possible to modulate to remote tonal areas to represent divisions of the octave. In the first movement of Tchaikovsky's fourth symphony, the first subject group is in the tonic F minor but modulates to G-sharp minor and then to B major for the second subject group. The recapitulation begins in D minor and modulates to F major, and goes back to the parallel F minor for the coda.

Expositions with more than two key areas[edit]

Main article: Three-key exposition

The exposition need not only have two key areas. Some composers, most notably Schubert, composed sonata forms with three or more key areas. The first movement of Schubert's Quartet in D minor, D. 810 ("Death and the Maiden"), for example, has three separate key and thematic areas, in D minor, F major, and A minor.[13] Similarly, Chopin's Piano Concerto in F minor uses F minor, A-flat major, and C minor in its first movement's exposition. In both cases, the transition is i-III-v, an elaboration of the minor schema of either using i-III or i-v.

Modulations within the first subject group[edit]


Recapitulations in the "wrong key"[edit]

In the recapitulation section, the key of the first subject group may be in a key other than tonic, most often in the subdominant, known as a "subdominant recapitulation". In some pieces by Haydn and Mozart, such as Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C, K. 545, the first subject group will be in the subdominant and then modulate back to tonic for the second subject group and coda. It is also possible for the first subject group to begin in tonic but modulate to another key and then back to tonic for the second subject group. In the finale of the original 1872 version of Tchaikovsky's 2nd Symphony, the recapitulation begins with the first subject group in the tonic C major but modulates to remote keys, first to E-flat major and then E major, and then modulates back to tonic for the second subject group. It is also possible to have the second subject group in a key other than tonic while the first subject group is in the home key. For instance in the first movement of Richard Strauss's 2nd symphony in F minor, the recapitulation begins with the first subject group in tonic but modulates to the mediant A-flat major for the second subject group before modulating back to F minor for the coda.

Truncated sonata form[edit]

Occasionally, especially in some Romantic works, the sonata form extends only as far as the end of the exposition, at which point the piece transitions directly into the next movement instead of a development section. One example is Henryk Wieniawski's Violin Concerto No. 2 in D minor. Another example is Fritz Seitz's Violin Concertos for students, where such a truncated sonata form is used ostensibly to cut down on the first movements' length. Sometimes, the third movement of such works is the recapitulation of the first movement (one example being Franz Strauss' Horn Concerto in C Minor), making the entire work effectively a single-movement sonata.

Sonata form in concerti[edit]

An important variant on traditional sonata-allegro form is found in the first movement of the Classical concerto. Here, the sonata-allegro's customary 'repeated exposition' is replaced by two different but related sections: the 'tutti exposition' and the 'solo exposition'. Prototypically the 'tutti exposition' does not feature the soloist (except, in early classical works, in a 'continuo' role), and does not contain the decisive sonata-exposition modulation to the secondary key. Only when the 'solo exposition' is under way does the solo instrument assert itself and participate in the move to (classically) the dominant or relative major. The situation is only seemingly different in the case of such late classical works as Beethoven's Fourth and Fifth Piano Concertos, where the soloist is heard at the outset: as the later unfolding of those movements makes clear, the opening piano solo or early piano flourishes actually precede the start of the exposition proper. This device is also found in an early Mozart concerto, No. 9, as well as in many Romantic concertos, such as Grieg's A minor concerto or Brahms' B-flat major concerto.



The history of sonata form[edit]

The term sonata is first found in the 17th century, when instrumental music had just begun to become increasingly separated from vocal music. The original meaning of the term (derived from the Italian word suonare, to sound on instrument) referred to a piece for playing, distinguished from cantata, a piece for singing. At this time, the term implies a binary form, usually AABB with some aspects of three part forms. Early examples of simple preclassical sonata forms include Pergolesi's Trio Sonata No. 3 in G Major.[1]




Sonata form and other musical forms[edit]



Theory of sonata form[edit]










Musical criticism and sonata form[edit]

Because of its centrality to classical music, the sonata form has been a topic of interest to music critics since its origin. Contentious opinions include those of prominent critics such as Eduard Hanslick,[citation needed] who praised the form for its intelligibility.

See also[edit]


  1. ^ a b White, John D. (1976). The Analysis of Music, p. 57. ISBN 0-13-033233-X.
  2. ^ White, John D. (1994). Comprehensive Musical Analysis, p.101. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9781461657668.
  3. ^ Kostka, Stefan and Payne, Dorothy (1995). Tonal Harmony, p.346. 3rd edition, McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-300056-6.
  4. ^ Rosen, C (1980) Sonata Forms (revised ed. 1988), New York, Norton, p. 1.
  9. ^ Benward & Saker (2009), p.138-39.
  10. ^ Benward & Saker (2009), p.140.
  11. ^ Benward & Saker (2009), p.140-41.
  12. ^ Benward & Saker (2009), p.151.
  14. ^ Marston, Nicholas, 'Schubert's Homecoming', Journal of the Royal Musical Association 125 (2000), 248–270.
  15. ^ White (1976), p.59.

Further reading[edit]