Thursday 27 May 7pm, Miriam Teppich (violin) and Julian Broughton (piano)
Ysaye, Sonata for Solo Violin no. 4 op. 27 in E minorClara Schumann, Romance no. 1 op. 22
Broughton, Sonata for violin and piano
Elgar, Sonata op.82
Ysaye Sonata for solo
violin in E minor op. 27 no.4
The Sonata No 4 in E minor is
dedicated to Fritz Kreisler (1875–1962). Kreisler entered the Vienna
Conservatory in 1882, then in 1885 moved to the Paris Conservatoire, gaining a unanimous
Premier Prix in 1887. His most important commission was Elgar’s Violin Concerto
which he premiered in 1910, but Elgar was as far as he ventured in the music of
his time. As a composer he became famous for his short pieces in imitation of
Baroque and Classical composers, to which he often appended their name rather
than his own—1910 was also the year of the Praeludium and Allegro, supposedly
by Pugnani, as well as the Caprice viennois Kreisler owned up to.
In writing three movements called
Allemanda, Sarabande and Finale, Ysaÿe was clearly having a joke—‘if you can do
spoof Baroque, so can I’. Throughout, the writing is tonal, with very little
that would have discountenanced J S Bach. After a slow introduction, we hear a
motif of four rising notes (E, F sharp, G, A) that undergoes various
developments, ending in a fugue. The same four notes in reverse go right
through the Sarabande, at first pizzicato (‘avec vibrations’), then bowed.
In the Finale the four notes are once more descending and may well be a tribute to Kreisler’s ‘Pugnani’ Allegro. Apart from a dotted central section, the movement also echoes the ‘Pugnani’ in its relentless semiquavers.
Clara Schumann Romance
no.1 op 22 (from Three Romances) Andante molto
Having moved to Düsseldorf in
1853, Clara Schumann, who said that "Women are not born to compose,"
produced several works, including these three romances. Dedicated to the
legendary violinist Joseph Joachim, Schumann and Joachim went on tour with
them, even playing them before King George V of Hanover, who was
"completely ecstatic" upon hearing them. A critic for the Neue
Berliner Musikzeitung praised them, declaring: "All three pieces display
an individual character conceived in a truly sincere manner and written in a
delicate and fragrant hand."
Stephen Pettitt for The Times, wrote, "Lush and poignant, they make one regret that Clara's career as a composer became subordinate to her husband's." The first Romance begins with hints of gypsy pathos, before a brief central theme with energetic arpeggios ensues. This is followed by a final section similar to the first, in which Clara charmingly refers to the main theme from her husband Robert Schumann’s first violin sonata.
Sir Edward Elgar wrote his
Violin Sonata in E minor, Op. 82, in 1918, at the same time as he wrote his
String Quartet in E minor and his Piano Quintet in A minor. These three chamber
music works were all written at "Brinkwells", the country house near
Fittleworth in West Sussex that Lady Elgar had acquired for her husband to
recuperate and compose in, and they mark his major contribution to the chamber
music genre.[1] His Cello Concerto in E minor of 1919 completed the quartet of
introspective and melancholy works that comprised Elgar's last major creative
spurt before his death in 1934.
The Violin Sonata is scored for
the usual combination of violin and piano, and has three movements: Allegro, Romance:
Andante, Allegro non troppo
Elgar's wife noted that the slow
movement seemed to be influenced by the 'wood magic' or genii loci of the
Fittleworth woods.
When the sonata was close to completion, Elgar offered to dedicate it to a family friend, Marie Joshua, and wrote to her: "I fear it does not carry us any further but it is full of golden sounds and I like it, but you must not expect anything violently chromatic or cubist". Marie Joshua died four days after receiving the letter, before she had had an opportunity to reply. As a tribute to her memory, Elgar quoted the dolcissimo melody from the slow movement just before the coda of the final movement.[1][2]
The Violin Sonata in E minor was
completed on 15 September 1918,[2] and first performed on 13 March 1919 at a
semi-public meeting of the British Music Society by Elgar's friend W. H. Reed
with Anthony Bernard on piano. With Elgar present, it received its first public
performance on 21 March 1919.
Julian Broughton writes: “Written
in 2014 for Ellie Blackshaw and Rachel Fryer, my Sonata for Violin and Piano is
in three movements.
i) Presto. A kind of scherzo,
this movement begins with playful dialogue which is contrasted with passages of
sustained melody.
ii) Lento. In complete contrast
to the first movement, this is a fugue which breaks out of itself into an
expressive and richly harmonised middle section before returning to the rather
austere mood of the opening.
iii) Allegro molto. Lively and fast, this returns to the mood of the opening movement. It briefly recalls the melancholy of the middle movement before ending with virtuoso energy.
