Sonatina

[1] The term has been in use at least since the late baroque; there is a one-page, one-movement harpsichord piece by Handel called "Sonatina".

The title "Sonatina" was used occasionally by J. S. Bach for short orchestral introductions to large vocal works, as in his cantata Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit, BWV 106, a practice with precedent in the work of the earlier German composer Nicolaus Bruhns.

[3] This is the only sense in which Bach used the term sonatina, although he composed many chamber and solo sonatas for various instruments.

The most common meaning is a short, easy sonata suitable for students, such as the piano sonatinas of Clementi.

For this reason, a sonatina is sometimes defined, especially in British usage, as a short piece in sonata form in which the development section is quite perfunctory or entirely absent:[4] the exposition is followed immediately by a brief bridge passage to modulate back to the home key for the recapitulation.