Famous Piano Sonatas by great composers. Some of these are not just the greatest piano sonatas, but also among the best classical music pieces ever written.
What is a Piano Sonata?
A piano sonata can mean different things – for instance, a short, four-minute, one movement piece; or a five-movement work of epic proportions.
However, during the Classical era, sonatas had certain easily identifiable traits. In Haydn’s, Mozart’s, Beethoven’s or Schubert’s time, a sonata mostly had three or four movements: a quick one to start with, a slow second movement, perhaps a scherzo or minuet as third movement, and then another fast movement as a finale.
The first movement, and perhaps one or two of the other ones, were composed using the so called sonata form. Other common sonata movements could be a Rondo (often used as a last movement) or a set of variations.
Popular Piano Sonatas?
Several great sonatas have been composed, and picking up the best is not an easy task as everyone will have their own favorites. One of the reasons for that is that not everybody may like all the movements of a particular sonata, or for that matter, will only like a particular movement of a piano sonata.
That said, Mozart has composed some great Piano Sonatas, and even Beethoven (though his symphonies happen to be even more popular).
Here are some famous sonatas for the piano, composed by some of the greatest composers of all time.
Their work exploits the various sonic possibilities allowed by the acoustic piano (keyboard instruments) in those days.
- Mozart Piano Sonata No 11: Amazon | Sheetmusicplus
- Beethoven Piano Sonata No 14, ‘Moonlight’: Amazon | Sheetmusicplus
- Haydn Piano Sonata No 62: Amazon
- Schubert Piano Sonata No 21: Amazon | Sheetmusicplus
- Chopin Piano Sonata No 2: Amazon | Sheetmusicplus
- Liszt Piano Sonata in B Minor: Amazon | Sheetmusicplus
- Scriabin Piano Sonata No 2, ‘Sonata-fantasy’: Amazon | Sheetmusicplus
- Rachmaninov Piano Sonata No 2: Amazon
- Ives Piano Sonata No 2, ‘Concord’: Amazon | Sheetmusicplus
- Prokofiev Piano Sonata No 7: Amazon
Scarlatti: Sonata in E major, L 23
Watch: Horowitz plays Scarlatti
Beethoven: Appassionata
Chopin: Sonata in B flat minor
Watch: Funeral March from Chopin’s sonata in b flat major
Schubert: Sonata in A major, D 959
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“Sonata” is not necessarily a piece with several movements, it can have only one movement, it’s about the form of the piece. There are many more classical piano sonatas written.