Uploaded January 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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0:00 Introduction
0:41 I: Etymology & Overview
2:33 II: In the Beginning …
8:07 III: The Rise of “Sonata Form”
16:27 IV: Classical Sonata Form
30:33 V: Form, Principle, or Theory?
34:26 VI: What About the Other Movements?
38:52 VII: The Romantic Sonata
50:53 VIII: (Post)modern Sonatas
57:18 IX: A Personal Conclusion

📚 Sources/further reading:
“The Sonata (Cambridge Introductions to Music)” by Thomas Schmidt-Beste (Cambridge University Press, 2011)
“Elements of Sonata Theory: Norms, Types, and Deformations in the Late Eighteenth-Century Sonata” by James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy (Oxford University Press, 2006)
“Sonata Fragments: Romantic Narratives in Chopin, Schumann, and Brahms” by Andrew Davis (Indiana University Press, 2017)
“Two-Dimensional Sonata Form: Form and Cycle in Single-Movements Instrumental Works by Liszt, Strauss, Schoenberg, and Zemlinsky” by Steven Vande Moortele (Leuven University Press, 2009)
The diagram showing rounded binary vs. ternary forms, from Dr. Timothy Crist of Arkansas State, may be found at http://www.clt.astate.edu/tcrist/theory2/roundedbinaryvsternary.pdf

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Music:

- Giovanni Gabrieli: Sonata pian’ e forte, Ch.175, performed by the brass of the Bavarian State Opera conducted by Zubin Mehta [original upload: rQeikHMQGOM]
- Thomas Little: Dance! #2, performed by Rachel Fellows, Michael King, and Bruce Tippette
- Giovanni Gabrieli: Sonata pian’ e forte, Ch.175, performed by the brass of the Festival des Cathérales de Picardie conducted by Bernard Fabre-Garrus [original upload: Jx2xgbBkjbg]
- Arcangelo Corelli: Trio Sonata in E-flat Major, Op.2 No.11, performed by Roxana Pavel Goldstein, Elias Goldstein, and Monica Pavel and available on IMSLP: tinyurl.com/CorelliTrio
- Lodovico Giustini: Sonata 2, Mvt. 2, from Sonate da cimbalo di piano e forte detto volgarmente di martelletti, Op.1, performed by Anna Heller (née Sutyagina) [original upload: LHPq26NoB4Y]
- Johann Kuhnau: Biblical Sonata No. 1, performed by Igor Kipnis [original upload: zFzvZ-lxSZw]
- W.A. Mozart: Piano Sonata No. 12 in F Major, K332, MIDI performance available at piano-midi.de/mozart.htm
- Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op.2 No.1, performed by Peter Bradley-Fulgoni and available on IMSLP: tinyurl.com/beetson1
- Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 26 in E-flat Major “Les adieux,” Op.81a, performed by Peter Bradley-Fulgoni and available on IMSLP: tinyurl.com/beetson26
- Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor “Pathétique,” Op.13, performed by Gabriel Antonio Hernandez Romero and available on IMSLP: tinyurl.com/beetson8
- César Franck: Violin Sonata, performed by Regino Madrid and Carl Banner and available on IMSLP: tinyurl.com/franckson
- Elliott Carter: Piano Sonata, performed by Beveridge Webster [original upload: SZxp8O_Lvyg]
- Paul Hindemith: Viola Sonata, Op.11 No.4, performed by Beth Guterman and Matan Porat and available on IMSLP: tinyurl.com/hindviola
- Charles Ives: Piano Sonata No. 2 “Concord,” Mvt. 2 “Hawthorne,” performed by Jeremy Denk and available on IMSLP: tinyurl.com/ivesconcord
- Thomas Little: Sonata for Violin and Piano, performed by Michele Zimmerman and George Mobley and available for purchase at tinyurl.com/myviolinsonata

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