sonatina

     

A sonatina is literally a small sonata. As a musical term, sonatina has no single strict efinition; it is rather a title applied by the composer to a piece that is in basic sonata form, but is shorter, lighter in character, or more elementary technically than a typical sonata. The term has been in use at least since the late baroque; there is a one-page, one-movement harpsichord piece by Handel called "Sonatina". It is most often applied to solo keyboard works, but a number of composers have written sonatinas for violin and piano (see list under Violin sonata), e.g. Sonatina in G major for Violin and Piano by Antonín Dvořák, and occasionally for other instruments, e.g. the Clarinet Sonatina by Malcolm Arnold.

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