THE NEW GROVE

Dictionary of Music

and Musicians

(00.

J. Forner: 'Sonatenform-Probleme bei Bela Bartok: eine vergleichendeStudie'JfeMP 1981-2,62-75

P. Evans: 'Sonata Structures in Early Britten', Tempo, no.82 (1987),2-13

J. Straus: 'Sonata Form in Stravinsky', Stravinsky Retrospectives, ed.E. Haimo and P. Johnson (Lincoln, NE, 1987), 141-61

T.M. Davidian: Debussy's Sonata Forms (diss., U. of Chicago, 1988)JAMES WEBSTER

Sonatina (It. diminutive of 'sonata'). A short, easy orotherwise 'light' SONATA, especially a piece whose firstmovement, in SONATA FORM, has a very short develop-ment section (the term 'sonatina form' has occasionallybeen used for a movement with no development section).The sonatina flourished in the late Classical era, mainlyas a work for piano solo or with violin accompaniment.Among the more famous representatives of the genre areMozart's K545 in C, called 'a little piano sonata forbeginners' and published as Sonate facile, Beethoven'sop.79 in G (the designation 'sonatinas' or 'leichte Sonaten'for his op.49 is not original), and Schubert's three worksfor violin and piano D384-5, 408; but the genre is mostassociated with contemporaries of these composers,particularly Clementi, Diabelli, Dussek and Kuhlau. Thesonatina was virtually forgotten by the Romantics -Dvorak's op. 100 (for violin and piano) and Sibelius'sopp.67 (three works for piano) and 80 (for violin andpiano) are among the few that survive - but has beenrevived in the 20th century, notably in works for piano(Ravel, Busoni, Bartok, Prokofiev and others) or for fluteand piano (Boulez, Conrad Beck).

In the 17th and early 18th century 'sonatina' was oftenused to designate an instrumental introduction, e.g. thefirst movement of a suite or a multi-movement choralwork. Its diminutive character seems to have been firstnoted by Walther (Musicalisches Lexicon, 1732).

D

Son chapin. See SON GUATEMALTECO.

Son coupe. A type of ornament. See ORNAMENTS, § 7.

Son dessine (Fr.). See DRAWN SOUND.

(jSondheim, Stephen (Joshua) (£ New York, 22 March1930). Ani^rkan'toTHpryseT^nd lyricist. Inescapable ifcontentiou^o^enjofthe American musical, he assimilatedits stylistic traditions early and has subsequently deyej_-oped_its potential for innovatory and serious theatricalexpression, notably in partnership with the directors HalPrince and more recently James Lapine, the orchestratorJonathan Tunick, the musical director Paul Gemignaniand writers including Hugh Wheeler, John Weidman,Arthur Laurents, James Goldman and George Furth.Some of Sondheim's professional work has been as lyricistfor the music of others, particularly at the start of his owncareer, but it is as a theatre songwriter who moulds his

Sondheim, Stephen 701

works contain much continuous music, with complexthematic cross-references and motivic developments, yethe has eschewed the influence of rock opera, with its all-sung dialogue, and continues to favour the older natural-istic mode of speech and sung lyrics. Despite his frequentlyambitious musical demands (notably in ensembles), hisapproach to wit, verbal clarity, pacing and teamworkremains that of Broadway with its singing actors and theneed for long commercial runs based on immediate criticalapproval. Nevertheless, Sweeney Todd has been producedsuccessfully by the New York City Opera (1984) andother companies, Pacific Overtures somewhat less so bythe ENO (1987).

Four of his early musicals were written as part of anintensive course of private study with Oscar HammersteinII, a family friend. Later the award of the HutchinsonPrize for music at Williams College enabled him to studyanalysis privately with Milton Babbitt. His first profes-sional assignments included co-writing television scriptsfor the Topper' series, but it was as lyricist for Bernstein'sWest Side Story (1957) and Jule Styne's Gypsy (1959)that he made his name. As a composer recognition camemore slowly, since Saturday Night (1955), his firstBroadway assignment, never reached the stage, the musicfor A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum(1962) was seen as a utilitarian part of the show's success,and Anyone Can Whistle (1964) failed after nine perform-ances. Company (1970) and Follies (1971), marking thestart of Sondheim's collaboration with Prince, establishedhis pre-eminence in the musical theatre, the former (withits songs of incisive criticism of contemporary mores) alandmark in the development of the plotless 'conceptmusical', the latter a masterpiece of pastiche with deeplayers of irony. A Little Night Music (1973), containingSondheim's most popular song 'Send in the clowns',explored not so much European operetta as the 19th-century genre piece (etude, barcarolle, waltz etc.) as indexof romantic sensibility, while Pacific Overtures (1976)broke new ground with its use of Japanese kabuki theatretechniques and modal nuances. Sweeney Todd, theDemon Barber of Fleet Street (1979) is his biggest work,and over three quarters of the drama is set to music.Highly characterized numbers, including intricate duets,ensembles, parlour pastiches and comedy songs (primeamong them the Act I waltz finale, 'A Little Priest'), areinterwoven with much 'symphonic' material in the formof transformational motifs which give clues to the story.The whole is bounded by the rondo theme of 'The Balladof Sweeney Todd', which is based melodically on the Diesirae.

