A. Describe how Corelli was instrumental in solidifying the sonata as a genre.

Include a
brief description of how his work spread throughout Europe, aspects of his compositions
that became the norm, what the term sonata meant before Corelli, etc. (1 page)

Corelli, undoubtedly, played a major role in creating sonata form. By writing numerous works in
the work of the sonata da camera and chiesa, he helped set a formal precedent that would set well
into the Classical era. Since he was a prolific violinist, his time in Rome on top of his work in the
orchestra more than likely helped proliferate his music through almost all of Europe. His position
at the top of the zeitgeist, as well as the contemporary and formal advancements in his works,
such as his “12 Chamber Sonatas for 2 Violins, Violone and Violoncello or Harpsichord,” likely
helped spread his musical thought to other composers.

His most important works, as stated, are his sonata da camera, sonata da chiesa, and his concerto
grossi. While the concerti are significant in their own right, the formal sensibilities of the sonatas
essentially typified the formal constraints of the genre. The sonata da camera, meaning a
chamber sonata, was a work with four movements that started with a prelude (sometimes a
smaller sonata). In a way, these works were a dance suite – since Corelli normally titled the
movements as dances. Written mostly for two violins and a bass, the harmonies were filled in by
a figured bass – rarely, a cellist doubled on the continuo. The sonata da chiesa, was generally a
four movement work. Notable for being multimelodic, the movements were slow-fast-slow-fast,
and the last two movements were nearly always binary form dances. While the title of these
compositions implies that they were to be performed in church, especially in religious
ceremonies, they did not serve a primarily liturgical purpose, and were played for entertainment.

These aspects of chiesa and camera were essentially fused, and merged around the start of the
18th century, and by the dawn of composers such as Haydn and his pupil Mozart were entirely
outmoded.
B. Outline major turning points in how the sonata developed from the time of Bach up
through Mozart and Beethoven.  How did the balance of power between keyboard and
string instrument change? Use at least four musical examples to illustrate your points.
(2-3 pp.)

The ambiguity of the term sonata is something that has stuck with the term through Bach,
Mozart, and Beethoven. While all three of these composers wrote works considered “sonatas,”
all three of them approached the works in completely different ways. Approaching the evolution
of the sonata, specifically the violin sonata, in a chronological fashion will prove to be the most
fruitful means of entry to the subject.

Bach’s Six Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord, BWV 1014-1019, are marvelous examples of
both Bach’s later style of composition in Cöthen, and works in (then) contemporary trio sonata
form. The works are notable for being a trio sonata with only two instruments: the upper line of
the harpsichord serving as the second upper line, over the bass line supplied by the lower line.
On top of this, the function of the harpsichord has moved beyond realizing figured bass: the
lower line is almost entirely written by Bach – each figure being realized, and being specified in
how to be played. Of more importance however, was the fact that the bass instrument (or
continuo) served a more melodic purpose. The importance of the harpsichord is not only
structural, to provide the bass line, but to work with the solo line of the violin and perhaps even
be the primary melodic voice in certain parts of the work.

Bach wrote very few works in trio sonata form – but almost exclusively used the term when
referring to the texture of the work, rather than the instrumentation. The works are structured in a
“chiesa” style: slow-fast-slow-fast. The role of the upper harpsichord line, while being more
independent than prior compositions melodically, still is subservient to the role of the violin line.
It serves more of an obbligato accompaniment, through its independent material, rather than
highlighting the material in and of itself. In very few moments does the upper keyboard part
directly work with the violin part, and even such, the relationship is normally strictly canon.

Bach, while flexible in his iteration of the keyboard sonata remained rigid in its formalities.
While the continuo instrument served a more flexible melodic role, the instrument never gained a
complete sense of democracy. Mozart, however, gave both instruments an outstanding elegance,
and melodic and harmonic sensibility. This refined characteristic of these compositions, the
transparent virtuosity present in the texture, allowed them to be structurally and melodically
intertwined, but notably independent in the treatment of the character of the music. An excellent
example of Mozart’s view of the sonata is his violin sonata No. 21 in E minor, K. 304. This
work, relatively late in Mozart’s catalogue of compositions, while only two movements, shares a
dramatic power held by few other works. The simplicity of the theme, introduced in the first
Allegro movement, is beautifully and dramatically explored through the rest of the piece.

Undoubtedly, Mozart’s status as a refined operatic composer helps add an element of pathos and
dramatic characterization to the instruments themselves. The violin and piano both pass thematic
and musical material fluidly, while both serving functional roles to each other and the work. It
would be characteristically Baroque for Mozart to give the keyboard (rather, piano) a subservient
role in this music: instead, he provides for it an undoubtedly core role. The piano, steadily
provides musical material and drives through the power of its register. The violins role, is not
solely melodic: the diversity available to players in their right hand is exploited through the use
of long legato lines juxtaposed with more incisive driving rhythms in the piano. The sustaining
aspect of the violin is also used to provide harmonic background for melodic development for
the piano. Mozart takes the work of Bach, and composers from the Baroque era, and refines the
texture to create clarity for the further intertwining and development of both parts of the sonata.
The piano is amplified from a background role, and the violin serves a crucial melodic
counterpoint.

For Beethoven, the roles of both instruments is completely different. Glancing at any of his
sonatas, but especially the 9th, nicknamed “Kreutzer,” reveals the profoundly different dialectic
that Beethoven wishes to grapple with. Both instruments maintain the intertwined melodic nature
present in Mozart, but the functional importance of both instruments is heightened. This work is
formally a sonata for both violin and piano – both parts are incredibly important for the forward
direction of the work. Beethoven uses every aspect of both instruments, in this sonata in the most
virtuosic of ways, to develop the course of the work. He explores an enormous amount of
melodic and harmonic content, and digests it by passing the material he creates through every
part of both instruments. Many times during the work, the violin accompanies the piano, and vice
versa. The length of this sonata, perhaps the most dramatically different aspect compared to the
other works discussed, is nearly 40 minutes. Beethoven viewed the sonata form as not a formal
means of composition, but as a means of exploring his own internal struggles: as such, he began
to embody the views of the forthcoming Romantics. He poured his intensities into both
instruments, and the scales of musical content between both instruments equalized and are
emboldened at last. In many ways, the sonata for Beethoven was an unfolding conflict.