(It. diminutive of ‘sonata’).
A short, easy or otherwise ‘light’ Sonata, especially a piece whose first movement, in Sonata form, has a very short development section (the term ‘sonatina form’ has occasionally been used for a movement with no development section). The sonatina flourished in the late Classical era, mainly as a work for piano solo or with violin accompaniment. Among the more famous representatives of the genre are Mozart's k545 in C, called ‘a little piano sonata for beginners’ and published as Sonate facile, Beethoven's op.79 in G (the designation ‘sonatinas’ or ‘leichte Sonaten’ for his op.49 is not original), and Schubert's three works for violin and piano d384–5, 408; but the genre is most associated with contemporaries of these composers, particularly Clementi, Diabelli, Dussek and Kuhlau. The sonatina was virtually forgotten by the Romantics – Dvořák's op.100 (for violin and piano) and Sibelius's opp.67 (three works for piano) and 80 (for violin and piano) are among the few that survive – but has been revived in the 20th century, notably in works for piano (Ravel, Busoni, Bartók, Prokofiev and others) or for flute and piano (Boulez, Conrad Beck).
In the 17th and early 18th century ‘sonatina’ was often used to designate an instrumental introduction, e.g. the first movement of a suite or a multi-movement choral work. Its diminutive character seems to have been first noted by Walther (Musicalisches Lexicon, 1732).