Sondheim's structuralist propensity not to dissociateform and content attacted him to melodrama in SweeneyTodd as it had to farce in A Funny Thing Happened onthe Way to the Forum. A similar emphasis on musical

702 (. Sondheim, Stephen

musical material is attained in accordance with the show'smessage of universality and rebirth. Different again isAssassins (1991), in which his critique of disaffection inAmerican history is also a critique, often harsh, ofvernacular American music, including Sousa marches,gospel, folk and pop music. Passion (1994), a single-minded love story in which titled musical numbers areabandoned, develops a romantic if introverted lyricism inmore sustained musical terms than previously, though thestyle is familiar; described by the composer as a rhapsody,it is his most symphonic score, if not necessarily supportingsonata analysis.

Assassins appeared to mark a withdrawal from thethree-hour, two-act Broadway show after Sunday in thePark with George and Into the Woods, both of whichhave striking symmetries between their acts that, howeverintegral, have proved burdensome to some audiences.Assassins proceeds in a single span of less than two hours,as does Passion, and though Passion ran on Broadway inthis format (Assassins did not), it was somewhat bydefault, for it had originally been intended to form half ofa double bill on aspects of beauty, its twin, Muscle,remaining unwritten. In other words, there is evidencethat Sondheim and Broadway are becoming incompatible,though Wise Guys, another 'documentary vaudeville'with Weidman, may eventually disprove this.

Sondheim has composed songs for plays and films,though Stavisky (1974) is his only extended film score.He has never orchestrated his own work, with theexception of some early incidental music. The first ofseveral revues of his songs, Side by Side by Sondheim,entered the repertory in 1977; another, Putting ItTogether, dates from 1992. Both originated in England,where his work has sometimes been more positivelyreceived than in the USA, though unlike Lloyd Webber'sit is not familiar to the broadest public. (Sondheimproductions in translation have also spread to Spain,Germany, the Netherlands and elsewhere.)

Sondheim's musical language, in which melody andharmony are closely argued, retains strong affinities withRavel and Copland, while making sophisticated use ofjazz and dance idioms; it is intensely personal, oftenbittersweet, in its expression. He is a member of theDramatists Guild and has served as its president (1973-8 1 ); he was elected to the American Academy and Instituteof Arts and Letters in 1983. He became the first VisitingProfessor of Contemporary Theatre at Oxford University(1990), received the Kennedy Center Honours (1993) andwas awarded the NEA's National Medal of Arts (1997).Most of his scores have won Tony and New York DramaCritics' Circle Awards, 'Sooner or Later' from Dick Tracywon an Academy Award, and Sunday in the Park withGeorge was awarded thejL985 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

WORKS )

musicals unless otherwise stated, all to lyrics by Sondheim; datesthose of first New York productions (not including workshop

performances) unless otherwise statedBy George (2), Bucks County, PA, George School, 25 May 1946,

collab. M. Dubin and ]. Lincoln, US-MAhsPhinney's Rainbow (2, }. Horton), Williamstown, MA, Williams

College, 304pril 1948, 3 songs (1948)All That Glitters (2, Sondheim, after G.S. Kaufman and M. Connelly:

Beggar on Horseback), Williamstown, MA, Williams College, 18March 1949, MAhs, 5 songs (1949)

High Tor (Sondheim, after M. Anderson), 1949, inc., MAhsMary Poppins (Sondheim, after P.L. Travers), 1950, inc., MAhs

Climb High (2, Sondheim), 1950-52, unperf., MAhsThe Lady or the Tiger (television musical, 2, after F. Stockton), 1954,

collab. M. Rodgers, inc. MAhsSaturday Night (2, ].]. and P.G. Epstein, after Front Porch in

Flatbush), 1955, London, Bridewell, 17 Dec 1997; orchd J.Tunick, Chicago, O'Rourke Center, 19 May 1999, MAhs, 3 songs(1987) [incl. Class, Isn't it?, So Many People, What more do Ineed?]

