Sonata da chiesa
A Baroque church sonata of serious, non-dance movements, as opposed to the sonata da camera.
What it means
The sonata da chiesa (“church sonata”) is a Baroque genre for a few instruments, usually two melody instruments and basso continuo. Its movements are serious in tone and not tied to dances; they often follow the sequence slow–fast–slow–fast.
At the center there is often a fugal, contrapuntally worked fast movement and a stately, expressive slow movement.
Musical use
The church sonata was developed in seventeenth-century Italy and stands in close relation to church music, where it could sound in a service in place of a vocal piece. Arcangelo Corelli is among its best-known representatives.
The separation from the chamber sonata was never strict, and later the features blur; in the eighteenth century the type passes into the early Classical sonata and the symphony.
The sonata da chiesa should be distinguished from the sonata da camera, which consists of dance movements, and from the fugue, which is only a single movement model and not itself a multi-movement genre.
Performance practice
Shape the fast movements with clear voice leading, so the individual entries of the fugue stay audible. Take the slow movements in a stately way but with inner movement, rather than simply playing them slowly.