Sonata

Sonata (From Latin and Italian sonare, "to sound"), in music, literally means a piece played as opposed to cantata (Latin and Italian cantare, to sing), a piece sung. The term, being vague, naturally evolved through the history of music, designating a variety of forms prior to the Classical era. The term would take on increasing importance in the Classical period, and by the early 19th century the word came to be used for a principle of composing large scale works, and be applied to most instrumental genres, regarded alongside the fugue as one of two fundamental methods of organizing, interpreting and analyzing concert music. In the 20th century the term continued to be applied to instrumental works, but the formal principles enunciated and taught through the 19th century were weakened or loosened.