sonate

Forms

sonate f (plural sonates)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian sonata, the feminine past participle, used as a noun, of sonare (“to sound, to play an instrument”).^[2][3][4] The Italian verb comes from Latin sonō, which also gave French sonner.^[3][5] The Italian word, for a piece “sounded” on instruments, was opposed to the cantata, a piece sung, and the toccata, a piece “touched” on a keyboard.^[3][6] In Italian the word is found from the early 16th century.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1695, in the title of a manuscript work by Sébastien de Brossard, Deux sonates à deux violons, basse de violon et basse continue.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In French the word first named the instrumental form that came from Italy and spread through Europe towards the end of the 17th century: a piece in several movements of different character, played by a few instruments.^[3][7] Towards the end of the 18th century, as its structure became fixed in Haydn, Mozart and later Beethoven, it came to mean a piece with a particular form, the forme sonate, a ternary structure with two themes, which frames most classical instrumental music.^[3][7] Today the word is used, outside music history, only for such pieces written for one, two or three instruments.^[3]

Timeline

• 1695 – First record, in a title by Sébastien de Brossard.^[2][5]
• late 18th century – The modern sense, a piece in forme sonate.^[3][7]
• 1821 – sonatine is borrowed from Italian;^[3][5] Bloch and Wartburg date it to 1836.^[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (music, historical) An instrumental piece in several movements, alternately slow and fast, for a small number of players: sonate d'église.^[7][2]
2. (music) A piece in three or four movements with a characteristic structure, for one to three instruments: sonate pour piano, sonate en trio.^[7][3]
3. Forme sonate: the ternary, two-theme form of the first movement of a sonata.^[7][3]

Related words

• sonatine
• sonner
• cantate
• toccata
• Italian sonata

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 12, 101a
5. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert