[It., fem. pa. pple. of sonare to sound. Cf. F. sonate.]
1. † a. A musical composition for instruments as opposed to one for voices (a cantata). Obs. b. An instrumental piece of music, usually for the pianoforte, in several (commonly three or four) movements. Double sonata (see quot. 1880).
1694. Purcell, Playford’s Skill Music (ed. 12), 116. But if you Compose Sonata’s, there one Treble has as much Predominancy as the other.
1713. Guardian, No. 67. He has made use of Italian Tunes and Sonatas for promoting the Protestant Interest.
1766. Entick, London, IV. 447. Several … songs are performed, with sonatas or concertos between each.
1801. Busby, Dict. Mus., s.v., The Sonata, of whatever kind, generally opens with an Adagio; and … concludes with an Allegro, or a Presto.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, liii. I have … gone accurately through the whole of Beethoven’s Sonata in B.
1880. Stainer & Barrett, Dict. Mus. Terms, Double sonata, a sonata for two solo instruments, as pianoforte and violin, or two pianofortes.
transf. 1869. Routledge’s Ev. Boy’s Ann., 469. Morton had recommenced another sonata on his nasal organ.
2. Without article: The class of music represented by sonatas.
1883. Grove’s Dict. Music, III. 558–9. The domain of Sonata was for a long while almost monopolised by violinists and writers for the violin.
3. attrib., as sonata face, form, kind.
1703. Farquhar, Inconstant, II. ii. I see you have a singing face; a heavy dull sonata face.
1873. H. C. Banister, Music (1877), 209. In these [Concertos], the Sonata form is extended.
1874. Ouseley, Musical Form, 54. The modern binary form is often but inaccurately styled ‘the sonata form.’
1883. Grove’s Dict. Music, III. 554/1. Abstract instrumental music of the Sonata kind.
Hence Sonatical a. rare–1.
1797. Monthly Mag., III. 227. The symphony of the present day is perfectly sonatical.
