sonata

[ suh-nah-tuh ]

noun

, Music.

1. a composition for one or two instruments, typically in three or four movements in contrasted forms and keys.

sonata

/ səˈnɑːtə /

noun

1. an instrumental composition, usually in three or more movements, for piano alone ( piano sonata ) or for any other instrument with or without piano accompaniment ( violin sonata , cello sonata , etc) See also sonata form symphony concerto
2. a one-movement keyboard composition of the baroque period

sonata

1. A musical composition for one or two instruments, usually in three or four movements . The sonata of the classic era in music had a definite arrangement for its movements: the first and fourth had a fast tempo , the second had a slow tempo, and the third was in either playful style (a “scherzo”) or in dance form (a “minuet”).

Word History and Origins

Origin of sonata¹

1685–95; < Italian < Latin sonāta, feminine of sonātus (past participle of sonāre to sound ¹ ). See sonant, -ate ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of sonata¹

C17: from Italian, from sonare to sound, from Latin

Example Sentences

In the video recordings, the rats’ head bobbing was more pronounced when the sonata played at its usual tempo, around 132 beats per minute.

From Science News

We would need to push the boundaries of what creative AI could do by teaching the machine Beethoven’s creative process—how he would take a few bars of music and painstakingly develop them into stirring symphonies, quartets, and sonatas.

From Popular-Science

One afternoon we were watching Ingmar Bergman's Autumn Sonata.

From The Daily Beast

From the first shots of Autumn Sonata it's clear that this is going to be slow going.

From The Daily Beast

If the book were a piece of music, it would be a sonata of interlocking monologues.

From The Daily Beast

With the dialogue all in Japanese, this feline plays a Tokyo Sonata of its own.

From The Daily Beast

Stop puttering around, sit down at your desk, and write out the speech or practice the sonata 100 times.

From The Daily Beast

When he plays a sonata it is as if the composition rose from the dead and stood transfigured before you.

From Project Gutenberg

It was one day when a student from the Stuttgardt conservatory attempted to play the Sonata Appassionata.

From Project Gutenberg

He took me to the house of a musical friend of his who was to lend me his grand piano, and there we tried our sonata.

From Project Gutenberg

At all events, he seemed entirely satisfied, and said, "We could have played that sonata without rehearsing it."

From Project Gutenberg

The Waltz without opus number and the Sonata, Op. 4, are likewise posthumous publications.

From Project Gutenberg