Mizners (after A. Johnston: The Legendary Mizners), inc., MAhsGirls of Summer (incid music, N.R. Nash), Longacre, 19 Nov 1956

[incl. The Girls of Summer]The Last Resorts (J. Kerr), 1956, inc., MAhs [incl. Pour le sport]I Believe in You (television musical, 2, E. Carrington), 1956, inc.,

MAhsThe Jet Propelled Couch (S. Roberts), 1958, inc., MAhsHappily Ever After (television musical, 2, J. Stein), 1959, inc.Invitation to a March (incid music, A. Laurents), orchd Sondheim,

Music Box, 29 Oct 1960Passionella (minimusical), Clinton, NJ, Hunterdon Hills Playhouse, 2

July 1962, MAhs, 1 song (1990) [in The World of Jules Feiffer;incl. Truly Content]

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (2, B. Sheveloveand L. Gelbart, after Plautus), orchd I. Kostal and S. Ramin, Alvin,8 May 1962, MAhs, vs (1964) [incl. Comedy Tonight, Everybodyought to have a maid, Lovely, Pretty Little Picture]

Anyone Can Whistle (3, A. Laurents), orchd D. Walker, Majestic, 4April 1964, MAhs, vs (1968) [incl. Anyone can whistle, Everybodysays don't, There won't be trumpets, There's a parade in town,With So Little to be Sure Of]

Evening Primrose (television musical, 2, J. Goldman, after J. Collier),ABC, 16 Nov 1966,4 songs (1980,1987,1997) [incl. IRemember, Take me to the world]

Company (2, G. Furth), orchd J. Tunick, Alvin, 26 April 1970, vs(1970) [incl. Another Hundred People, Barcelona, Being Alive, TheLadies who Lunch, Little Things, You could drive a person crazy]

Follies (1, Goldman), orchd Tunick, Winter Garden, 4 April 1971, vs(1971); rev. (2), London, Shaftesbury, 21 July 1987, orchd Tunick,selections (1987) [incl. Ah, Paris!, Beautiful Girls, Broadway Baby,Could I leave you?, I'm still here, Losing my Mind]

Twigs (incid music, Furth), 1971A Little Night Music (2, H. Wheeler, after I. Bergman: Smiles of a

Summer Night), orchd Tunick, Shubert, 25 Feb 1973, vs (1974)[incl. Every Day a Little Death, The Glamorous Life, The Miller'sSon, Send in the clowns, A Weekend in the Country]

The Enclave (incid music, Laurents), Theater Four, 15 Nov 1973The Frogs (play with music, 1, Shevelove, after Aristophanes), orchd

Tunick, New Haven, Yale U. Paine Whitney Gymnasiumswimming pool, 20 May 1974,2 songs (1987) [incl. Fear no more]

Pacific Overtures (2, J. Weidman, with Wheeler), orchd Tunick,Winter Garden, 11 Jan 1976, vs (1977) [incl. A Bowler Hat, PrettyLady, Som«one4n^a»Iiee] _^^

<^Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Streetjmusical thriller, 2,"WEeeler,"after (J. Bond)7SrcrnrzFtnrickrGris7T March 1979, vs

(1981) [incl. The Ballad of Sweeney Todd, By the Sea, Green Finchand Linnet Bird, Johanna, A Little Priest, Not While I'm Around,Pretty Women]

Merrily We Roll Along (2, Furth, after Kaufman and M. Hart),orchd Tunick, Alvin, 16 Nov 1981, vs (1984) [incl. Good ThingGoing, Not a Day Goes By, Old Friends]

Sunday in the Park with George (2, J. Lapine), orchd M. Starobin,Booth, 2 May 1984, vs (1987) [incl. Finishing the Hat, Putting itTogether, Sunday]

Into the Woods (2, Lapine), orchd Tunick, Martin Beck, 5 Nov 1987,vs (1989) [incl. Agony, Giants in the Sky; Hello, little girl; LastMidnight, No one is alone]

Assassins (1, Weidman, after C. Gilbert), orchd Starobin, PlaywrightsHorizons, 27 Jan 1991, vs (1992) [incl. Another National Anthem,The Ballad of Booth, Unworthy of Your Love]

Passion (1, Lapine, after I.U. Tarchetti: Fosca), orchd Tunick,Plymouth, 9 May 1994, vs (1996)

