A piano sonata is a
sonata written for a solo
piano. Piano sonatas are usually written in three or four
movements, although some piano sonatas have been written with a single movement (
Scarlatti,
Liszt,
Scriabin,
Medtner,
Berg), others with two movements (
Haydn,
Beethoven), some contain five (
Brahms'
Third Piano Sonata,
Czerny's Piano Sonata No. 1) or even more movements. The first movement is generally composed in
sonata form.
The Baroque keyboard sonata
In the
Baroque era, the use of the term "sonata" generally referred to either the
sonata da chiesa (church sonata) or
sonata da camera (chamber sonata), both of which were sonatas for various instruments (usually one or more
violins plus
basso continuo). The keyboard sonata was relatively neglected by most
composers.
The sonatas of
Domenico Scarlatti (of which there are over 500) were the hallmark of the Baroque keyboard sonata, though they were, for the most part, unpublished during Scarlatti's lifetime.[1] The majority of these sonatas are in one-movement
binary form, both sections being in the same
tempo and utilizing the same thematic material. These sonatas are prized for both their technical difficulty and their musical and formal ingenuity. The influence of Spanish folk music is evident in Scarlatti's sonatas.
Other composers of keyboard sonatas (which were primarily written in two or three movements) include
Marcello,
Giustini,
Durante and
Platti. J.S. Bach's popular Italian Concerto, despite the name, can also be considered a keyboard sonata.
Piano sonatas in the Classical era
Although various composers in the 17th century had written
keyboard pieces which they entitled "Sonata", it was only in the
classical era, when the piano displaced the earlier
harpsichord and sonata form rose to prominence as a principle of
musical composition, that the term "piano sonata" acquired a definite meaning and a characteristic form.
As the
Romantic era progressed after Beethoven and Schubert, piano sonatas continued to be composed, but in lesser numbers as the form took on a somewhat academic tinge and competed with shorter genres more compatible with Romantic compositional style.
Franz Liszt's comprehensive "three-movements-in-one"
Sonata in B minor draws on the concept of thematic transformation first introduced by
Schubert in his
Wanderer Fantasie of 1822. Piano sonatas have been written throughout the 19th and 20th centuries and up to the present day.