sonatina, in music, a shorter and often lighter form of the sonata, usually in three short movements (i.e., independent sections). The first movement normally follows the sonata form with respect to the exposition and recapitulation of the musical materials but not necessarily the development section, which is either quite perfunctory or lacking altogether. The sonatina form without development is also found in certain slow movements of full-fledged 18th-century sonatas and in opera overtures (e.g., Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro).
Early piano sonatinas, including those of Muzio Clementi and Friedrich Kuhlau at the beginning of the 19th century, were often intended for pedagogical purposes. Later piano sonatinas, on the other hand, including those of Maurice Ravel and Ferruccio Busoni in the early 20th century, require considerable technical proficiency. Less common are sonatinas for instruments other than piano, such as that for violin, viola, and cello by the 20th-century French composer Darius Milhaud.