What is a sonnet?
You know a sonnet from music or German lessons. It is a special form of poetry, also known as a sound poem, and can be recognized by certain features.
A sonnet is a special form of poetry, a so-called sound poem. If you are in music-lesson should explain what a sonnet is, you must first go back to the origin of German studies.
How to explain a sonnet
Sonnet is derived from the Latin verb "sonare". In translation, this means to sound or to resound. What is meant is a very special form of poetry. The sonnet has its origin in Italy.
- You can recognize a sonnet by its structure. It consists of four stanzas with fourteen verses. Every two stanzas have four verses and are called a quartet. The other six verses consist of three stanzas, from which the name Terzett is derived.
- The quartets form the first part of the sonnet, the trios the second part. It is helpful if you select a sonnet and write it on the blackboard or project it onto the wall with an overhead projector or a beamer. Then you can better describe the individual elements.
- Famous poets, of whom you must already know and have read a sonnet, are Andreas Gryphius or Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
Sonnets are often used in schools and universities as examples of poetry ...
Changes in poem form in recent times
It is important to mention that in recent times more and more deviations from the original form of the sonnet have been made.
- Of course there were also poets after Goethe who left wonderful sonnets behind. However, the interpretation on that the original shape is changed. The fourteen verses are preserved, but not the strict order of the stanzas.
- Examples of this can be found in Heinrich Heine or William Shakespeare, among others.
The sonnet in music
The sound poems were of course set to music, especially in the Baroque era. There is also, for example, the sonnet as a two-hand piece for the piano.
- Great masters of the baroque have set the sonnet to music, it can be sung and played. However, it can be traced back to the literary work that was created by the poets.
- You should also look at a piano piece by Bach or Beethoven independently of the literary sound poem. The pieces are shaped by the quartets and trios that have their origins in the literary sonnet.
- Probably the most famous Sonnett comes from the Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi. He precedes each of his four seasons with a sonnet. These are original handwritten descriptions that he put in front of the individual scores. It is not sufficiently clear whether these sonnets were written by Vivialdi himself.
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