The Piano Sonata in the Musical Life of the Early 19th Century
Lo, Wei-Chun Bernadette
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/85741
Description
Title
The Piano Sonata in the Musical Life of the Early 19th Century
Author(s)
Lo, Wei-Chun Bernadette
Issue Date
2004
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Temperley, Nicholas
Department of Study
Music
Discipline
Music
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
D.M.A.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Music
Language
eng
Abstract
"The development of the sonata's function is also examined. The sonata in the classical era was a domestic genre. Its original purpose was either pedagogical or for amateur entertainment. Numerous ""galant"" sonatas were composed for young females of the wealthy, genteel families to demonstrate their ""accomplishment,"" to show their respectability. However, with the emergence of the modern piano, the sonata moved out of the domestic sphere. The expanded capability of the newly modified instrument helped many pianists to further develop piano technique, and soon they incorporated numerous difficult keyboard patterns into their sonata writings. With its increasing length and technical difficulty, the sonata gradually became a concert piece in the early 19th century. It had split into two sub-genres: one for domestic entertainment, the other for concert performance. However, sonatas such as the last five of Beethoven and most of Schubert's do not fall into either category. They were composed to express the innermost thought of the composers and made few concessions to the contemporary audience. Although initially neglected, their profundity finally gained them the recognition they deserved in the 20th century, while their contemporaries in the ""domestic"" and ""concert"" varieties are largely forgotten."
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