The Sonatina for Violin and Harpsichord is a three-movement, neoclassical chamber work composed by Walter Piston in 1945, that marks the beginning of his postwar style.
Piston wrote the Sonatina just after the Second World War, and its cheerful, optimistic character marks the beginning of the composer's postwar style.
[2] The composition is in three movements: The Sonatina is a clear example of neoclassicism in Piston's work, and shows the influence of Igor Stravinsky.
The movement concludes with a coda that blends elements from both main themes and accelerates to a precipitosa canonic finish.
The second theme features taut invertible counterpoint, and the entire movement brings the composition to a suitably delicate, unpretentious conclusion.