Sonata da chiesa (Italian: "church sonata") is a 17th-century genre of musical composition for one or more melody instruments and is regarded an antecedent of later forms of 18th century instrumental music. It generally comprises four movements, typically a largo prelude followed by a

fugal In music, a fugue () is a contrapuntal compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject (a musical theme) that is introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at different pitches) and which recurs frequently in the c ...

allegro Allegro may refer to: Common meanings * Allegro (music), a tempo marking indicate to play fast, quickly and bright * Allegro (ballet), brisk and lively movement Artistic works * L'Allegro (1645), a poem by John Milton * ''Allegro'' (Satie), an ...

, an expressive slow movement, and an allegro finale, although there are also many variations of this pattern. During the 17th century, church services were increasingly accompanied by music for ensembles rather than solo organ, with

canzona The canzona is an Italian musical form derived from the Franco-Flemish and Parisian chansons, and during Giovanni Gabrieli's lifetime was frequently spelled canzona, though both earlier and later the singular was spelled either canzon or canzone ...

s and sonatas regularly substituted for the

Proper Proper may refer to: Mathematics * Proper map, in topology, a property of continuous function between topological spaces, if inverse images of compact subsets are compact * Proper morphism, in algebraic geometry, an analogue of a proper map for ...

during

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

and

Vespers Vespers is a service of evening prayer, one of the canonical hours in Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic (both Latin and Eastern), Lutheran, and Anglican liturgies. The word for this fixed prayer time comes from the Latin , meanin ...

. Many of these works, however, were not written explicitly as

liturgical music Liturgical music originated as a part of religious ceremony, and includes a number of traditions, both ancient and modern. Liturgical music is well known as a part of Catholic Mass, the Anglican Holy Communion service (or Eucharist) and Evensong ...

and were often performed as concert pieces for entertainment. The term ''sonata da chiesa'' was originally used in its literal meaning of “church music” but later came to be used figuratively to contrast this genre of composition with the ''

sonata da camera Sonata da camera is a 17th-century genre of musical composition for one or more melody instruments and basso continuo. It generally comprises a suite of several small pieces in the same mode or key that are suitable for dancing. A significant numb ...

'', which literally meant “chamber music” but generally comprised a suite of dances. The exemplary works in this form are by

Arcangelo Corelli Arcangelo Corelli (, also , , ; 17 February 1653 – 8 January 1713) was an Italian composer and violinist of the Baroque era. His music was key in the development of the modern genres of sonata and concerto, in establishing the preeminence of th ...

whose Op. 1 (1681) and Op. 3 (1689) each consist of 12

trio sonatas The trio sonata is a genre, typically consisting of several movements, with two melody instruments and basso continuo. Originating in the early 17th century, the trio sonata was a favorite chamber ensemble combination in the Baroque era. Basic s ...

with alternating slow-fast-slow-fast movements (the first 8 of the Concerti grossi, op.6 follow this pattern as well). This four movement scheme is followed in J. S. Bach's three sonatas for unaccompanied violin, in the first five of his six sonatas for violin and obbligato harpsichord and in the first two of his three sonatas for viola da gamba and obbligato harpsichord.Violin Sonatas (CD 19–20): "Liner notes" by Clemens Romijn p. 13, and "Full tracklist" pp. 155–56 i
''J. S. Bach Complete Edition: Liner notes, sung texts, full tracklist''.

Brilliant Classics Brilliant Classics is a classical music label based in the Dutch town of Leeuwarden. It is renowned for releasing super-budget-priced editions on CD of the complete works of J.S. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and many other composers. The label also ...

, August 2014 (re-release). After 1700, composers tended to merge the ''sonata da chiesa'' with the ''sonata da camera''. By the mid-18th century, however, this style of music was increasingly out of date, although

Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...

, for example, did compose a few early symphonies that followed the largo–allegro–minuet–allegro pattern.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

also composed 17 works that are called "church sonatas", but these consisted of but a single movement for organ and strings to be played between the Epistle and the

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

of the Mass.Zaslaw, Neal, with Cowdery, William eds., ''The Compleat Mozart: A Guide to the Musical Works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart'', p. 109-112, New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1990,

Notes

Further reading