Customer Reviews

Elements of Sonata Theory: Norms, Types, and Deformations in the Late-Eighteenth-Century Sonata

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As a pianist and music-lover, I have long been fascinated by the movement structure called "sonata-form." "Sonata-form" is the structure of the first movements (and many other movements) of almost every major piece of classical music from the Classical Era. Now a clear and comprehensive analysis of "sonata-form" has arrived, in the book "Elements of Sonata Theory."

The most surprising feature to me is that this book is quite readable. Readability is not something that can be taken for granted in the turgid literature of music theory. Therefore, the book is of value to a layperson like myself and not only to specialists. (The final four chapters, on the concerto version of sonata-form, are more difficult to read, but that is quite minor.) Another surprise to me was that a lot of information in the book was new to me. I have read widely in this field, but I still learned a lot.

Like any first edition, a few questionable statements have slipped in. For example, on p.20 the book implies that after about 1760 it became normal to repeat only the first part (the exposition), and not repeat the second part. Apparently, Mozart was not informed of this normal practice. Mozart called for the repeat of the second part in almost every sonata-form movement in his piano sonatas (28 of 31 sonata-form movements). But this is mere quibbling.

If someone is seriously interested in the subject of "sonata-form," this is the book to get.