A term used to denote a piece of music usually but not necessarily consisting of several movements, almost invariably instrumental and designed to be performed by a soloist or a small ensemble. The solo and duet sonatas of the Classical and Romantic periods with which it is now most frequently associated generally incorporate a movement or movements in what has misleadingly come to be called Sonata form (or ‘first-movement form’), but in its actual usage over more than five centuries the title ‘sonata’ has been applied with much broader formal and stylistic connotations than that. (OMO)
https://doi-org.access.authkb.kb.nl/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.26191 (KB)
https://doi-org.nlhhg.idm.oclc.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.26191 (Hanze)