Nanosonatas (2006–2010) are piano compositions by American composer Frederic Rzewski.
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History
In the summer of 2006, the composer’s friend, Hideyuki Arata, a Japanese scientist born in Okinawa, who specialized in nanotechnology and biophysics, sent him an article of three pages, which he had published from Applied Physics Letters. At the end of the article, he gave the composer credit for “our valuable discussions on nanomolecular motors”. The scientist happened to be an amateur pianist, and the composer came up with the idea of dedicating “Nanosonata” in exchange. The first Nanosonata was three pages, about two minutes long, and as the composer said, was technically somewhat demanding, but not requiring a lot of practice for the scientist. He also had a commission to write a new piece for Milton Schlosser in Edmonton, Alberta. The composer liked the first Nanosonata, so he thought of making more and get them together. Eventually, the first “Nanosonata” has become “Nanosonata Book I, No 1”. A total of 56 Nanosonatas have been composed, most dedicated to his family and friends, such as Elliott Carter and Pete Seeger.