From Masterpieces—The Development of the Sonata as a Genre

Abstract

This study examines the development of the sonata as a genre in the nineteenth century through two contrasting yet complementary works: Franz Liszt’s Sonata in B minor, S.178, and Johannes Brahms’s Piano Sonata No. 3 in F minor, Op. 5. Against the historical background of the Classical multi-movement sonata tradition established by Haydn and Beethoven, these compositions represent two divergent Romantic responses to formal innovation and continuity. Liszt’s groundbreaking single-movement sonata expands the boundaries of the genre through cyclical integration, thematic transformation, and an uninterrupted developmental process, reflecting the aesthetic ideals of poetic unity and formal freedom. Brahms, by contrast, engages intensively with Classical models while enriching the traditional multi-movement structure through motivic coherence and structural complexity. By comparing these works, the study highlights how Romantic composers reinterpreted inherited forms in distinct ways: Liszt through radical condensation and formal fusion, Brahms through historical dialogue and motivic craftsmanship. Ultimately, the sonata emerges not as a fixed scheme but as an evolving concept shaped by stylistic, intellectual, and artistic challenges of the nineteenth century.