The Pianoforte Sonata Its Origin and Development

In history we find certain names associated with great movements: Luther with the Reformation, or Garibaldi with the liberation of Italy. Luther certainly posted on the door of...

This remarkable musician was born, April 1660,[36] at Geysing, where his grandfather, who, on account of his religious opinions, had been forced to leave Bohemia, had settled. A...

In the year 1637 was born at Massa de Valnevola (Tuscany) Bernardo Pasquini,[48] who is said to have been one of the most distinguished performers on the organ and also the harp...

Carl Phillip Emanuel, third son of J.S. Bach, was born at Weimar, 8th or 14th March, 1714, and died at Hamburg, 14th December, 1788. He studied composition and clavier-playing w...

This composer, to whom is given the name of "father of the symphony and the quartet," was born at Rohrau, a small Austrian village on the Leitha, in the night between 31st March...

Muzio Clementi, born at Rome in 1752, was brought to England by Alderman Beckford, father of the author of _Vathek_, and at Fonthill Abbey he had leisure to study the works of H...

Bach's forty-eight Preludes and Fugues and Beethoven's thirty-two Sonatas tower above all other works written for the pianoforte; they were aptly described by the late Dr. Hans...

The two greatest contemporaries of Beethoven were, undoubtedly, Carl Maria von Weber and Franz Schubert, and both wrote pianoforte sonatas. Many other composers of that period--...

After Beethoven, the first composer of note was Robert Schumann, one of the founders of the so-called romantic school. In one of his letters he refers to Beethoven's choral symp...

In previous chapters we have been occupied with Italy and Germany. Without reference to those countries a history of the pianoforte sonata would be impossible. Italy was the lan...

The title and the various superscriptions naturally cause the sonata to be ranked as programme-music, but of a very simple kind. It is easy to suggest pastoral scenes: a few ped...

Some mention, however brief, must be made of various sonatas written by other contemporaries of the four composers discussed in the last chapter. After Beethoven, the only work...