The Violin Sonatas

Abstract

With the noble exception of some of N^ozart's violin sonatas the late eighteenth century was the period of the 'sonata for keyboard with the accompaniment of a violin', as so many works were entitled. Although the three works of Beethoven's opus 12 were also unprornisingly labelled 'Three sonatas for the harpsichord or forte-piano, with a vlolin\ there are in them already signs of the much greater interdependence that was to come in the mature examples - for instance the closely-argued slow movement of opus 12 no.2, with its long-breathed, plaintive melody shared between the instruments. Beethoven's ten violin sonatas were written in the comparatively narrow sPace of fifteen years, between 1 797 and 1812. There are two sets of three (opus 12 and opus 30), and four single works. Opus 1 2 was probably composed in I 797-8 and ready for sale at the very end of 1 798 or tie beginning of January 1 799. It was dedicated to Antonio Salieri, for many years one of Beethoven's teachers and, as Royal and Imperial Kapellmeister, one of the most influential ofVien na's musical figures. Despite a critical review in the AUgemeine Musikalische Zeitung in the following summer, the works enjoyed considerable popularity and were arranged for various more or less unlikely instruments and ensembles, such as cello, flute, string quartet and even (by Seyfried, the first conductor of Fidelio) for orchestra. One is surely not being wise after the event if one senses in opus 12 no. 1 something of the latent power that was so soon to be unleashed. Early audiences may well have been bewildered by the sheer profusion of material exposed in the first dozen or so bars of this D major sonata -contrasts between rising and falling motifs, running quavers and ofTbeat held notes and tumbling triplets. The slow movement is a theme and four variations and the finale a 6/8-time rondo which generates a captivating vitality. The second sonata, in A major, is characterised by wit and extreme stylistic simplicity, with a finale so relaxed and uncomplicated that it compensates for the lack of a genuinely slow slow movement. As if to deliberately belie the title page of the original edition of the opus 12, the sonata begins with the violin playing a waltz-like accompaniment in keyboard style while the piano gives out an idiomatic violin tune. The sonata ends as wittily as it begins with the violin coming to a dramatic conclusion, only to have to wait while the piano carries on for an extra bar. The opening Allegro con spirito of the E flat sonata, opus 12 no.3, is an extensive movement. It is some time before the violin frees itself from a somewhat ungrateful role, trying to compete with a singularly brilliant piano part; however, by the second subject it has liberated itself and takes flight in a series of rapid semiquaver runs. The slow movement is a superb Adagio con molt'espressione in C major, music of a profundity and veiled poetry that looks at times far into the future. The rondo finale has no easy task to follow such a movement, but it looks back to Mozart in a complimentary way and rounds off a fine work entirely appropriately. Opus 23 and opus 24 were composed (as far as we can tell) at very much the same time - 1800-1801. They were published in October 1801 by T. Mollo and dedicated 'A Monsieur le Comte Maurice de Fries' who was director of the Austrian national bank, and a noted patron of the arts (he also received the dedication of the opus 29 string quintet and seventh symphony of Beethoven, Haydn's last string quartet and Schubert's 'Gretchen am Spinnrade'). It is a curious mischance thai gives us the familiar opus numbers of the A minor and F major sonatas. The rival publisher Artaria had somewhat earlier (June 1801) given the opus number 24 to the piano arrangement of the Prometheus ballet score, but the Mollo edition of the violin sonatas, owing to a technical oversight, printed the violin parts of the two sonatas designated opus 23 in different formats, and in order to save the expense of re-engraving one of the two works they were issued separately as opus 23 and opus 24. The A minor sonata opus 23 is less popular than its nicknamed companion. It is formally very interesting and, in its outer movements, unusually austere in texture. The dashing Presto in 6/8 time (very uncommon for a first movement) is followed by an Andante scherzoso, piu allegretto that serves both as slow movement and scherzo (its use of sonata form is backward-looking, its fugato following the quaintly limping first subject is highly unusual), and aclos'mg Allegro molto that, despite major key episodes, ends firmly in the minor. The 'Spring' sonata in F majoropus 24 is the first of the ten to comprise four movements, though the Scherzo and trio (third movement) is so brief as to be over almost before the inattentive hearer is aware it has started. It is the famous lyrical melody played on the violin which begins the work that has given the sonata its nickname. Such new relaxed lyricism looks forward to other middle period works such as the sixth symphony and the fourth piano concerto. The 'Spring' is an immediately attractive work, of only rarely clouded joy - lyrical yet rhythmically powerful in the opening Allegro, pensive and later romantically profound in the B flat Adagio molto espressivo, fresh and confident in the almost Mozartian rondo finale. The set of three sonatas opus 30 was composed in 1802 and published by the Kunst- und Industrie-Comptoir in the summer of 1803. The title-page still implies a subordinate function for the violin in its wording: 'Three sonatas for the pianoforte with the accompaniment of a violin'. The set was dedicated to the Emperor Alexander I of Russia, though the hoped-for gratification was a long time in coming-not until the Empress Elizabeth Alexievna was in Vienna for the Congress and received Beethoven in gratitude for the dedication to her of the Polonaise opus 89 did she learn of her consort's remissness and give Beethoven 100 ducats for the earlier dedication. The A major sonata opus 30 no. 1 is a gracious work, its opening Allegro sharing its eregant melodies neatly between the two instruments, and alternating rapid passage-work with legato writing and syncopations; in the development section Beethoven spends more time in minor keys than might have been expected in what had promised to be such a sunny work. The Adagio molto espressivo in D fascinatingly sets dotted semiquavers against smoothly flowing figures, and there are quasi-improvisatory touches. The finale, Allegretto, is a theme with six variations, exploiting various facets of the theme and the instruments; for the final variation the tempo is increased to Allegro ma non tanto, and the metre changes to a joyous 6/8, the first appearance of this time-signature in the work.