Sonata da chiesa

'Church sonata': an instrumental work of the Baroque period, usually in four movements, and scored for one or more melody instruments and continuo. Corelli's opp.1 and 3 were largely responsible for establishing the slow-fast-slow-fast order of movements, in which the second is typically a fugal Allegro and the third (in a related key) and fourth are binary forms that may resemble the sarabande and giga. (The third may be no more than a short, modulatory transition.) This type and the dance-based chamber sonata (sonata da camera) tended to merge after circa 1700.

(See article Sonata da camera / Sonata da chiesa)