The term refers to a form used for movements of symphonies, quartets, and concertos. The form was first used at the time of Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) and is still in use today. Sonata form consists of three sections, the exposition, the development, and the recapitulation. The composer introduces the musical themes in the exposition, works with them in the development, and restates them, with some changes, in the recapitulation.
a musical form having 3 sections -- exposition and development and recapitulation; characteristic of 1st movement of a sonata or symphony
The form in which the first movements (and sometimes others) of symphonies are usually cast. The sections are exposition, development, and recapitulation, the last sometimes followed by a coda. The exposition is the introduction of the musical ideas, which are then “developed.†In the recapitulation, the exposition is repeated with modifications.
General structural scheme, developed in mid-18th century and mastered by Haydn, by which large-scale movements (not only of sonatas, but of symphonies, quartets, etc.) are organized by a relationship of keys and themes having an exposition, development, recapitulation and often a coda.
Probably the most characteristic musical form from the Classical Period, one in which musical ideas are presented through exposition, development and recapitulation, often with an introduction or coda attached. The underlying harmonic scheme features an establishment of a tonic, or home key, excursions to other keys, and a return to the tonic key.
Sonata form is a musical form that has been used widely since the early Classical period. It has typically been used in the first movement of multimovement pieces, and is therefore more specifically referred to as sonata-allegro form or first-movement form.