Meanings
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1
noun
a substantial musical composition for one instrument or a small group, usually arranged in several contrasting movements
The pianist performed a Beethoven sonata in three movements.
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2
noun
historical: an instrumental composition, especially one contrasted with a cantata for voices
The program paired a seventeenth-century sonata with a sacred cantata.
Thesaurus
Etymology
Borrowed from Italian sonata, literally 'sounded' or 'played,' the feminine past participle of sonare, 'to sound,' from Latin sonare. The term originally distinguished music played on instruments from a cantata, music that was sung.