Exploring Piano Literature: The Piano Sonata

In this course, you’ll review sonata form and learn how the piano sonata was revitalized in the 20th century, with a particular attention to composers from Russia, where the sonata was an especially popular and successful genre. You’ll study some of the most influential piano sonatas of the 20th century, in both Neo-Classical and avant-garde styles. This course will also expose you to a variety of lesser-known and more recent compositions, showing how the piano sonata genre continues to expand and to thrive. This course was filmed at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, among other locations, to showcase the depth of the sonata repertoire and the instruments that contributed to its history.

In this course, learners will review sonata form and learn how the piano sonata was taken to new heights by Ludwig van Beethoven. We’ll discover together how the generation that followed interpreted Beethoven’s achievements and put them into practice in their own unique ways. From there, we will explore the “War of the Romantics”: the variety of formal structures for Romantic sonatas (both traditional and progressive) and the major repertoire of this era. You’ll hear some of the important pianos of the time, and understand the differences between Viennese and English/French traditions of piano music. This course was filmed at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, among other locations, to showcase the depth of the sonata repertoire and the instruments that contributed to its history.