David Ezra Okonsar Sixteen Short Sonatas for the
Piano Solo (2020)
In
the Baroque era, the use of the term "sonata" generally referred to
either the sonata da chiesa (church sonata) or sonata da camera
(chamber sonata), both of which were sonatas for various instruments
(usually one or more violins plus basso continuo). The keyboard sonata
was relatively neglected by most composers.
The sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti (of which there are over 500) were
the hallmark of the Baroque keyboard sonata, though they were for the
most part unpublished during Scarlatti's lifetime. The majority of
these sonatas are in one-movement binary form, both sections being in
the same tempo and utilizing the same thematic material. These sonatas
are prized for both their technical difficulty and their musical and
formal ingenuity. The influence of Spanish folk music is evident in
Scarlatti's sonatas.
Other composers of keyboard sonatas (which were primarily written in
two or three movements) include Marcello, Giustini, Durante and Platti.
J.S. Bach's popular Italian Concerto, despite the name, can also be
considered a keyboard sonata.
Piano sonatas in the Classical era
Although various composers in the 17th century had written keyboard
pieces which they entitled "Sonata", it was only in the classical era,
when the piano displaced the earlier harpsichord and sonata form rose
to prominence as a principle of musical composition, that the term
"piano sonata" acquired a definite meaning and a characteristic form.
All the well-known Classical era composers, especially Joseph Haydn,
Muzio Clementi, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven,
wrote many piano sonatas. Muzio Clementi wrote more than 110 piano
sonatas. He is well known as "The Father of the Pianoforte". Clementi's
Opus 2 was the first real piano sonata composed. The much younger Franz
Schubert also wrote many.
As the Romantic era progressed after Beethoven and Schubert, piano
sonatas continued to be composed, but in lesser numbers as the form
took on a somewhat academic tinge and competed with shorter genres more
compatible with Romantic compositional style. Franz Liszt's
comprehensive "three-movements-in-one" Sonata in B minor draws on the
concept of thematic transformation first introduced by Schubert in his
Wanderer Fantasie of 1822. Piano sonatas have been written throughout
the 19th and 20th centuries and up to the present day. [wkp]
The title Sonata is employed here in the Baroque sense of the word. One
indivisible musical texture which is not dualistic as with the
classical sonata neither programmatic as with the romantic sense of the
form.
The Short Sonatas are not thematic but if they were thought to be so,
they may be said to be mono-thematic.
The Short Sonatas series is based on one specific 12-tone series, its
variants and several of the Sonatas are using simply the full chromatic
scale in succession. Notes:
[wkp]: en.wikipedia.org
List Price: $16.95
8.5" x 11" (21.59 x 27.94 cm)--music scores
Black & White on White paper
84 pages
ISBN-13: 9798615349188
BISAC: Music / Printed Music / Piano & Keyboard Repertoire
THE CD:
UPC: 191092724988