Wednesday 23rd April 2025
Amber Emson Violin
Dafydd Chapman Piano
Sonata In G major Opus 30 No. 3 Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770 – 1827)
I: Allegro assai II: Tempo di minuetto ma molto moderato e grazioso III: Allegro vivace
Beethoven wrote ten sonatas for violin and piano, the first nine between 1798 and 1803 and the last nine years later. The opus 30 set belong to the year 1802, much of which the composer spent outside Vienna in the quiet village of Heiligenstadt. This was partly on medical advice; it was suggested that a period away from the noise and turmoil of the city would ease the symptoms of deafness which were already plaguing him. At first it seemed that this ‘cure’ might be working; the summer was highly productive and many of the works he produced are upbeat in mood, most notably the second symphony and the opus 30 violin sonatas. The third of this set, two energetic and light-hearted allegros flanking a steady, whimsical minuet, shows no disquiet. But by the autumn it was clear that his hearing was actually deteriorating, a personal crisis which he addressed in the famous Heilgenstadt Testimony. He returned to Vienna in a mood of despair, but with his creative imagination as fertile as ever.
Sonata in E minor Opus 27 No. 4 Eugène Ysaÿe (1858 – 1931)
I: Allemande (Lento maestoso) II: Sarabande (Quasi lento) III: Finale (Presto ma non troppo)
Ysaÿe was one of the most highly acclaimed violinists of his generation. Trained in his native Belgium, he before long enjoyed an international reputation, admired by fellow musicians and the general public alike; composers of the stature of Franck, Debussy, Saint-Saëns and Chausson wrote works for him. Sadly, diabetes affected his playing in his middle years which caused him to turn more to teaching, conducting and composition. Nearly all of his quite large output is for, or involves, the violin, the only major exception being his opera ‘Peter the Miner’, believed to be the only opera with a libretto in Waloon. The six sonatas opus 24 are perhaps his most famous works. Each is dedicated to a famous contemporary virtuoso, that in E minor bearing Fritz Kreisler’s name. Although glancing back at forms popular in the baroque period, the music speaks the language of the high romantic period and of course exploits virtuoso playing technique to the full.
Sonata in G minor Claude Debussy (1862 – 1918)
I: Allegro vivo II: Intermède – fantasque et léger III: Finale – très animé
This sonata, belonging to 1917, was its composer’s last completed work. He was by now a very sick man living in a city threatened with German invasion. Aware that he had nothing physical to contribute to the defence of his beloved homeland, for the first year of the Great War even the creative urge had largely deserted him. But in the summer of 1915 the juices began to flow again: “I want to work, not so much for myself but to give proof, however small it may be, that even if there were thirty million Germans, French thought would not be destroyed.” As well as producing two major piano works, he also planned six sonatas for different combinations of instruments, each bearing on its title page below the composer’s name, “Musicien Français”. Sadly, he was only able to complete the first three: one for cello and piano, one for flute, viola and harp and tonight’s work. The original plan was for a fourth sonata for the unconventional ensemble of oboe, horn and harpsichord, a fifth for trumpet, clarinet, bassoon and piano and then the entire cast of the other five (plus a double bass) assembled for sonata number six. What a tantalising musical ‘might-have-been’!
The violin sonata is in three quite brief movements in which the composer seems to be looking back over his creative life and recalling musical influences that had been important to him. There is Spanish folk music to be heard, there are echoes of Stravinsky and even direct allusions to earlier works of his own. But ill and depressed as he was, Debussy manages to weld these disparate musical threads into a coherent and eloquent whole.
Sonata in A major opus 100 Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897)
I: Allegro amablie II: Andante tranquillo/vivace III: Allegretto grazioso (quasi andante)
Like Beethoven, Brahms often chose to spend his summers away from the hustle and bustle of Vienna, finding rural surroundings conducive to composition. He spent the summer of 1888 in the Swiss resort of Thun, an area which he found highly congenial, “so full of melodies that one has to be careful not to step on any.” This is where the A major sonata was composed and certainly its prevailing mood is one of contented relaxation. Brahms scholars have spotted several self-quotations in the work; a number of themes are closely related to ideas found in songs he was writing at the same time for a young German contralto who spent some time with him at Thun, perhaps another reason for the overall genial mood. Not that the first movement lacks more vigorous ideas to provide the contrast essential to sonata form structure. In the middle movement, the element of contrast is even stronger in alternating sections fulfilling the roles of slow movement and scherzo. The finale is in the usual rondo form but once again the speed is moderate and the overall impression one of relaxed contentment.
Tzigane Maurice Ravel (1875 – 1937)
This work was written for the Hungarian violinist Jelly d’Arányi who gave the first performance in London 101 years ago tomorrow. She had shown the composer a selection of Hungarian folksongs and he described the work as “a virtuoso piece in the style of a Hungarian rhapsody”. The original accompaniment was designed for a piano with luthéal attachment, a device by which the tone of the instrument could be altered quite radically by the use of a series of ‘stops’. One of these produced a sound resembling that of the cimbalom, an instrument much favoured by Hungarian folk musicians. But the device never caught on and Ravel was quite happy for the folk colouring to be achieved on a standard piano, a relief to all…