‘Chamber Music Plus IV: The Art of the Sonata’ on Saturday

Chamber Music Society of Colombo to explore history and evolution of ‘Sonata’ form at Goethe Institute

‘Chamber Music Plus IV: The Art of the Sonata’ will be held on Saturday 9 February at 7:30 p.m. at the Goethe Institute, Colombo 7.

The Chamber Music Society of Colombo will explore the history and evolution of the ubiquitous ‘Sonata’ form, with complete examples from Biber, Brahms, Clementi and composers from the 20th century.

Of interest will be the inclusion of sonatas written for woodwind and brass instruments with basso continuo.  

The music will be performed by the principal players of the Chamber Music Society led by its Artistic Director Lakshman Joseph de Saram and will be accompanied with a verbal commentary on the sonata form by the musicians involved.

In origin, the word ‘Sonata’ referred to music that was ‘sounded,’ not ‘sung’. In the 18th century it was applied to a particular form of composition that came to dominate almost all instrumental music.

‘Sonata’ form occupies a central place in the work of serious classical composers from Haydn to post-romantic Mahler. It is to be contrasted with the polyphonic style of the preceding Baroque era; and it embodied the conventions against which later ‘modern’ styles were to react.

It has two basic aspects – the division of the composition into a formal sequence of movements, and the elaboration of homophonic harmony.

The evening is generously sponsored in part by Rikskonsertene (Concerts Norway) and by the Goethe Institute in Colombo.