Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

SONATA 533
two Imudred years ; and the progress was almost
throughout steady, continuous, and uniform
in direction. The earlier history is chiefly
occupied by Its gradual differentiation from the
Suite-form, with which for a time it was occasionally
confounded. But there always was a
perceptible difference in the general tendency
of the two. The Suite gravitated towards
dance-forms, and movements which similarly
had one principal idea or form of motion pervading
them, so that the balance of contrasts lay
between one movement and another, and not
conspicuously between pai-ts of the same movement.
The Sonata gravitated towards more
complicated conditions and away from pure
dance-forms. Diversity of character between
subjects and figures was admitted early into
single movements, and contrasts of key were
much more strongly emphasised ; and while in
the Suite, except in extremely rare cases, all
the movements were in one key, amongst the
very earliest Sonatas there are examples of a
central movement being cast in a different key
from the rest.
In a yet more important manner the capacity
of the Sonata was made deeper and broader by
the quality and style of its music. In the Suite,
as we have said, the contrasts between one movement
and another were between forms of the
same order and character—that is, between
dance-forms and their analogues ; but in the
Sonata the different movements very soon came
to represent different origins and types of music.
Thus in the early violin sonatas the slow introductory
first movement generally shows traces of
ecclesiastical influence ; the second, which is the
solid kind of allegro corresponding to the first
movement ofmodem sonatas, was clearly derived
from the secular vocal madrigals, or part music
for voices, through the instrumental canzonas,
which were their closest relations. The third,
which was the characteristic slow movement,
frequently showed traces of its descent from solo
vocal music of various kinds, as found in operss,
cantatas, or other similar situations ; and the
last movement earliest and latest showed traces
of dance elements pure and simple. A further
point of much importance was the early tendency
towards systematic and distinct structure, which
appears most frequently in the last movement.
The reason for the apparent anomaly is not
hard to find. The only movement in the group
on a scale corresponding to the last was the
second, and this was most frequently of a fugal
disposition. The fugue was a form which was
comparatively well understood when the modern
harmonic forms were still in embryo ; and not
only did it suffice for the construction of movements
of almost any length, but it did not in
itself suggest advance in the direction of the
sonata kinds of form, though it was shown to be
capable of amalgamation with them when they
in their turn had been definitely brought to
perfection. In the dance movements on the
other hand, when the fugal forms were not used,
all that was supplied as basis to work upon was;
the type of motion or rhythm, and the outlines
of structure had to be found. As long as the
movements were on a small scale the structure
which obtained oftenest was the equal balance of
repeated halves without contrasting subjects, of
which the finest examples are to be found in
Bach's Suites. The last movement was in fact
so long a pure suite movement. But when it
began to take larger dimensions, emphasis began
to be laid upon that part of the first half of the
movement which was in the dominant key ; then
the process of characterising it by distinct figures
or subjects became prominent ; and by degrees
it developed into the definite second section.
Meanwhile the opening bars of the movement
gradually assumed more distinct and salient
features, making the passage stand out more
clearly from its immediate context ; and in this
form it was repeated at the beginning of the
second half of the movement, the second section
being reserved to make a complete balance by concluding
the whole in a manner analogous to the
conclusion of the first half. So far the change
from the suite type of movement rests chiefly on
the clearer definition of parts, and more positive
exactness in the recapitulation of the subjects ;
but this is quite sufficient to mark the character
as distinct, for in the movements of the Suite
(excluding the prelude) balance of subject and
key was never systematically recognised. The
further development of binary form, in which
the recapitulation of the distinct subjects was
reserved for the conclusion, took some time to
arrive at, but even at this early stage the
essential qualities of sonata -form are clearly
recognisable. The Violin Sonata was naturally
the kind which first attained to perfection, since
that instrument had so great an advantage in
point of time over the keyed instruments used
for similar purposes ; and its qualities and requirements
so reacted upon the character of
the music as to make it appear almost a distinct
species from the Clavier Sonata. But in fact
the two kinds represent no more than divergence
from a similar source, owing to the dissimilar
natures of the instruments. Thus the introductory
slow movement was most appropriate
to the broad and noble character of the violin,
and would appeal at once by its means to an
audience of any susceptibility ; whereas to the
weak character of the early keyed instruments,
so deficient in sustaining power, it was in general
inappropriate, and hence was dropped very
early. For the same reason in o, considerable
proportion of the early clavier sonatas, the third
or principal slow movement was also dropped,
so that the average type of sonatas for clavier
was for a time a group of two movements, both
generally in a more or less quick time. In these
the canzona movement was early supplanted by