A History of the Sonata Idea

This definitive volume, the second, largest, and most central in Newman’s History of the Sonata Idea, covers the period from the first sample Italian sonatas using the new techniques of the Alberti bass about 1735 to the succession of masterpieces by Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven which extended until about 1820. It is one of the few books to deal exclusively with the classical era in music.

Originally published in 1963.

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