Origin Of The Name

The fully developed Sonata-allegro form is the

design in which the classic overture and the first movement of the

symphony, sonata and concerto are usually framed. The student must be

careful not to confound this musical form with the complete sonata of

three or four movements. It is not to be called the sonata form, but

the sonata-allegro form. It is to one movement only, generally the

first one, which is (or was) very commonly an allegro tempo in the

sonata and symphony, that the present design refers; and its name,

sonata-allegro, is derived from that old historic species of the sonata

which consisted originally of but one movement, generally an allegro.