The piano sonata was an important part of music during the Classical period . It characterizes the Classical era's new trend of musical form.

Originally, the sonata was made up of several dance movements, but then in the Classical era, it changed to a fast-slow movement style, each of the movements being composed in one of the forms popular during the Classical period. These consisted of sonata-allegro, ternary, rondo, and theme and variations. Down through history many things characteristic of the sonata have remained the same: "most sonatas have been instrumental music, without voice parts, absolute music without program; concert or divisional music, without social function; solo or chamber music for one to four players, without or multiple performance of the parts; cyclic music, in two to four movements rather than one; and broadly conceived music, exhibiting some of the most extended designs of absolute music"(Newman 479). The sonata is a genre of chamber music, which increased in popularity during the classical period. Generally, it was played by and written for amateur musicians who "practiced and performed for polite society in the comfort of their own homes"(Wright 196

Kerman, Joseph and Alan Tyson. "Beethoven, Ludwig van." The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. vol. 2. London: Macmillan Publishers, 1980.

Larson, Peter. "Haydn, Joseph." The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. vol. 8 London: Macmillan Publishers, 1980.

Mozart, one of the sonata's first great composers, had short keyboard compositions, which dated back to his early childhood. These musical compositions are "somewhat mechanical in their textures (with heavy reliance on sequential patterns; much here seems to represent the attentive boy's exploration of harmonic and textural possibilities"(Plath 687). The sonatas which were written in London share many of the same characteristics, but show a great advancement, including a "remarkable grasp of the principles of J.S. Bach's symphonic style"(Plath 687). Mozart composed a number of sonatas for the church. These were written for three part strings with the organ continue. These pieces were also very short originally. But later, Mozart had the forms lengthened to fit the masses for which they were written. His last church sonatas had larger orchestral forces.

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