A section of Haydn’s Sonata in G Major
KUSC’s Alan Chapman has a lot to say about music, but can he say it in 60 seconds? That’s the Chapman Challenge. We ask a question and Alan has a minute to answer it.
Today’s question is from Maria in Santa Barbara who wants to know “What exactly is a sonata?”
Hit play below to listen to this week’s Chapman Challenge on Arts Alive.
The word sonata comes from the Italian verb “suonare” (to sound) and you can find it being used as early as the thirteenth century. It came into general use toward the end of the sixteenth century, around the time Giovanni Gabrieli wrote his Sonata pian’ e forte, the “soft and loud” sonata.
Sonata started out simply as a designation for an instrumental piece, but it came to mean more specifically an instrumental piece in several movements for a soloist or a small ensemble. The Baroque period gave us the trio sonata. This is by Bach:
In the Classical period, you could count on the first movement of a sonata (and often other movements) having a certain structure in which harmonic relations play a significant role.
In the nineteenth century this structure became known as “sonata form.” I could tell you plenty about that, but not in what’s left of my sixty seconds.
That’s today’s Chapman Challenge. Is there a question you’d like to have answered in 60 seconds? Send it to us at [email protected]
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Alan Chapman
Alan Chapman, in addition to his weekday morning program, is also the host and producer of two weekend programs: Modern Times and A Musical Offering.
After receiving his undergraduate degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he earned a Ph.D. in music theory from Yale University. He is currently a member of the music theory faculty of the Colburn Conservatory. He was a longtime member of the music faculty at Occidental College and has also been a visiting professor at UCLA and UC Santa Barbara. His analytical work has appeared in the Journal of Music Theory and in The New Orpheus: Essays on Kurt Weill, winner of the Deems Taylor Award for excellence in writing on music.
Well known as a pre-concert lecturer, Alan has been a regular speaker on the L.A. Philharmonic's "Upbeat Live" series since its inception in 1984. He also works closely with the Los Angeles Master Chorale and Pacific Symphony. His lectures have been presented by virtually every major performing organization in southern California. He has been heard globally as programmer and host of the inflight classical channel on Delta Airlines.
Alan is also active as a composer/lyricist. His songs have been performed and recorded by many artists around the world and have been honored by ASCAP, the Johnny Mercer Foundation, and the Manhattan Association of Cabarets. His children's opera Les Moose: The Operatic Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle was commissioned by LA Opera for its 1997-98 season. Alan frequently appears in cabaret evenings with his wife, soprano Karen Benjamin. They made their Carnegie Hall debut in 2000 and performed at Lincoln Center in 2006. Their recent CD, Que Será, Será: The Songs of Livingston and Evans, features the late Ray Evans telling the stories behind such beloved songs as "Mona Lisa" and "Silver Bells."