Wise Guys (2, Weidman), in progress

OTHER WORKS

Revue compilations of existing material: Side by Side by Sondheim(N. Sherrin), London, Mermaid, 4 May 1976, New York, MusicBox, 18 April 1977; Marry Me a Little (C. Lucas and N. Rene),New York, Actors Playhouse, 12 March 1981; You're GonnaLove Tomorrow (P. Lazarus), New York, Whitney Museum ofAmerican Art, 3 March 1983; Putting It Together (J. McKenzie),

Soneto 703Oxford, Old Fire Station, 27 Jan 1992, New York, City Center, 1April 1993

Score and song contribs to films, incl. Stavisky, 1974; The SevenPercent Solution, 1976 (I never do anything twice); Reds, 1981(Goodbye for now); Dick Tracy, 1990 (Back in Business, LiveAlone and Like It, More, Sooner or Later, What can you lose?);Singing Out Loud, 1992, unproduced (Water Under the Bridge);The Birdcage, 1996 (Little Dream)

Lyrics: West Side Story, L. Bernstein, 1957; Gypsy, J. Styne, 1959; 1song for Hot Spot, M. Rodgers, 1963; Do I Hear a Waltz?, R.Rodgers, 1965; 1 song for The Mad Show, M. Rodgers, 1966 (TheBoy from ... ); A Pray by Blecht, Bernstein, comp. 1968; addlmaterial for Candide (rev. version), Bernstein, 1973

Non-musical works, incl. The Last of Sheila, film, 1973, collab. A.Perkins; Getting Away with Murder, play, New York, Broadhurst,17 March 1996, collab. Furth

S. Sondheim: 'Theatre Eyrt

r BIBLIOGRAPHY }e LyrfC5^rD>umutii,ts~Guilld Quarterly, viii/3

(1971), 6-36; repr. in Playwrights, Lyricists, Composers onTheater, ed. O.L. Guernsey jr (New York, 1974), 61-97

C. Zadan: Sondheim & Co. (New York, 1974,4/1994)S. Sondheim: 'The Musical Theater', Dramatists Guild Quarterly, xv/

3 (1978), 6-29J. Lahr: 'Sondheim's Little Deaths: the Ironic Mode and its

Discontents', Harper's, cclviii/April (1979), 71-8; rev. as 'StephenSondheim', Automatic Vaudeville: Essays on Star Turns (NewYork, 1984), 5-21

H. Prince and S. Sondheim, with G. Cryer: 'On Collaborationbetween Authors and Directors', Dramatists Guild Quarterly, xvi/3 (1979), 14-34

S. Sondheim: 'Larger than Life: Reflections on Melodrama andSweeney Todd', Melodrama, ed. D. Gerould (New York, 1980),3-14

J. Rockwell: 'Urban Popular Song, the Broadway Musical, theCabaret Revival & the Birth Pangs of American Opera: StephenSondheim', All American Music: Composition in the LateTwentieth Century (New York, 1983), 209-20

N. Mankin, ed.: The PAJ Casebook 2: Into the Woods', PerformingArts Journal, xi/1 (1988), 46-66

L.F. Orchard: Stephen Sondheim and the Disintegration of theAmerican Dream: a Study of the Work of Stephen Sondheim from'Company' to 'Sunday in the Park with George' (diss., U. ofOregon, 1988)

F. Hirsch: Harold Prince and the American Musical Theatre(Cambridge, 1989)

C. Ilson: Harold Prince: from 'Pajama Game' to 'Phantom of theOpera' (Ann Arbor, 1989)

'Sondheim's Technique: Stephen Sondheim Interviewed by TrevorHerbert', Contemporary Music Review, v (1989), 199-214

J. Gordon: Art Isn't Easy: the Achievement of Stephen Sondheim(Carbondale, IL, 1990)

E.R. Huber: Stephen Sondheim and Harold Prince: CollaborativeContributions to the Development of the Modern ConceptMusical, 1970-1981 (diss., New York U., 1990)

A. Bishop: Preface to Assassins (New York, 1991)C. Bond: Introduction to Sweeney Todd (New York, 1991)J. Tunick: Introduction to A Little Night Music (New York, 1991)G.R. Minkoff and J.D. McClatchy, eds.: The Poetry of Song: Five

