Sonata

Gtalian.) In music, an in str a mental composition consisting of several movements calculated to display the powers and expre ion of the instruments for which it is written, The sonata, which is designed for a single instrument to each part, is in instrumental composition what the cantata is in vocal composition; and varies from the overture and concerto as the trio or quartet differs from the chorus. There are several kinds of sonatas. The Ttalians, however, reduce them principally to two: the Sonata da Camera, or Chamber Sonata; and the Sonata da Chiesa, or Church Sonata. The sonata, of whatever kind, generally opens with an adegio; and after two or three movements of various descriptions, con~ cludes with an adlegro ora presto. This defi« nition of a sonata, however, rather belongs to what is called the ancient than to the modern: music, in which the sonata is chiefly composed as a le on or exercise for a single instrument.