Frank Bridge's Piano Sonata (1925) holds an extremely important place in the development of the composer's writing style. It marks Bridge's first steps toward his more complicated late period, in which the horrors of World War I had convinced him to abandon his largely-trivial earlier style. Previous to this work, Bridge's compositions were mostly meant for consumption by the general public, so they were light in texture and in meaning. This coincided with Bridge's much-documented pacifist leanings. Bridge also knew that this way of composing was beneficial to sales because most performers, even those of lesser talent, could manage to adequately play these pieces and find enjoyment in them. After the terrors of war, Bridge felt that his lighter writing style no longer held any meaning in the world around him. The composer was more aware of his importance as a musician in the course of history. Rather than composing works merely for a means of existence, by this time, Bridge had a teaching position at the Royal College of Music and numerous conducting opportunities. The importance of the Piano Sonata is shown through the enormous amount of time that it took Bridge to compose the work. He began composition of the work as early as 1922, but it was not completed until 1925. His most previous work of importance was the Cello Sonata, which was finished in 1917. This shows that Bridge contemplated the Piano Sonata for a great amount of time before deciding that it was worthy of being shown to the public. Bridge began composing the Piano Sonata in his new vein of advanced chromaticism and an abandonment of lyrical romanticism. Bridge even made the leap away from standard tonality into the area of bitonality, when two keys are presented simultaneously with an emphasis placed on neither. Bridge also expanded his musical language in other aspects of writing, such as rhythm and form. Tempos and rhythms change quite often in the Piano Sonata, not allowing the listener to settle into any mood presented by the piece. The form can be described as continuously developing. A small, seemingly unimportant motive could be the basis for the entire next section. These characteristics explored in the work carry through to all of Bridge's following compositions until his death. Bridge showed his feelings through his dedication of the Piano Sonata to Ernest Farrar, a young composer who was killed in the war.

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