Tributes to Stephen Sondheim (New York, 1992)The Stephen Sondheim Society Newsletter (London, 1993-)S. Banfield: Sondheim's Broadway Musicals (Ann Arbor, 1993)M. Gottfried: Sondheim (New York, 1993)J. Sams and others: Musicals ... and Sondheim (London, 1993)The Sondheim Review (Chicago, 1994—)S. Banfield: 'Sondheim and the Art that Has no Name', Approaches

to the American Musical, ed. R. Lawson-Peebles (Exeter, 1996),137-60

G. Block: 'West Side Story: the Very Model of a Major Musical','Happily Ever After West Side Story with Sondheim', EnchantedEvenings: the Broadway Musical from 'Show Boat' to Sondheim(New York, 1997), 245-73,274-94; see also 341-6

J. Gordon, ed.: Stephen Sondheim: a Casebook (New York andLondon, 1997)

M. Secrest: Stephen Sondheim: a Life (New York, 1998)M. Steyn: 'The Genius', Broadway Babies Say Goodnight: Broadway

Then and Now (London, 1998), 128^5

S. Goodhart, ed.: Reading Stephen Sondheim: a Collection of CriticalEssays (New York, 1999) ^

(STEPHEN BANFIELD

Sondheimer, Robert (b Mainz, 6 Feb 1881; d Hanover, 7Dec 1956). German musicologist. He studied at CologneConservatory and at the universities of Bonn and Basle,and was a composition pupil of Humperdinck in Berlin.He took the doctorate at Basle in 1919 with a dissertationon Franz Ignaz Beck and received a prize from theuniversity with his book Die Theorie der Sinfonie. Heserved as lecturer at the Berlin Volkshochschule and asmusic critic for the Borsenkurier, and was director ofBernoulli (Berlin, 1922-33; Basle branch, from 1933;London branch, from 1939). His collection of 18th-century music (whose 57 volumes include works by J.C.Bach, Beck, Georg Benda, Boccherini, Christian Canna-bich, Corelli, Anton Fils, Gossec, Leo, Johann GottliebNaumann, Franz Xaver Richter, Henri-Joseph Rigel,Sammartini, Tessarini and Wagenseil), has been super-seded by modern scholarship but it did much to reviveinterest in figures such as Sammartini (for list of volumes,see Grove's Dictionary, 5th edn, 'Sondheimer Edition').

WRITINGSDie Sinfonien Franz Becks (diss., U. of Basle, 1919; Leipzig, 1922)'Boccherini e la Sinfonia in do maggiore', RMI, xxvii (1920),

561-601'Giovanni Battista Sammartini', ZMw, iii (1920-21), 83-97'Die formale Entwicklung der vorklassischen Sinfonie', AMw, iv

(1922), 85-99,123-39'Gluck in Paris', ZMw, v (1922-3), 165-79'Anfange des Wiener Stils in der Sinfonie des 18. Jahrhunderts',

Deutscher Musikgesellschaft: Kongress I: Leipzig 1925,260-65Die Theorie der Sinfonie und die Beurteilung einzelner

Sinfoniekomponisten bei den Musikschriftstellern des 18.Jahrhunderts (Leipzig, 1925)

'On Performing Beethoven's Third and Fifth Symphonies', MR, ii(1941), 36-62

Haydn: a Historical and Psychological Study Based on his Quartets(London, 1951)

'Henri Joseph Rigel', MR, xvii (1956), 221-8

EDITIONS

Werke aus dem IS.Jahrhundert (Berlin and Basle, 1922-55)ALFRED GRANT GOODMAN

Sone. A subjective unit of LOUDNESS. See also SOUND, §4.

Soneto (Sp.). The Spanish equivalent of 'sonnet', sometimesused to designate musical settings of the poetic form. ThePetrarchan sonnet was widely cultivated by Spanish poetsfrom the 16th century, and from about 1530 to about1600 some Spanish musicians set the sonnet withoutaccording it any distinct musical form. Milan includedhalf a dozen Italian sonnets set for solo voice and vihuelain El maestro (1536); later vihuela composers such asMudarra, Enriquez de Valderrabano, Pisador and Dazamade similar arrangements of sonnets written in bothItalian and Spanish. In 1560 Juan Vasquez published anumber of his compositions explicitly as musical sonetos,and settings of Spanish sonnets were included in collec-tions such as the Cancionero Musical de Medinaceli ofabout 1600 (see CANCIONERO). The vague way in whichthe term 'soneto' was used by Spanish musicians may begauged by Valderrabano's 'soneto a manera de ensalada',which is not a sonnet in any sense. In vihuela books thesoneto tended to be in AAB form, but in the latter half ofthe 16th century it became essentially a madrigal, eitherthrough-composed in the sonetos by Vasquez or in twosections, the prima pars setting the quatrains and thesecunda pars the sestet. Although the soneto, like the