Classical Music | Violin Music

Recorded on 06/23/2010, uploaded on 11/04/2010

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Heading into the later decades of the 19^th century, opera dominated French musical life to the point of stifling outlets for other forms of music and making it difficult for young composers to attract attention to their own works. Thus, in 1871, Camille Saint-Saëns cofounded the Société Nationale de Musique with the purpose of promoting new French music and increasing the presence of chamber and symphonic music in French culture. With this new outlet open to emerging composers, a younger generation helped reshape the direction of French music leading into the 20^th century. One particular form to flourish, not so much in quantity but with a small number of highly crafted works, was the violin sonata, beginning with Fauré, Saint-Saëns himself, and Franck and lasting through Debussy and Ravel, and imbued with all the richness and lyricism of France itself.

Fauré’s First Violin Sonata was composed in 1876 and was published as his opus 13. In the blithe key of A major, it is an intensely lyrical sonata that wonderfully displays the instrument’s warm lyricism. Indeed, no movement, including the playful scherzo, is devoid of at least once arching, lyrical melody. Throughout the work and in the Romantic tradition, violin and piano are treated as equal partners, complimenting each other and taking equally important roles in presenting the sonata’s argument. The first movement is a finely crafted sonata form featuring two themes, each with a restless energy though restrained by the composer’s classicism. Shifting into the key of the subdominant minor, the Adagio second movement is dramatic yet manages not to cast a shadow over the sonata’s warmth despite its minor tonality. Following the Adagio is a spirited scherzo, which alternates a staccato idea taken in a fast duple meter against a lyrical triple meter melody. Lastly, the Allegro finale has a contented demeanor and proceeds with a relaxed pace right up to its concluding chords.         Joseph DuBose

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Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1, Op. 13    Gabriel Fauré

Allegro molto; Andante; Allegro vivo; Allegro quasi presto

Gabriele Fauré's chamber music combines the classical structure and pianistic figuration of Brahms while pushing the boundaries of chromatic harmony. Throughout the Violin Sonata Op.13 (1876), one hears extended harmonies that 'suspend' in mid-air, especially in the floating, searching Andante movement, a direct contrast to the impassioned outburst of the opening Allegro molto.

A capricious, scherzo-like third movement follows, replete with staccato notes in the piano and pizzicato chords in the violin. While its opening is more reminiscent of Mendelssohn than Brahms, the lyrical melodic line soon returns, providing an effective contrast to the light humor of the outer sections.

Fauré closes this highly emotional Sonata with a gentle, undulating theme that recurs throughout the finale. While temperatures certainly rise throughout, the underlying sentiment is of a nostalgic, 'C'est la vie' quality. While the piano establishes the rhythmic momentum from the beginning, the violin searches high and low for a sense of harmonic stability, finally resting in the tonic key in a tumultuous dash to the finish line.    Eugenia Choi

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.