January 16, 2026
About the Author: Sonja Joubert
Composers composed music called a Sonata or Symphony mostly during the Classical period, which was roughly from 1750 to 1810.
Composers like Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn mostly started composing music called the Sonata before moving on to the bigger work called a Symphony.
The greatest difference between them being composing for a single instrument versus a whole orchestra!
Let’s Look at the Sonata, Then Move on to the Symphony!
The Sonata was a piece of music composed with a specific structure, which made it evident to be called a Sonata.
It was mostly composed for a single instrument or sometimes two.
Composers like Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven wrote many Sonatas and are well known for these.
Like you probably know, they are all from the Classical period and much loved for their beautiful music.
Each one is so different and warming and exciting to learn!
Let’s Use Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas
He wrote a series of Sonatas, starting at a rather moderate difficulty level up to the last few, being quite challenging.
There are two books of piano Sonates which are well published and many well known.
He wrote a total of 32 amazing piano Sonatas.
Learning to play some of these great works is an absolute must if you are a piano student!
The music is moving and wonderful and plays a great part in piano playing development for any student.
Famous piano Sonatas of Beethoven which are much loved are the ‘Pathetique’ Sonata no.8 and the ‘Moonlight’ Sonata No.14.
What Is the Sonata and What Does It Consist Of?
The typical piano sonata has three movements or three separate pieces strung together which then forms the Sonata.
- The first movement – which is always written in the ‘sonata form’, (where the name also comes from).
- The second movement – which is always a slow piece.
- The last movement – which is always fast and could also be written in the sonata form.
The last or third movement is usually very exciting, fast and technically challenging while the second movement is slow to create a contrast with the first and the third movement.
I also mentioned that the first movement is always written in the ‘sonata form’.
This means there is a specific way or form in which it is composed.
The sonata form consists of:
- The exposition
- The development
- The recapitulation
In the exposition, the basic musical idea, theme or melody and its phrases are set out in its specific key.
There are normally two contrasting themes.
In the development, the musical content of the exposition is then developed and transformed, much like when you would improvise on chords or a melodic idea.
In the development there is a move to different keys, use faster running passages of improvisation etc.
At the end of the exposition part, it modulates to a new key, which leads to the recapitulation.
In the recapitulation, the exposition is repeated – sometimes in a new key or it could directly return to the original key.
While the development section explores various keys, the recapitulation brings back the main themes from the exposition but then resolves them in the tonic original key.
It’s like a ‘full circle’ has been made. It gives a sense of closure.
The music also does often speed up in rhythmic patterns when coming to the end to create a great final ending to the Sonata.
A More complex A B A form:
To a certain extent you could say that the sonata form has a A-B-A form of three sections, but much more of a complex and developed version than the simple A B A form.
Learning to play Sonatas is a must for you as a piano student, especially if you are studying in the classical field and doing exams.
There are lovely exhilarating Sonatas written by Haydn and Mozart and as already discussed, by Beethoven.
Even though the compositions can be quite long, it’s worth it to learn Sonatas and get the real classical feel of playing piano.
Haydn’s Sonates is often full of embellishments which are beautiful and his fast moving notes in the development areas are delightful and brings one much joy!
Make sure that you understand the difference between a Sonata and the sonata form.
A full Sonata consists of three movements, while the sonata form can be used in any of the movements.
Now Let’s Look at the Symphony
The symphony is essentially a Sonata for orchestra. As simple as that!
Where the typical Sonata is written for a single instrument or maybe two, in the Symphony, the Sonata is written for a full orchestra with many instruments.
Of course this requires much more difficulty or competence from the composer, who has to now think of creating lines and harmonies between different instruments.
The composer has to know the ranges of the instruments he is writing for, their possibilities and typical sounds that will be used to create musical lines.
The Symphony also often has another movement added, bringing it to a four movement composition rather than a three movement composition depending on the composer’s choice.
The three or four movement Symphony:
- Symphony no 3 is called the Eroica
- Symphony no 6 is called the Pastoral
- Symphony no 9 is called the Choral as it is the first symphony where a choir was also used.
It is well worth it to listen to Beethoven’s Symphony no 5 which has three repetitive notes at the opening lines and is an amazing work to listen to and enjoy!
If you can, do learn to play some Sonatas! It is well worth it!
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