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When a chipping sparrow trills, it could be that spring has arrived. When women’s voices ululate, they do so, in different regions of the world, to celebrate, to mourn, to pray, to warn, to seduce.

This Sonata represents one of the few cases in which the popular title came from the composer himself - its full name is 'Grande sonate pathétique' (pathetic in the sense of 'suffering', rather than ...