Sonatina in the context of "Sonata form"

In music, a sonata (/səˈnɑːtə/; pl. sonate) is a piece that consists of 3 or 4 movements that can be for different musical instruments. The term evolved through the history of music, designating a variety of forms until the Classical era, when it took on increasing importance. Sonata is a vague term, with varying meanings depending on the context and time period. By the early 19th century it came to represent a principle of composing large-scale works. It was applied to most instrumental genres and regarded—alongside the fugue—as one of two fundamental methods of organizing, interpreting and analyzing concert music. Though the musical style of sonatas has changed since the Classical era, most 20th- and 21st-century sonatas maintain the overarching structure.

The term sonatina, pl. sonatine, the diminutive form of sonata, is often used for a short or technically easy sonata.

A piano piece or piece for piano (German: Klavierstück, pronounced [klaˈviːɐ̯ʃtʏk]; French: morceau [or] pièce pour (le) piano, pronounced [mɔʁso puʁ l pjano]) is a piece of music for piano. It is a generic name for any composition for the instrument, but when used in a title (Piano Piece, Piece for Piano) the name is used to indicate a (usually) single-movement composition for solo piano that has not been given a more specific name (such as Sonatina, Allegro de concert or Le Bananier), for example:

• Johannes Brahms's Sechs Klavierstücke (Six Piano Pieces), Op. 118
• Arnold Schoenberg's Drei Klavierstücke (Three Piano Pieces)
• Karlheinz Stockhausen's Klavierstücke

As the German word Klavier may indicate other keyboard instruments besides the piano, not all Klavierstücke are composed for the piano; for example, the pieces included in the Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach are rather to be regarded as keyboard pieces than piano pieces.